Kelly Ripa is facing backlash following the comments that she made about the late Regis Philbin.

According to the Live With Kelly and Ryan host, Philbin was difficult to work with. And the tensions between the two hosts became so intense that Ripa refused to stay behind after the cameras stopped rolling.

However, some people close to Philbin also came to his defense because he was no longer around to stand up for himself and one of them is Kathie Lee.

“Kathie Lee is steaming. Unlike Kelly, she is loyal to people who changed her life. Kelly is a coward coming after a man who’s dead. Kelly would never have dared talk about Regis when he was alive. Now, she’s attacking him just to sell a book. It’s a disgrace,” the source said (via National Enquirer). 

The source also claimed that Ripa never maintained her contact with Philbin because they never had the opportunity to become friends. Regis, on the other hand, stayed loyal to Philbin up until his death in 2020 at the age of 88.

“Kathie has never liked the way Kelly treated Regis. The way they treated him, you wouldn’t treat a dog. But that was nothing compared to what she’s doing now. Regis can’t fight back but Kathie Lee can,” the source said.

However, one should take the tabloid’s claims with a grain of salt. It’s obvious that Ripa’s comments about Philbin were just taken out of context. It was not her intention to criticize the late host. Instead, she was just sharing how she felt like working with him.

There’s also no indication that Lee is furious with Ripa because of the comments that the latter made about Philbin. It’s obvious that the tabloid is just pitting the two women against each other.

But Lee did say that she has no plans to read Ripa’s new book Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories.

“I was very sorry to see the headlines. We see headlines all of the time, and you never know what is true or not true. I was in Israel, and I saw that, and I went, 'Oh, I hope this isn't true.' I just hope it isn't because what is the point? I don't get it. I am not going to read the book, I haven't read it, and I don't even know if it's out yet,” she said (via OK! Magazine).