5 Rumors About Kelly Ripa We Couldn't Ignore

Kelly Ripa has spent her life in the spotlight, surrounded by rumors. Between her decades hosting "Live" and her podcast, "Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa," she has disclosed quite a bit of personal info over the years. Ripa's confessions are sometimes deemed inappropriate by audiences, making it perplexing that there are any facets of her life that remain murky enough to generate rumors. 

In addition, the true stories are usually stranger than fiction. For instance, in a 2000 "Live" episode, a psychic correctly guessed that Ripa was pregnant before she'd even told her boss. With such extraordinary things happening in her real life, it's amazing that people still find things to speculate about.

While rumors can be a tiresome aspect of fame, after a lengthy career in the public eye, Ripa is aware of how these wild tales start. "Context is almost always overlooked," she wrote in her book, "Live Wire." "Something repeated often enough becomes the truth." Let's take a look at some of the nagging rumors that Ripa refuted over the years, including claims involving plastic surgery, her career, and her sex life.

In 2024, Kelly Ripa attempted to shut down a rumor that she had gotten lip fillers to plump up her pout. Ripa posted a video on Instagram explaining that she'd enhanced her lips through makeup and showed her followers how to achieve the same look. 

"No, I didn't get lip fillers. This is the lip trick you monsters," Ripa captioned the July 2024 post. The TV host proceeded to draw a bigger outline for her upper lip. "Kindergarten has set me up for this because I always traced outside the lines," she quipped. Afterward, she applied her lipliner of choice, once again going for a generous border on top and obscuring the first makeup layer. To finish, she topped it with lipstick and lip gloss for added shine. However, Ripa also noted that she went to these extra lengths because of her on-camera career. She wouldn't feel motivated to take the extra steps in real life.

It's possible this lip-plumping rumor began after a 2022 "Live" episode when Ripa expressed her internal conflict over lip fillers. She even noted that her makeup artist, Kristofer Buckle, was open to the idea. While Ripa ultimately decided against lip fillers, she is a fan of Botox, and she's admitted to getting this cosmetic procedure a few times every year. She even got one Botox treatment on a 2018 "Live" episode. 

Way back in 2001, Kelly Ripa got her hosting gig on "Live," transforming from soap opera darling to talk show royalty. Regis Philbin had been with the show since it began in 1988, and he was captivated by Ripa's personality and her on-camera delivery. "She could instinctively zero in on the funniest details, which came out of nowhere and somehow hit a comic bull's eye," Philbin later recalled in his 2011 memoir, "How I Got This Way."

Ripa and Philbin developed a close bond when they worked together, and he affectionately nicknamed her "Pippa." After this shower of appreciation, Philbin later indicated their bond had broken following his 2011 retirement. "She got very offended when I left. She thought I was leaving because of her," Philbin said on "Larry King Now" in 2017 (via People). He asserted that because of this purported beef, Ripa had cut ties with him.

Ripa addressed these rumors when speaking to USA Today in 2022. She noted her frustration with the lingering conjecture. "It was somehow this false narrative ... that we were best friends and I had abandoned him. And none of that was true. We had a very professional, working relationship," Ripa explained. She demonstrated this on camera in 2015 when Philbin returned to "Live" as a guest.

Kelly Ripa's no stranger to discussing her sex life on TV, but even with her candid admissions, rumors still occasionally sprout. Mixed-up and sensationalized details spawned a wild rumor that having sex with her husband, Mark Consuelos, caused Ripa to have a near-death experience. To up the weirdness factor, the couple was purportedly at Jimmy Buffett's house when the incident occurred.

As with so many rumors, there were grains of truth. Ripa shared the tragic details in "Live Wire." In reality, not long after her first child was born, Ripa felt a sudden pain and lost consciousness while she and Consuelos were having sex. When she regained her faculties, emergency medical personnel were in their apartment. Disoriented, Ripa was panicked and incredulous about the incredibly mismatched ensemble Consuelos had chosen when he dressed her. At the hospital, she discovered that a ruptured ovarian cyst was the cause of the extreme pain. Unfortunately, Ripa had two more cysts, and since they didn't usually require medical care, she worried about experiencing another painful, traumatic event. 

Ripa's writing style is full of humor, and the chapter is titled "Don't Let Your Husband Pick Your Death Clothes," so it's possible to extrapolate how the rumor began. However, it's odd that it got conflated with the Buffett story since that involved a party where Richard Gere and Ripa helped a guest experiencing ill effects from a pot brownie. Ripa told the Gere story to so many people that it's surprising these two very separate tales became conflated.

Kelly Ripa has been living in New York City since 1989. She's seriously upgraded her accommodations over the years, going from bunking in an acting coach's office to owning a lavish $27 million home. She and her husband, Mark Consuelos, bought this house in 2013. The location is also convenient since "Live" typically tapes in the city. However, occasionally, the show hits the road. In late 2024, Ripa and Consuelos happily announced episodes in Palm Springs, California, catalyzing rumors that they were planning to leave New York for good.

Ripa and Consuelos have frequently vacationed in the California town and enthusiastically discussed these trips on air. People jumped to conclusions, and the rumors became so convincing that even some of Ripa's family and friends were duped. "My uncle has called me to congratulate me on moving to Palm Springs," Ripa divulged to People. "I'm like, 'We're going for four days. Everybody calm down.'"

To deflate this rumor even further, Ripa's been adamant that she doesn't want to move anywhere — not even within the New York metro area. She was smitten with her house from the beginning. "When I walked in here, I was like, 'This is the final place where I will live.' I love this house so much," Ripa declared to Architectural Digest in 2024. She made it very clear she had no plans of leaving the New York residence for the rest of her life.

Even though she's already spent over two decades on "Live," Kelly Ripa's reportedly not trying to set any records for hosting longevity. "I am always thinking about retiring," Ripa informed Entertainment Weekly in 2023. "It is my favorite topic of discussion." She almost took the leap sometime between 2016-2017, after the tumult of Michael Strahan's departure and the search for a new co-host. However, working with Ryan Seacrest and then her husband, Mark Consuelos, caused Ripa to put those plans on hold. 

These retirement rumors have been heightened by Ripa's disclosures on her podcast, "Let's Talk Off Camera." In a November 2023 episode, Ripa remarked about how her job got in the way of her preference to stay up late. "I've painted myself into this corner where I have to be up every morning," she conceded.

Since she's clearly spent a lot of time pondering retirement, Ripa's also detailed some of her future plans. "When I retire from show business, I'm gonna get my college degree," Ripa divulged on her podcast, adding that she would choose the University of Michigan. A couple of months later, Ripa continued this topic on "Live." However, she noted that these education plans would have to be delayed since her son, Joaquin Consuelos, was already studying there, and neither mother nor son was jazzed about being on campus simultaneously. However, Joaquin is set to graduate in mid-2025, which could ignite Ripa's retirement rumors once again.