My knowledge of the drama between Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa behind the scenes of Live with Kelly and Michael comes from Celebitchy’s reporting on the story and from watching The Morning Show. Briefly, after rumors that the two co-hosts weren’t getting along, Michael announced he was leaving to join Good Morning America. The announcement and departure were sudden and caught Kelly completely off-guard. After some drama that involved Kelly taking some unplanned vacation in the wake of the announcement and a few shots fired across the bow, it seemed the two worked out their issues and ended Michael’s tenure at Live amicably. That’s where The Morning Show research comes in to play, because if we learned anything from TMS, we know that amicable banter is bs. Which, apparently, was the case with Michael and Kelly. Michael was interviewed by the New York Times, in which he took the opportunity to mention, again, that he was so bummed to be painted as the bad guy when really, it was all Kelly’s fault.
Michael Strahan is opening up about his relationship with former colleague Kelly Ripa.
The former NFL player, 48, spoke to The New York Times about his time on Live with Kelly and Michael and the heavily discussed tensions between the then-cohosts.
Calling his time with Ripa, 49, an “experience”, Strahan said he tried to create an environment where they could work through their issues.
“One thing I tried to do is have a meeting every few weeks with her,” he told the NYT. “We met a few times, and that was fine. But then eventually she said she didn’t need to meet.”
“Can’t force somebody to do something they don’t want to do.”Strahan says they both did their best to not let their offscreen issues impact on the show’s classic dynamic, however, “certain things that were going on behind the scenes just caught up.”
While maintaining he “remained the same person I was from day one,” the former NFL star said “when it was time to go, it was time to go.”However, he says his exit from Live with Kelly and Michael in 2016 “could have been handled better.”
“I didn’t wake up and say, ‘I want a job at GMA.’ I was asked to do it by the people who run the network,” Strahan said. “It was really not a choice. It was a request.”
Strahan said that when the news broke he would be leaving Live, “it was treated as if I was the guy who walked in and said, ‘I’m leaving.’ That part was totally misconstrued, mishandled in every way.”
“People who should have handled it better have all apologized, but a lot of the damage had already been done. For me, it was like: Move on. Success is the best thing. Just keep on moving,” he said.
I know Kelly is not a favorite around here. I like her well enough. But I don’t know why Michael is trying to stir this up again. He was disappointed that people found fault with his actions in 2016. What’s odd to me is that throughout the whole drama, I never really faulted Kelly or Michael. It was obvious from the outset that the network managed the situation completely wrong and Kelly was hurt and reacted as a person who was hurt. Before we get into “but they asked Michael,” he was asked to compare working in television vs. football and Michael took them to Kelly from there. But this is the story Michael wants out front: he did everything he could to salvage Live, then management forced him to take the job at GMA and told him he couldn’t tell anyone. Okay. But whatever went down between them, he’s still sore because when the NYT asked him if he had learned anything about hosting from Kelly, he responded, “Oh, I’m sure the same things she learned from Regis Philbin.” I don’t know, maybe Kelly is the bad guy. But that’s a low hit to take the one opportunity he was given to say something decent about her and hand it to Regis. So not totally moving on, right Michael?
The rest of his interview gets back to comparing TV vs. football and then goes heavily into football, including Michael’s sack record and how he proposes to “fix” the Giants. The football stuff is interesting until he ‘both sides’ the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick in the NFL.
Photo credit: WENN/Avalon
As someone who has worked in a number of toxic environments (and what office isn’t a little toxic) I can say that some of those wounds take a long time to heal. I’m not saying that his experience warrants any of his comments, but we’re all people and we all have difficulty letting go of things sometimes.
Agreed. I worked in an extremely toxic work environment almost 5 years ago now that sent me into a spiral of depression at the end. It was so bad that my doctor had me stay home from work the last two weeks I was there (I had managed to find another job at the time and had put in my two weeks notice). If I see my boss anywhere, I feel the anger boil inside of me. She was an awful person. Thankfully I have only seen her twice since I left, but the hurt and anger is still there.
