Kathie Lee Gifford Won't Support Kelly Ripa's Book After Regis Philbin Relationship Comments

Television personality Kathie Lee Gifford won't be purchasing a copy of Kelly Ripa's new book after the "Live Wire" author commented on her relationship with the late Regis Philbin.

During an interview with Fox 5 NY on Monday, Gifford revealed she was disappointed about recent headlines that suggested Ripa only had a professional relationship with Philbin rather than a friendship.

"I was very sorry to see the headlines," Gifford told the outlet. "We see headlines all the time, and you never know what's true and not true."

Gifford admitted she was out of the country amid reports regarding Ripa's relationship with Philbin and revealed she wouldn't support the book.

"I was in Israel, and I saw that and I went, 'Oh, I hope this isn't true. I just hope it isn't,'" Gifford said.

"'Cause what's the point?' I don't get it. I'm not going to read the book. I haven't read it. I don't even know if it's out yet."

Gifford worked with Philbin, who died in 2020, on "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" from the late '80s until 2000 when she left the show.

However, she maintained a friendship with her co-host during and after her time on the daytime series, unlike Ripa, who joined the show the following year.

"I know what Regis was to me, really. He was 15 years, the best partner a person could ever, ever have professionally," Gifford explained.

"But he was my friend. We were dear friends. And after I left the show, then the next 20 years, we became better friends. Dear friends. I saw him two weeks before he died."

Although Gifford was unhappy with Ripa's comments, she revealed she wouldn't speak negatively about the "Live with Kelly and Ryan" star.

"I'm not going to say anything ugly about anybody," Gifford said. "I never have and I'm not going to start now. I'm just saying that my reality is something completely different from that."

Ripa's book reportedly addresses rumors that suggested she abandoned Philbin after he left the show in 2011.

"It was somehow this false narrative that I had abandoned someone that I was very close to – that we were best friends and I had abandoned him," Ripa said in September during an interview. "And none of that was true. We had a very professional, working relationship."