It looks like Kelly Ripa’s sudden leave from Live! With Kelly and Michael will be temporary, because she is a mighty and forgiving ruler in the land of morning television.
Following the announcement that her co-host Michael Strahan will be leaving the show for a spot on Good Morning America, as well as the ensuing media rumor mill it wrought, Ripa confirmed with the network that she will be returning to her spot on the show.
In an email acquired by The New York Times, Ripa assured the network that she would return to her hosting duties next Tuesday with a brief and tactful message, as illustrious queens are wont to do:
“(Sorry for this late Friday night email). I wanted to thank you all for giving me the time to process this new information. Your kindness, support, and love has overwhelmed me. We are a family and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday morning. Love, Kelly.”
The e-mail was sent and received after a widely-reported kerfuffle between Ripa and the network, which occurred after Ripa “felt blindsided” by Strahan’s move to GMA, having been given no notice until only a few minutes before the news went public.
After Ripa abruptly left Live, leaving pinch-hitter hosts Ana Gasteyer and Erin Andrews to fill in for the rest of the week, talks of Ripa’s return to the show followed reports that executives at ABC had personally apologized to the host.
As CNN Money reported, one source told the news site the execs “expressed regret for the way Kelly was told the news,” and that their initial strategy to break the news of Strahan’s departure “obviously did not go as planned.”
As per their sources, CNN also stated that both Ripa and ABC executives would like to put the incident behind them, and that “she is said to be appreciative of the strong support she has received, particularly from other women.”
Despite Ripa’s return, it is still unclear as to whether the television personality will remain on Live after her contract is up, which could be as soon as this year. As Janet Min, editor for The Hollywood Reporter told CNN, the controversy has “teed up a whole bunch of different possible outcomes” for Ripa’s future career.
Whatever Ripa’s destiny will bring, I just hope it involves a lot of this:
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Image via Getty.