BFFs forever. Andy Cohen shared his thoughts about Kathie Lee Gifford refusing to read his longtime pal Kelly Ripa’s memoir — and why the book isn’t slandering the late Regis Philbin.
“I think if Kathie Lee read the book, she would probably agree with everything Kelly said,” Cohen, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, October 14, during an interview at BravoCon 2022. “What Kelly did was she told her experience and it was all so very fair and balanced.”
Ripa, 52, recently made headlines when she got candid in her new memoir, Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories, about her relationship with her late cohost, who died in July 2020 at the age of 88.
While the two weren’t close in real life — the Riverdale alum called the idea “a basic misconception” — she also revealed there was a power struggle that existed between them.
”My name had to be smaller than Regis’ name on the Live! title card and branding. A game of inches, which speaks for itself. But on that we agreed. Seniority, after all,” Ripa penned in her stories, noting that “seniority” soon turned into an “elusive” term never used in reference to her experience.
Gifford, 69, who helmed Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee for more than a decade until she exited the show in 2000 (Ripa’s takeover began in 2001) — responded to the former soap star’s claims during an October 10 interview with Fox 5’s Rosanna Scotto.
“I was very sorry to see the headlines,” she said. “You know, you never know what’s true and what’s not true. I went, ‘I hope this isn’t true. I just hope it isn’t.’ ‘Cause what’s the point? I don’t get it. I don’t get it.”
The Lipstick Jungle alum went on to state that she’s “not gonna read the book” before adding, “I know what Regis was to me.”
She continued, “He was 15 years the best partner I could ever have professionally. But he was my friend. We were dear friends and after I left the show … for the next 20 years we became better friends. Dearer friends.”
The TV producer also hoped that the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’s widow Joy Philbin — and his four grown children — wouldn’t have to see Ripa’s comments.
“Lord, protect Joy and the girls from this,” Gifford shared on the show. (Regis shared daughter Amy and son Daniel with ex-wife Catherine Faylen and daughters Joanna and J.J. with Joy.)
Cohen, for his part, told Us on Friday that the Today host “responding to a headline” is what caused the inital confusion, noting that the drama between the two women is actually “much to do about nothing.”
When asked if the New York native had read his BFF’s new book, Cohen replied, “Yes, I loved [it]. It was incredible.”
With reporting by Diana Cooper
