It appears Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa are damn good actors.
Although Strahan and Ripa seemed to have remarkable chemistry on ABC’s “Live! with Kelly and Michael,” a Ripa source told Page Six of the New York Post that the two actually “could not stand each other” before it was announced earlier this week that Strahan will be leaving their morning show and joining “Good Morning America” in September.
” … whenever they communicated off-camera, it was always through their reps,” the source told the Post.
Multiple reports stated that Ripa was blindsided by the news that Strahan is leaving “Live!” to join “GMA.” She reportedly learned of the move after Tuesday’s taping of “Live!,” just minutes before it was publicly announced.
A Strahan source told Page Six that the Pro Football Hall of Famer was under direct orders not to spill the beans to anyone, including Ripa, but things reportedly were tense backstage. Strahan already is making appearances on “GMA,” so perhaps stress began to take its toll.
“He was having temper tantrums,” a source told Page Six. “He’d lose it, yelling at (Ripa) and (‘Live!’ executive producer Michael) Gelman.
“He acted like he was in a locker room, not a dressing room.”
As with anything, reports are (kind of) conflicting. The overall sentiment, however, is that Strahan and Ripa had their issues well before the former New York Giants defensive end’s daytime shift came to light.
“It’s 100 percent not true that they only talk through their reps,” another source told Page Six. “I’ve seen them together chatty a million times. But is there tension? Sure.”
The drama is intense, folks.
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
