Kelly Ripa Won’t Return To ‘Live’ Until At Least Next Tuesday

Erin Andrews will fill in as co-host with Michael Strahan for the rest of the week, while “Pretty Little Liars” star Shay Mitchell will fill in on Monday. The network is calling Ripa’s absence a “previously-scheduled vacation.”

Ripa was a no-show on “Live” on Wednesday, which fueled reports that she was completely blindsided by the news that Strahan was leaving the show for a full-time job at “Good Morning America.” Ripa and the show’s long-time producer, Michael Gelman, were only told of Strahan’s plan to leave moments before the news went public. 

One source at ABC told CNN that Ripa is “beyond angry,” while another at the Disney-owned network called the whole situation “a mess.”

Ripa celebrated her 15th anniversary co-hosting “Live” earlier this year, but the sudden announcement of Strahan’s departure may be bringing up some bad memories. According to the TMZ, Ripa’s former co-host, Regis Philbin, burned her in a similar manner when he announced his retirement f-rom the show back in 2011. Sources told the website that Philbin broke the news he was leaving the show just 15 minutes before he announced it to the rest of the world. 

Whether that’s true or not, the friendship that Ripa and Philbin seemed to build as co-hosts over a decade didn’t stand the test of time. In March 2015, Philbin told Hoda Kotb on her SiriusXM show that he hadn’t seen Ripa since he left the “Live” in November 2011. 

“I haven’t seen her, I don’t see her,” he said.  

Ripa has yet to comment on Strahan’s decision to leave the show.