I had boss once who still works in HR. She’s had a firing jar on her desk. Like, you were supposed to write down a co-workers name who you thought should be fired. Every week. If you didn’t write a name, she put yours on a slip of paper and put it in the jar. Just hearing her name or thinking about her makes me sick. She stole an opportunity from me that I’ll never get back. It still hurts. I don’t think I can ever say a kind word about her.
Nicole: I’m in that situation now. My stomach is in knots every morning before going in. I’ve had to seek therapy to deal with the depression and anxiety. And I’m applying for other jobs, because this place isn’t going to get better.
Dee: how awful! I’ve never heard of anything so poisonous in the workplace.
Sorry this is happening to you — good luck. Dee, y’all should have ganged up and put her name in the fire jar.
@Dee — I would have put the HR manager’s name on that slip of paper every.single. week. What a garbage person! Total goblin!
I completely understand and it’s unfortunate that employees even have to deal with that stuff.
I took a job in Minnesota when i was fresh out of grad school. Worst experience of my life. I still break out in a cold sweat when i find myself in a similar environment four years later. It’s terrible.
Dee, that sounds absolutely toxic, and I wonder if it’s not actionable legally? Or perhaps was. I suppose it depends on the country you’re in… but here in France I definitely think behavior like that would be lawsuit material. There are laws against bullying behavior in the workplace… “harcelement morale”… and the “firing jar” thing sounds positively diabolical.
I left a toxic workplace: my coworkers were great, upper management was bloodyminded because of chaotic decisions higher up. It’s gotten worse since I left a year and a half ago. I feel bad for my friends and I loathe those responsible who are hurting them without repercussions.
D*mn right. I am still reeling from the toxic work environment I left almost 2 years ago. I was there for 11 years, tried to leave so many times, but my PhD applications went nowhere and/or couldn’t get other work opportunities. I was miserable the entire time that it even influenced my decision to waste years of my life in a toxic relationship. Every time I’d think of leaving the toxic relationship, I would think of all the drama that would entail and I was too tired to deal with that drama because of the drama at work. So I’d go from one toxic environment to another. I was so miserable, borderline suicidal, and my anxiety got worse. Even when I finally ended the toxic relationship, I was still unhappy because I was stuck at that miserable job.
I finally left when I got my visa to Australia. Gave them a month’s notice, worked until almost 2 days before my move, and those jerks still ripped me off and didn’t give me my well-deserved bonus check. Invented some excuse that because I was moving to Australia they had no idea how to treat the bonus for tax purposes, but they’d give me cash under the table just to make me happy because I “deserve” money. I chose to believe the lie just because I was too tired to argue. I knew it was BS but I was so done with it all I decided what’s another 4k USD? Besides, if I accepted that cash under the table they would then throw it in my face like they always did when they weren’t so bad. No thank you.
Then one of my old coworkers who always pretended to be my friend had the audacity to say months later that if she were one of my friends back home in the States that she wouldn’t recommend me to any job because I was angry and had issues with emotion regulation. I was so offended and disrespected by that because she worked with me, she knows how toxic it is, that I decided to stop talking to her forever. I had every right to be angry; that place is toxic. Ever since I left 8 people have come and gone and it’s for the same reason: toxicity. I am still recovering from that place and I am still licking my wounds from this “friend” who I knew deep down wasn’t an ally playing me like that. Still not used to my new job being non-toxic.
Completely, completely agree. A toxic work environment is soul destroying.
All I can do is send hugs to all of you. At 58, been there , done that. Sending strength sisters. Xxxxx
I feel for all of you. I worked in a toxic and terrible place for 3 years. The first year was okay but by the third year, I was just dying inside. I wouldn’t want to wake up in the mornings to go to work and Sunday evenings were the worst, because I really didn’t want to go into work on Monday. I’d come home and cry so many times…. I finally left because they were trying to transfer me to another part of the country and I didn’t want to go. So I gave in my notice even before finding a new job. I always am so grateful that I was forced to leave that terrible place because the place where I work now is so much fun and is amazing! (And pay is so much better as well). When I think back to working at that place, I feel nauseous and I even hate driving past it. Usually give it the finger when I drive past and shout F! U! as well.
