Kelly Ripa has addressed pay inequality.
On the cover of Variety’s Power Of Women, she opened up about a history of workplace abuse.
The talk show host shared that when she starred on All My Children in the 1990s, she was paid less than her co-star and now-husband Mark Consuelos. And that despite the fact that she had started working on the soap before him.
“He started years after me,” she said of their time together on the show.
In her interview, she also shared that she was given a janitor’s closet as her office when she started Live with Regis & Kelly.
He made more: Kelly Ripa told Variety that when she starred in All My Children, she was paid less than now-husband Mark Consuelos. Seen in 1996
Still in love: The couple will attend the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12
“It wasn’t until I got what we call my ‘fancy job’ that I started actually making more money than he did,” she noted.
“We’ve been together for so long it’s always been collective money. In that sense, we’re very old-fashioned.’
And she also revealed that she was mistreated on Live With Regis & Kelly when she first started.
When the 52-year-old joined Live With Regis & Kelly in 2001 after Kathy Lee Gifford left, she didn’t get any VIP treatment.
Instead, the actress, who opened up about her marriage earlier this week, had to use the janitor’s closet to do her paperwork and was forced to use a public restroom with the 250 viewers, which was awkward, especially when there was a line .
“I’ve had a really difficult time,” Ripa told the publication.
Men are making more and more: “It wasn’t until I got what we call my ‘fancy job’ that I actually started making more money than him,” she noted. “We’ve been together for so long it’s always been collective money. In that sense, we’re very old-fashioned.
So happy: the power couple has three children together; seen here at Christmas
Coming clean: Ripa also told Variety this week that she struggled when she first started live
Ripa revealed she had to push hard for some workplace privacy.
When she was hired for Live in 2001, the former actress was told she couldn’t have her own office.
But there were empty offices in the building that she could have easily slipped into to make her calls, leave her purse, and store her papers.
Ripa was told no.
She added that she was informed that the empty office space was reserved for visiting executives from Los Angeles.
Then, four years later, in 2005, they got a janitor’s closet, which they cleared out and put a desk in.
It was clearly a way to keep her ego in check.
She thought she might finally get her own office when her co-star Regis – who died in 2020 – retired from the show in 2011.
But that didn’t happen.
Did he stand up for her? When she joined Live With Regis & Kelly in 2001 after Kathy Lee Gifford left, she didn’t get any VIP treatment. Instead, the former soap opera actress had to use the janitor’s closet and was forced to use a public restroom with viewers, which was awkward
Instead of inheriting Philbin’s spacious office, it was left empty.
‘They said, “Oh no, we’ll save that.” And I said, “Keep for what?” she commented.
‘And they say, ‘Well, when the new guy comes along.’ And I looked at her and said, “I’m the new guy,” she said.
Kelly was not given the green light to take office. So she pushed her way inside instead.
“All the offices that weren’t available to me were suddenly made available [to others]with walls torn down to make them double in size,” she added.
“It was fascinating for me to watch – the need to bring comfort and respect to the new man, but I couldn’t use those offices,” she said.
Unequal pay: Ryan Seacrest is now leaving the show. And Consuelos will step in. Seen with Ryan and Mark on March 12th
“I had to use the broom closet.”
And if she had to use the bathroom, she had to go to the main bathroom, where viewers were pointed out.
“We have a studio audience – about 250 people! — and I have to queue up,” she explained.
“Especially when I was pregnant, it was extremely tiring to have to stand in line.
“I have to host the show and I’m still waiting in line to go to the bathroom,” she said. “It just seemed, you know, a very unnecessarily difficult situation.”
So who does she blame? The network because they didn’t keep it the same.
Ryan Seacrest is now leaving the show and Consuelos will step in.