If you only tuned into ABC’s Live With Kelly & Michael for Michael Strahan’s final episode 10 years ago, on May 13, 2016, you might have thought there was nothing but love between the former NFL star and Kelly Ripa, his cohost of nearly four years.
But if you were following showbiz news — or even if you witnessed Ripa’s body language in then-recent episodes of the morning talk show — you’d have known that Strahan’s move to Good Morning America sent Live into behind-the-scenes chaos. And now Strahan and Ripa, once so chummy on screen, seem not to be talking to one another. As we reflect on the saga a decade later, here’s what Strahan and Ripa have said about what they’ve both deemed a mishandled handoff.
Kelly Ripa reportedly found out about Strahan’s departure minutes before the public did.
News of Strahan moving toGMA broke on April 19, 2016, with Variety later reporting Ripa had found out about Strahan’s career shift when ABC executives announced the news to her and the Live staff after that day’s
The next day, as Strahan talked about the change-up on Live, Ripa was a no-show, and it wasn’t until the following week that she returned to work. Upon that comeback, the longtime Live cohost took center stage to address the audience, saying she needed a couple of days to gather her thoughts. But she expressed gratitude that the upheaval led to “a much greater conversation about communication and consideration, and most importantly, respect in the workplace.”
She added, “Apologies have been made, and the best thing to come out of all of this, you guys, is that our parent company has assured me that Live is a priority.”
Ripa closed her speech by telling Strahan she was “thrilled” for him. “[GMA] is a tremendous opportunity, and I couldn’t be and we couldn’t be prouder of you and everything we accomplished together,” she said.
Despite that overture, viewers noticed that Ripa and Strahan seemed tense around each other as he wrapped up his Live run, and their attempts at playful banter came off as awkward.
“I wasn’t surprised by [Ripa’s] reaction at all, but I can’t control somebody else’s actions,” Strahan told People later that year. “I was there four years, and it’s about more than just being in front of the camera.”
Ripa said the lack of communication may have been an oversight.
In a People cover story the month after Strahan’s announcement, Ripa said had reached a state of forgiveness, chalking up the blindsiding news to a possible oversight.
“I think that all people are deserving of fair treatment in the workplace. People deserve respect,” she said. “I think that requires a certain amount of empathy on a level. When you’re dealing with big business, it’s easy to forget that you’re dealing with people and that people have feelings.”
She added, “I get it. We’re excited for Michael. He wanted that job, and it’s great for him. I think it is a perfect match, I really do. However, what nobody considered is there’s a whole other group of people that it really impacts, because we have to now find another great person.”
Strahan, who lost touch with Ripa, said his exit “could have been handled better.”
In a 2019 interview with TIME, Strahan indicated he and Ripa had a falling-out upon his Live exit or even beforehand. “I learned through all that went down with that, you can’t convince people to like you,” he said. And though he gave props to Ripa for teaching him how to connect with a morning TV audience, he revealed they weren’t in touch. “I haven’t spoken to her in a long time,” he said.
The following year, Strahan opened about his time on the show as he discussed his television career with The New York Times Magazine. He said he’d had TV jobs where he thought he’d be a partner, only to be relegated to a sidekick role. And when his Times interviewer asked if he was talking about Live, Strahan didn’t say no.
Lou Rocco/ABC
“I remained the same person I was from day one,” he explained. “One thing I will not do is alter my attitude for somebody else’s. I learned so much from Kelly, so much from [executive producer] Michael Gelman. When it was time to go, it was time to go. Certain things that were going on behind the scenes just caught up.”
Though Strahan admitted that his exit “could have been handled better,” he contended his move to Good Morning America was the network’s decision, not his. “It was treated as if I was the guy who walked in and said, ‘I’m leaving,’” he said. “That part was totally misconstrued, mishandled in every way. People who should have handled it better have all apologized, but a lot of the damage had already been done. For me, it was like: Move on.”
And Strahan said he didn’t hate Ripa. “I do respect her for what she can do at her job,” he said. “I cannot say enough about how good she is at her job.”
Ripa later reflected on that “very tough” chapter, putting the blame on ABC.
In a 2023 profile of Ripa, Variety reported it was the “Machiavellian” Ben Sherwood, then the president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, who plotted to steal Strahan for GMA and who instructed everyone at ABC to keep that switch a secret from Ripa,
“It was very tough,” Ripa said of that time. “Had I known how difficult it would have been, I don’t know that I would have gone for it. I just think my ignorance in that situation wound up being my blessing and my superpower. I did not have an easy time.”
John Argueta/Disney
Ripa also recounted to Variety the sexist treatment she’d endured behind the scenes at Live and said ABC was more at fault than her cohosts. “The network had a duty and an obligation to keep all things equal,” she said. “I don’t blame the fellas — they were just doing what they had been told, or what they were instructed to do, or what they thought they deserved. Having said that, I go out of my way to protect the people I’m working with at any and all costs, even if it means that I am not as popular.”
The former cohosts are back under the same roof at ABC’s new downtown Manhattan location.
Disney consolidated its ABC News, ESPN, and WABC-TV operations at its new headquarters at 7 Hudson Square in downtown Manhattan in 2025, bringing Ripa and Strahan back to the same physical workplace for the first time since his exit. And the New York Post reported that the GMA and Live would share the building’s basement level.
“They will be feet away from each other — he will be able to smell her perfume,” an ABC insider told the outlet. “The staff is on tenterhooks. These two do not speak. … “Plans are in place to get Michael and Kelly in and out without crossing paths. The good news is they both tend to leave pretty quickly after taping. Still, if their schedules overlap, ABC will need a Plan B.”
But an ABC spokesperson told the outlet there was “no truth” to the insider’s claims. “Both Kelly and Michael are consummate professionals and are excited to continue to co-host their top-rated shows in our new state-of-the-art studios,” the rep said.
And a source close to Ripa said, “Apparently some petty person is trying to relive the spring of 2016 by bringing this up again.”