As somebody who is equally ambivalent to both of them, it sounds like they both went a little hard to the hoop at the beginning and there was no fixing it from there.
I like Strahan generally but he has had some really messy relationships with women. From his super nasty divorce to Nicole Murphy. I think he is not as easy going behind the scenes.
He was never married to Nicole Murphy.
I think previous poster is saying the messy divorce (I can’t remember his ex wife’s name but they were still arguing over child support several months ago) AND his messy breakup with Nicole Murphy.
Not married, but he did put a GPS tracking device on her car during their relationship. He had a messy divorce from his first wife that he bullied. I don’t like this man. He pretends to be nice but he’s controlling and creepy. (Not a fan of Kelly Ripa but i’ll give her the benefit of the doubt on this one.)
He can be terrible in relationships and Kelly can be a s*itty coworker. Both things can be true you know.
Uhmmmmm I am a big Nicole Murphy fan, but she is MESSY. It’s kind of why I love her. She is so beautiful, but she just won’t do right. Hello Lela’s husband! As I understand it she cheated on him and got caught, and then he started tracking her.
If she cheated on him and got caught, that’s when he should break up with her, not start tracking her. Tracking her not OK.
Damn, using GPS tracking devices is abusive behavior. If you have trust issues with your partner, talk about it, go to therapy, etc. But using surveillance technology on your significant other is an invasion of privacy.
The abusers always seem nice outwardly. I dated a guy for almost 2 years who just was sooooo nice to everyone, my friends, my family… Behind closed doors he insulted me, accused me of infidelity, slapped my ass so hard it left marks and I cried (and I repeatedly told him not to do it, spanking is not a kink I have) and oftentimes didn’t talk to me for whole days at a time. But when I broke up with him the waterworks came and he denied doing any of those things, he never used those extreme swear words bla bla and claimed that I left him for another guy because surely he is sooooo nice and it couldn’t have been his fault. I gave him plenty opportunity to talk and change his behaviour too. (we were long distance, so it took me a bit longer to recognise the abusive patterns and he was also really good at gaslighting)
All this to say, I’m with Kelly on this one, girl probably smelled the toxicity on him and didn’t want to deal with it.
Meh, if she was an awful colleague, it’s not his job to continue to conceal it.
BABY……………………THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is where I am.
Yep!
I have always questioned her after the way she treats Regis. They guy who gave her this career. I will never believe he just quit. He was pushed out because he was making huge mistakes on air. For her to never have contact with him again is just nasty. And she has made mean jokes about him though out the years. She seems to make good friends and then just drop them. Regis, Michael, the Seinfeld’s, the sterns, etc. I think she is pretty and talented. It’s a nice marriage although.. reallly shoves in our faces. I’d love love some inside dirt on her.
Pretty please from a sicky in bed today.
I think Regis has all but admitted that he was pushed out by her. And yeah he was kind of old-school and corny but I found him kind of charming. He had a way of telling stories that was oddly compelling. And I would STILL take him over that creepy weasel Seacrest.
I loved his stories. It’s what made the show a success. KLG (annoying as she can be) has always been thankful to him and is a life long friend. I’m cranky today but I’d like to see a cheating scandal with her. Maybe it’s the cold meds! But come on! Things can not be THAT perfect in her lallalala world. Also what’s up with her sister. There’s another mystery. She never talks about her anymore either.
My favorite Reege story was when he showed up to Martha Stewart’s house a day early for a party. Lol
She totally All About Eve’d Regis.
One fact I can’t get over is her real life friendship with nasty Andy Cohen. It makes her bad press seem very possible.
Agreed. That whole crowd is gross. It’s turned me off of Anderson Cooper too. (I already suspected SJP was a mean girl because of Kim Cattrall but her running with this crowd confirms it).
It’s been four years. Why is he still talking about it? Stop talking about it! lol
Rips seems a bit… intense. And she’s probably difficult to work with sometimes (I never bought the nice-girl-next-door shtick). But I wouldn’t appreciate being summoned to “meetings” by the new hire either.
She doesn’t seem any worse than her male peers at her level in morning talk tv. I’m sure they would not be taking meetings scheduled by a new hired, male or female, because that’s not the norm.
