Ripa responded during an interview on the 'Not Skinny But Not Fat' podcast with host Amanda Hirsch.
Kelly Ripa has responded to Kathie Lee Gifford's criticism over the Regis Philbin "headlines" that were generated after the launch of Ripa's new book, Live Wire.
During an interview on Dear Media's Not Skinny But Not Fast podcast released on Tuesday, the Live With Kelly and Ryan co-host referred to Gifford's criticism during an interview with Fox 5 NY as a "conundrum," largely in part because she didn't see Gifford's interview.
"I tend to not go into deep dives about things I can't comment on because I haven't seen them," Ripa said in her interview with Amanda Hirsch. "And then, I write this entire chapter [in my book that] is about correcting the record in real time. Do you do it? Should one do it? Theoretically, should a person correct the record in real time or should they not even comment on it?"
Last week, Gifford told Fox 5 NY that she hadn't read Ripa's book nor had plans to read it, but wasn't pleased about the headlines concerning the nature of Ripa and Philbin's relationship. Gifford said Philbin was her "dear friend" and that her thoughts were with his wife, Joy, and their children.
“I was very sorry to see the headlines,” said Gifford, who hosted Live with Philbin from 1985-2000. “We see headlines all the time, and you never know what’s true and not true.”
“I was in Israel, and I saw that and I went, ‘Oh, I hope this isn’t true. I just hope it isn’t,'” she continued. “'Cause what’s the point?’ I don’t get it. I’m not going to read the book. I haven’t read it. I don’t even know if it’s out yet.”
When Gifford's comments were brought up near the end of Hirsch's hour-long interview, Ripa opined that views offered from people who actually read the book will vastly differ from those who didn't read the book.
"If you're at home hidden behind a computer screen not having read a book, launching criticism, I don't have time for you," Ripa said. "I don't listen to that. I've been traveling now promoting this book, and I take away, like, these are people who have read it and have really been uplifted."
She continued, "They've laughed, they've cried. They got it. They got the message that there are universal things: work is hard; play is fun; childbirth isn't for pu**ies. You know? It's like, these are the universal truths that we all experience. And, so, I am not going to entertain criticism from people who didn't read the book. Don't read it. Everybody's busy. You [Hirsch] have a lot going on. You're running a media empire by yourself. And, so, I get that. The fact that you took the time to read my book is not lost on me."
Ripa did thank Gifford for bringing more attention to her book.
"It is really hard to sell a book," she said. "This is like week three of the book, right? … Suddenly all of these headlines pop up, and there's all of these headlines on my book … so my ultimate comment is, 'Thank you.'"
"It's really hard to get attention on a book that's been out for a couple of weeks, and now, it's week two, [the] second week on the New York Times Best Sellers list, it's like, 'Thank you,'" she continued. "Because I think that people who read the book will have a really different take on the book."
A rep for Gifford tells ET the former Today co-host "doesn't have anything further to add."
In her book, Ripa writes about her relationship with Philbin and shares that it was mostly professional and that there wasn’t much interaction off camera, but she does describe him as being "warm and friendly" as well as "a great storyteller." Philbin also previously said the two lost touch when he left the show.
Ripa told ET last month that she had nothing but great respect for the late host.
"I had and still have enormous respect, admiration and reverence for Regis," Ripa told ET of the late TV personality, who died in 2020. "I, like most of the viewing public, felt like I knew him, but to expect two people from such different generations to have some sort of weird, forced friendship when they never knew each other is a very strange thing to put on one person. It was only put on one person and that is how I describe it [in the book]."
Ripa, in the podcast interview, said she's spoken to people who have read her memoir, and they have a "very different take on those chapters because they read the book."
"You don't have to read every book," she added. "Nobody has to read every book on Earth, and the comments I've gotten about those chapters have been overwhelmingly positive, and the people who read the book took away a lot of positivity from it."
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