Kelly Ripa reveals she was paid LESS than husband Mark Consuelos
Kelly Ripa reveals she was paid LESS than husband Mark Consuelos when they co-starred on All My Children… even though she had seniority
Kelly Ripa has been addressing pay disparity.
Appearing on the cover of Variety’s Power Of Women issue, she noted how she has been mistreated in the workplace in the past.
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. That, despite the fact she’d started working on the soap before he did.
‘He started years after I started,’ she said of their time together on the show.
Also in her interview, she shared she was given a janitor’s closet as an office when she started on Live With Regis & Kelly.
He made more: Kelly Ripa told Variety that when she starred on All My Children, she was paid less than her now husband Mark Consuelos. Seen in 1996
Still in love: The couple 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 earning more money than him,’ she noted.
‘We have been together so long that it’s always been collective money. We are very much old-fashioned in that sense.’
And she also revealed that she was treated poorly on Live With Regis & Kelly when she began.
When the 52-year-old started out at Live With Regis & Kelly in 2001 after Kathy Lee Gifford left, she did not get any sort of VIP treatment.
Instead, the actress – who talked about her marriage earlier this week – had to use the janitor’s closet to do her paper work, and was forced to use a public bathroom with the 250 audience members, which was awkward, especially when there was a line.
‘I had a really difficult time,’ Ripa told the publication.
Men always earn more: ‘It wasn’t until I got what we call my “fancy job” that I started actually earning more money than him,’ she noted. ‘We have been together so long that it’s always been collective money. We are very much old-fashioned in that sense’
So happy: Together the power couple have three children; seen here on Christmas
Coming clean: Ripa also told Variety this week that she struggled when she started Live
Ripa revealed she had to push hard for some privacy in the workplace.
In 2001 when she was hired for Live, the former actress was told she could not have an office of her own.
But there were empty office spaces in the building which she easily could have slipped into to make her calls, leave her purse and store her paperwork.
Ripa was told no.
She added she was informed the empty office spaces were reserved for executives who visited from Los Angeles.
Then four years later in 2005 she was given a janitor’s closet they cleared out and moved a desk into.
It clearly was a way to keep her ego in check.
She thought she might finally get her own office when her costar Regis – who died in 2020 – retired from the show in 2011.
But that did not happen.
Did he speak up for her? When she started out at Live With Regis & Kelly in 2001 after Kathy Lee Gifford left, she did not get any sort of VIP treatment. Instead, the former soap opera actress had to use the janitor’s closet and was forced to use a public bathroom with the audience members, which was awkward
Instead of her inheriting Philbin’s spacious office, it was left empty.
‘They said, “Oh, no, we’re saving that.” And I said, “Saving it for what?”‘ she commented.
‘And they go, “Well, for when the new guy comes.” And I looked at them, and I said, “I am the new guy,”‘ she said.
Kelly did not get the go ahead to take the office. So instead she pushed her way into it.
‘All of those offices that were not available to me were suddenly made available [to others], with walls knocked down to make them twice as big,’ she added.
‘It was fascinating for me to watch — the need to make the new guy comfortable and respected, but I couldn’t use those offices,’ she said.
Uneven pay: Ryan Seacrest is now leaving the show. And Consuelos will step in. Seen with Ryan and Mark on March 12
‘I had to use the broom closet.’
And when she had to use the bathroom, she had to go out to the main one where the audience members were directed.
‘We have a studio audience — like 250 people! — and I have to queue up,’ she explained.
‘Particularly when I was pregnant, it was extraordinarily exhausting to have to wait in line.
‘I have to host the show, and I’m still waiting in line to use the bathroom,’ she said. ‘It just seemed, you know, a very needlessly difficult situation.’
So who does she blame? The network, because they didn’t keep it equal.
Ryan Seacrest is now leaving the show and Consuelos will step in.
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