Honestly, I can’t feel too sorry for him because that’s the norm for women in the workplace. You have to learn to adjust and put up with difficult bosses of either gender. Some men feel that they are too good for that and that’s sense I’m getting from him.
We should want women to be better than men on these issues. If we are for equality, no one should get a pass on crappy behavior.
@Ames…He’s still talking about because he is STILL being asked about it…and you think having regular meetings with a partner you have to interact with on a daily on LIVE television…is being “summoned”…
Aight den…
That’s just it, I’m sure he didn’t bring up the subject of her on his own, the NYT asked him.
Strahan makes it clear the meetings Ripa eventually stopped attending happened *after* they already supposedly weren’t getting along.
He’s putting it out there, in a pretty passive aggressive way, that while HE was willing to work on what he strongly insinuates throughout the article were solely her issues, SHE refused to cooperate.
So let’s change “summoned” to “strongly encouraged by ABC to attend monthly ‘Why Does Ripa Have Such A Problem With Strahan?’ meetings” – at HIS request.
Asked or not, he could have taken the high (higher?) road, especially after all this time. It’s obvious from the overall tone of the interview that he was in a b!tchy sh!tstirring mood. He needs to take his own advice: Move on.
If we can listen to women’s stories from 20 years ago, surely we can listen to him?
She wasn’t “summoned” to meet with him. That’s not the impression I got. She is after all the senior employee. I think he suggested she said ok and then she didn’t want to do it anymore. Simple as that.
His personal relationships with women could be just that, personal rather than professional. Idk for sure but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I find her to be insufferable.
Kelly is VILE.
I don’t care for either honestly. But I know I wouldn’t been happy taking meetings just because. If there isn’t enough to talk about weekly, why try to force some nonsense meetings?
Why the hate for Kelly? Not defending her, just curious… I wasn’t aware she had such a poor reputation.
Good for Michael for moving on to something that makes him happier, but I don’t see how dredging all this up again helps him. I’ve read rumors that he doesn’t get along well with Robin Roberts either and he doesn’t like doing “serious” news. I have only ever watched one episode of Kelly’s show, fairly recently- it was the day after the NYC Marathon and some friends of mine who ran it were interviewed on the show. They didn’t appear until the very end, so I had to sit through the whole show and OH MY GOD it was utterly unwatchable. She & Ryan showed old Halloween pictures of themselves for the first 15 minutes and then she talked about her husband and pumpkins for another 20 minutes. I started flipping channels and kept coming back and saying, “Ugh, still???”
Lmao at your assessment of her show!!!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I believe what he says/implies about the toxic work environment but this line – I was asked to do it by the people who run the network,” Strahan said. “It was really not a choice. It was a request.” He is so full of himself!
How is that being full of yourself? If the network wanted him for the show, they wanted him and he’s just stating a fact.
He had a choice….
Right. I interpret that to mean he was told, not asked. There is a significant power dynamic at play between him and the network AND a contract so choices are limited at best.
And if he had and wanted to make that choice, it was well within his right. And if the network tells you to keep it silent, you keep it silent. It was the network’s job to tell Kelly, not Michael’s.
Yep he was essentially transferred to another office if you want to look at that way. He wasn’t asked how he felt about it. ABC just told him to move.
Anyways…Kelly is best friends for life with messy Andy Cohen, so that says a lot about her.
Considering how Kelly made a concerted effort to paint him as the bad guy he has every right to tell his side of the story. And knowing what Ive come to know about Kelly. She’s a mean girl of the highest order. And I dont doubt what Michael says about her at all. This is a woman who is friends with Andy mean girl Cohen.
From what I remember, she was mad she found out he was leaving with everyone else and wasn’t told personally. Fair. But then she threw a fit and made it a big deal, left work for a while, etc, which is ridiculous. It’s a (terrible) morning show, not life or death. Just do your job.
The “it was a request” thing is kind of weird though. It’s a job offer. You can say no.
Even her wanting to be told personally is BS. She wouldn’t even meet with him!
And ABC owns GMA and Live with Kelly. If he was under contract with the network then yes they can move him. That’s not a job offer.
