Kathie Lee Gifford is standing by her late friend and collaborator Regis Philbin after Kelly Ripa said that her experience working with the beloved TV host "was not a cakewalk."
In a Monday interview with Fox 5 NY, Gifford said she will not be reading Ripa's new book after the "Live With Kelly and Ryan" host recently opened up about the "good days and bad days" she had with Philbin. Gifford and Philbin co-hosted "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee" for about 12 years before Ripa replaced Gifford for "Live With Regis and Kelly."
"I was very sorry to see the headlines" from Ripa's interview with People magazine promoting her book and describing her complicated relationship with Philbin, Gifford told Fox 5 NY.
"We see headlines all the time, and you never know what's true and what's not true. ... I saw that, and I went, 'Oh, I hope this isn't true.' ... Because what's the point? I don't get it."
Gifford went on to praise Philbin — who died in July 2020 at age 88 — as "the best partner a person could ever, ever have, professionally." She recalled Philbin's wife, Joy, telling her that the last time the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" host laughed was when they were all together two weeks before he died.
"We were dear friends. And after I left the show ... we became better friends, dearer friends," Gifford continued.
"We always just picked up right where we left off. We were Frick and Frack. We were the odd couple. We were absolutely perfect together for television. We never had an argument — not an unkind word in 15 years. So that was my reality."
Ripa's reality was slightly different, according to last month's People cover story spotlighting the talk-show personality and her book, "Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories." Upon accepting the "Live" gig, Ripa said, she was bluntly informed that Philbin was her "boss" and didn't want her "bringing an entourage" to set.
When Ripa arrived with hair and makeup artists — which she said was "not an unusual thing for people on a television show" to do — Philbin allegedly quipped to an executive producer, "Uh-oh ... it's got an entourage."
"I felt horrible. He was probably trying to be funny, but at the same time it felt like a pile-on," Ripa said of the incident.
"I understand that probably he didn't want a co-host, but the network wanted me to be the co-host and I didn't think I should pass up that opportunity. I don't think it was fair to him. But it was also not fair to me."
While Gifford acknowledged that Philbin was prone to teasing people he liked, she maintained that she "never saw him unkind to anyone."
"I'm not going to say anything ugly about anybody," Gifford continued. "I never have, and I'm not going to start now. I'm just saying my reality is something completely different from that."
For what it's worth, Ripa also had plenty of nice things to say about Philbin, lauding him as "the world's best storyteller" and clarifying that she loved him.
"Off camera and outside of that building, it was a different thing," she told People.
"The handful of times we spent together, I so enjoyed. ... He came to a dinner I hosted — one of the favorite nights of my life. I never laughed so hard."
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