Kelly Ripa might be fantasizing about retirement, but Oprah Winfrey isn't having it. On a new episode of Let’s Talk Off Camera, the queen of daytime herself sat down with Ripa and made one thing very clear: now is not the time to walk away from Live with Kelly and Mark.
The Oprah Winfrey Show ran from 1986 to 2011, so Winfrey does seem like the perfect person to ask for show advice. After more than two decades, Ripa asked Winfrey, "How did you know it was time to step away?" Winfrey didn't think twice, “First of all, it’s not time for you to step away,” Oprah said flat-out. “If I were advising you, I would say absolutely not.”
Ripa's been a part of the Live franchise since 2001, when she joined longtime host Regis Philbin after a high-profile co-host search. Over the years, the desk across from her has seen some familiar faces: Michael Strahan, Ryan Seacrest, and now, her real-life partner Mark Consuelos, who officially joined the show in 2023 after years of guest appearances.
Their husband-and-wife partnership has made for candid and hilarious moments about their sex life, aging, parenting, and even turtle porn. There's no denying they have something special, and Winfrey sees it too, saying they are in a "groove" that "continues to work."
“Don’t let go of the platform that you have," Winfrey said. "Do not do it. Don't even consider it.” “The family that you’ve created - both inside the studio and in the rest of the world - is really more vital and important now than ever before,” she said, urging Ripa not to underestimate the reach of her show.
Winfrey reflected on her own talk show, saying that while she adored the audience and the work, “the nature of what we were doing every day became just so hard.” Ripa agreed, pointing out Oprah often tackled heavy, soul-wrecking topics.
But Live, Oprah said, is a different kind of magic. It’s “easy, light, and serious enough when it needs to be.” She also reminded Kelly that legacy isn’t measured by awards or headlines, it’s in the lives you touch. “Your legacy is every life you touch,” Oprah said. “It’s measured in all the lives that are being affected by what you’re doing and saying.”
Ripa, moved by the whole exchange, agreed, "I have to remember that there are certain people that I will never know … who are counting on me and counting on the show," she said.
She went on to joke that in her fantasy world, The Oprah Winfrey Show would make a comeback. "If somebody could get us through the dark times that we currently seem to be stuck in, it would be you guiding us, " she said.
So for Live fans, rest easy, because it sounds like Winfrey convinced Ripa not to stop the show anytime soon.