Michael Strahan says he and former co-host Kelly Ripa haven’t spoken ‘in a long time’

Jan 26, 2019

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Good Morning America anchor Michael Strahan said he and former Live! co-host Kelly Ripa are no longer cooler than the other side of a pillow following their fallout three years ago.

Strahan has revealed that he and Ripa still haven’t exchanged pleasantries since he left their morning talk show, Live! with Kelly and Michael, after Good Morning America made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Ripa felt blindsided by the offer and disrespected by her co-host, Page Six reported.

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Strahan quit the show months earlier than planned because of the furor about his decision to leave. The former Giants star told Time magazine in a recent interview: “I learned through all that went down with that, you can’t convince people to like you.”

Ripa, feeling slighted, took a week off from the show, telling People magazine at the time: “I think that all people are deserving of fair treatment in the workplace. People deserve respect. People should be treated equally and with dignity.”

Strahan is now hosting the third hour of GMA alongside Sara Haines and he credits Ripa for teaching him the tricks of connecting with the TV audience. But the despite his praise for her, Strahan told Time: “I haven’t spoken to her in a long time.”

After his fallout with Ripa back in 2016, the former NFL star told PEOPLE, “At one point I think we were friends. I don’t know what happened at the end. I learned a lot from her, though.”

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When his announcement about joining the GMA team prompted an angry Ripa to miss a week of work, she returned to the air days later and ranted about respect in the workplace.

“I wasn’t surprised by her reaction at all, but I can’t control somebody else’s actions. I was there four years, and it’s about more than just being in front of the camera,” Strahan told PEOPLE at the time.