Kelly Ripa Won’t Be Back On ‘Live!’ For Another Week, Here’s Why

Kelly Ripa has been absent from Live! With Kelly And Ryan this week and fans have been missing her presence on the show. There’s been some speculation on why she hasn’t been in her usual spot on the morning talk show. Now we’ve got an idea of what the former soap opera star has been up to on her break from the show.

The Blast reported early this morning that the mystery of Kelly Ripa’s absence from Live! has been solved. The outlet cited a source close to Ripa who said the morning show host is on vacation with her husband. The source insisted that there was nothing out of the ordinary about this break, since Ripa does the same thing every year “to spend quality time with her family and has for the last 20 years.”

Kelly Ripa Vacation Story Checks Out

Though Gossip Cop usually doesn’t trust anonymous sources, there is evidence to support this tipster’s claims. Last year, Ripa found herself “stuck” in the Carribean while on what was supposed to be a two-week family vacation thanks to COVID-19 travel restrictions. She wound up taping several episodes of Live! from the tropical location until travel restrictions lifted to allow the family to fly back to New York.

Unfortunately for fans of the show, that does mean another week without Ripa’s charming, ribald personality. On the bright side, this does mean that her co-host, Ryan Seacrest, gets to appear with a number of guest hosts for the duration. He’s already proven that he has great chemistry with the ladies he’s already been paired with this week, including Maria Menounos and Ali Wentworth.

Many were surprised to see that Ripa had temporarily been replaced Monday morning. Last year, the rumor mill went into overdrive after Seacrest was unexpectedly absent after suffering a health scare on American Idol. Despite rumors that he was considering leaving Live!, Seacrest has continued to be a beloved star of the show.