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Kelly Ripa Gets In Her Last Digs At Michael Strahan Before His Exit

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 05:27 PST, Apr 29, 2016

Kelly Ripa sure is having fun on Live! at the expense of Michael Strahan. As we know, Kelly Ripa returned to Live! with Kelly and Michael after taking a week off when she found out that Strahan was leaving for Good Morning America.

When Ripa returned to the show, she said apologies were made to her, considering she found out about Strahan’s exit through the media and had no time to come up with a public statement. Despite being blindsided by the news, it sounded like Ripa was going to let bygones be bygones and continue the next two weeks in a professional fashion.

For the most part, she has, but Kelly also has gotten a few ribs at Michael’s expense. In an episode earlier in the week, Michael and Kelly had a few animal guests. One of those animals was a screeching armadillo.

Ripa couldn’t help taking a shot at their media fire storm and said in response to the noisy armadillo, “I want to take him into contract negotiations with me.”

Kelly laughed at her joke, and the audience seemed to get a kick out of it, but Michael Strahan looked noticeably uncomfortable by the joke.

Then, during a later show, Kelly decided to get personal and brought up Michael Strahan’s divorces during a segment. To introduce an article that Ripa found interesting but didn’t have an opinion on, she told Strahan she wanted to get his opinion on it by saying, “So you’ve gotten a divorce.” Strahan simply shook his head and looked bewildered.

Strahan began to speak about the article despite the jab by Kelly.

“We talked about me locking my bedroom doors yesterday. If I’m sharing my house with my ex every once in a while and she can get in with a key, at any point, I’m definitely locking the door. I’m not going to do it. Maybe I should. Her house is nicer than mine.”

Strahan and his first wife, Wanda Hutchins, were divorced in 1996 and have two children together. Strahan was also married to Jean Muggli, but the two divorced in 2006. They share twin daughters together.

As the Inquisitr reported, Michael Strahan was originally supposed to finish out his contract with Live! until the summer, but following Kelly’s return, it was announced that he would be leaving in two weeks in order to prepare for his new gig on Good Morning America. This will give him time to be integrated on different Good Morning America segments. Ripa, who was reportedly furious with how she found out about Strahan’s exit, seemed to be okay with this plan.

It was rumored that Strahan is being brought in to boost GMA’s failing ratings. Upon her return, Ripa said that ABC has promised that Live! is a priority. As the Inquisitr reported, Live! is currently seeking co-hosts to replace Strahan. It’s said that they’re considering female co-hosts to shake up the format a bit.

According to a source that spoke to Hollywood Life, “They are not anywhere near a replacement decision and they even are considering having another woman join the show. All options are wide open!”

That said, the only names that have floated around to replace Strahan are all men — Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, Jerry O’Connell, and Neil Patrick Harris are rumored as ABC’s tops picks. The source went on to say that two names out of the bunch are probably just wishful thinking.

“As much fun and respect as she has for Jerry and Anderson they probably will not be the pick for the permanent substitute.”

[Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images]

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