Eh, the two of them are the co-hosts and co-host chemistry is a big part of a show like that, I think she could have been given a heads up before the rest of the crew were told, but it wasn’t as big a deal as he made it.
I don’t think they could force him to switch jobs, and I assume his pay and work requirements are different show to show and required a new contract, but I can imagine they really pitched him hard for it. I doubt it took much convincing anyway, it’s a better job and he didn’t sound happy with Kelly, so him saying it “wasn’t a choice” just seems odd to me. But who knows. It worked out well for him, and she’s with (shudder) Seacrest, who hopefully isn’t abusing the staff on this show like he did on E.
@Lucy2 He in all likelihood had an overall deal. Which usually entails a number of years and a sum and isnt necessarily tied to a specific show or project. Now they may have offered him more money on top of that but that doesn’t mean he had the option to say no. And at the time GMA was struggling in the ratings and Live with Kelly had surged when he joined the show. It’s likely that they wanted that surge for GMA. And they got it.
It sounds like a transfer. Both shows are property of ABC. ABC ordered the move is what I see.
I don’t know watch this show, but I can say as someone who has been in HR for 15 years that when you only hear one side of the story there is always another side. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard 1 side of a story and flipped out over how egregious the conduct was, only to conduct interviews and get into a situation and find out that there were a lot of misunderstandings. It’s possible she stopped taking the meetings because she thought they had worked out their issues and he didn’t feel the same. It’s possible that these two just dont work great together. It’s possible that there was miscommunication. It’s equally possible that neither person is at fault or that both people bear fault in the situation. I would be interested whether other coworkers have Similar complaints because that’s a good indication that her communication and building trust needs work.
For years we heard her side ad nauseum. This is side two.
I don’t really care for her and don’t have an opinion on him, but I will say if I’d been doing my job well for a long time and a new person came in and wanted meetings about how we could work through our issues, I’d be annoyed that the person was even hired to begin with lol. Not Michael’s fault, but that sounds like a frustrating situation.
I don’t know where meetings to “work through our issues” came from because it certainly wasn’t in that article. He didn’t even disclose what they talked about. Somehow that becomes a sticking point here?
Frankly, she is a total hag to work with. Every time she goes on one of her episodic tirades, she portrays herself as Poor Kelly Who Needs a Paycheck. Poor Kelly Who’s Just Taking Up for the Staff. Poor Kelly Who’s Jealous AF That Her Co-Worker Jumped Out Front.
Yeah. Poor Kelly. A middling soap opera talent who stumbled into one of the most lucrative gigs in morning television. Honestly, when he left, I didn’t blame him. In spite of her very unprofessional tantrum (come on, she refused to show up for work) and public trashing of Michael, (See also: “I’ve been married for 20 years, Michael, how long have you been married?” The divorced Strahan just tried to make the best of it, because this little low blow was delivered while they were on. the. air.)
So, who cares if Michael Strahan wants to get a word in edgewise now that he’s free of her bullshit? I thought he handled himself like a pro when leaving an abusive relationship with a shrill, dumb morning show shrew. I can’t wait until she pulls another powerplay and ABC boots her to the curb. My friends at 7 Lincoln Square are like abused spouses working with her.
And, for the record, he’s great on GMA and a hell of a lot more intelligent and likable than the show he left behind.
She’s a narcissist of the highest order and uses all their classic tactics. Incredibly toxic.
OMG!! I can’t believe she threw down “ I can maintain a marriage card!” what a shrew! Thems would be fighting words I wouldn’t forget for the rest of my life!
I think that’s real insight into how vindictive she plays.
Speaking for all the divorcee’s out F you Kelly!
Remember the day after this all broke open, she was photographed leaving her townhouse holding the Malcolm Gladwell book called “David and Goliath”? As if she reads books. (And yes I know she had a “book club” on the show but she specifically made it for guilty pleasure reads). Not sure if she was claiming to be little David vanquishing the big strong Goliath, but she definitely meant to convey something. Lol not sure why a soap opera actress pulling in serious bucks talking gibberish for one hour a day can view herself as an underdog, but that’s where we are.
