Kelly Ripa may have known about Ryan Seacrest's exit from Live! with Kelly and Ryan for a bit longer than viewers have, but her reaction upon first finding out wasn't as seamless.
The TV personality is the cover star for the newest edition of Variety's Power of Women Issue and opened up about all things daytime TV, including her co-host's departure, which you can see in the video below.
Kelly detailed that it wasn't easy discovering that her co-star of six years would be leaving, the third time she would be overseeing a change in the line-up since she joined in 2001.
Her husband Mark Consuelos, who will be stepping into Ryan's shoes as the show gets rebranded as Live! with Kelly and Mark, was on hand to console her.
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Kelly told Variety: "Ryan and Mark were like, 'What are you nervous about? It's going to be fine.' And I said to them, 'You have to forgive me. I have a little PTSD.'"
The former All My Children star was referring to the way her former co-anchors Regis Philbin and Michael Strahan announced that they would be departing from the show, the former revealing it on the air for the first time and the latter doing so while she was away on vacation.
She further elaborated on the difficulty she endured once it was revealed to her that Michael had signed on to Good Morning America instead, with the move being kept a secret from her.
"It was very tough," Kelly explained of the hard times. "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."
MORE: Watch Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest engage in emotional moment on Live!
The mom-of-three touched upon how pleased she was with the way the current transition from Ryan to Mark had been taking place, even while she currently is on vacation away from ABC studios.
"I can't say it enough. I had a really difficult time. These transitions don't have to be dramatic," she said. "I [come] from an acting background, and I am an expert in rejection. But this was like weirdly being rejected while also being the person that they wanted for the show."
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