Anon –
Sounds like you have friends that literally work on the show? What are their biggest complaints about her?
Your use of “hag,” “shrill” and “shrew” is revealing more about you than all the rest of your paragraphs.
Thats all true, she’s a terrible, talentless hag.
“Everyone stop the show and look at me”. They need to kick her to the kerb ASAP before the ratings plummet into negative numbers. She berrates everyone that has worked on the show. She has no friends. No-one in the whole GMA team even talks to her. She constantly interrupts guests to talk about herself or her family instead of letting them speak. Disney is paying her how much? What is her talent exactly?
I left a low paying job that I loved because of the manager. I told him he was the reason I was leaving during my exit interview. He treated everyone like a child, would literally call you to his desk and ask you why you did this, and for me I had to sit right in front of his desk so he could watch me. I hated him. Saw him a few years later at a Jersey mikes and he acted like he didn’t know me. Jerk.
Team Kelly! He behaved like a spoiled opportunistic child. She wanted and deserved to be treated with more respect. It wasn’t about money or status.
I don’t see how he was a spoiled child. He didn’t seek that job ABC came looking for him and transferred him out. ABC also told him not to talk about the deal. She was unprofessional on air (my 20+ marriage card! I wouldn;t be surprised if her hubby has a side piece) and to the press (literally calling in sick because she didn’t like what management did).
Whatever she’d be canned in my office for pulling these stunts.
Kelly is a vapid puppet, and I am not here for it. I get second hand embarrassment from her.
Omg, this is so true. I get that too. She’s a moron.
I can’t stand either of them, Kelly seems quite full of herself and Michael just seems phony.
There is something off about him.
Ryan seems like a real do*che.
Never liked Kelly. Personal issues aside, I’ve always liked Michael on TV.
Anyone that is close bff friends with Andy Cohen has something seriously wrong with them.
Kelly is incredibly annoying and has an extensive history of interrupting others to talk about herself. I was absolutely thrilled when it was announced that Strahan was moving on to greener pastures at GMA. If I recall, she enlisted the aid of Andy Cohen to criticize his decision to move on and he reportedly said, “Why would you go on over to GMA? It’s crowded over there!” Then, she threw a tantrum and requested that he leave Live! a lot sooner than planned. She is totally insufferable and repeatedly interrupts Ryan Seacrest. I bet Strahan is thanking his lucky stars that he got the heck outta Dodge!
Amen to that. She’s a narc that thinks she’s all that, but she aint nobody.
The biggest problem with Live is Kelly Ripa. She is so narcisistic and out of touch with the average person its uncomfortable to watch. Pick any show at any time and start your stopwatch and see if you can get past 30secs before she starts talking about herself, and I don’t just mean in the opening conversation part with Seacrest, I mean in the middle of the headline guest interview she constantly interrupts the guest with her personal experience in whatever the person is talking about. Or something HER family member did. It has gotten so bad its squirmy to watch most days. Someone needs to tell her to stfu and stop talking about herself all the time. A good interviewer should disappear and only the guest should be noticeable…She has no talent. She’s not an actress. She’s not a producer (that ddn’t work last year, probably because noone can stand working with her). She can’t sing. She can’t dance. She can’t interview people well. Why does Disney pay her &10m+ per year again? Oh yeah, guilt. Sure Michael Strahan has his issues too, but theres a reason people keep on leaving “LIVE with and Kelly and …”. It’s because it’s “with KELLY and…”. No-one likes or talks to her outside of the show. Regis can’t stand her. Michael can’t stand her. George S, Robin R, Amy Robach, Ginger Zee, Lara, they all dislike Kelly Ripa. When everyone else around you doesn’t like or speak to you, you’d think eventually she’d get the message. She thinks she needs to control every second of the show so she has the power. She constantly berrates Disney and Gelman. It’s time to throw her to the kerb and let a more talented deserving person take her place.
Strahan felt what a lot of POCs esp black people experience in professional setting with yt people esp white women…. the diminishing effect i call it…. where you’re brought in as a hot commodity only to be relegated to sidekick-ism, tokenism, other-ism, isolation, etc.
its horrible and im currently going through that and feel for michael as another black people.