ABCKelly Ripa will return to co-host Live! With Kelly & Michael with Michael Strahan Tuesday after being absent from the show since the recent shocking announcement he was leaving the series.
Ripa, who has hosted the daytime talk series in its various formats for more than 15 years, was a no-show on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after she was told following Tuesday's show taping about ABC's decision to move Strahan full-time to Good Morning America, where he had had a part-time gig. Her absence had spurred speculation about the future of the series.
Ripa told Live! With Kelly & Michael staffers in an email Friday night she would return to the show Tuesday. She will appear with Strahan, E! News has confirmed.
"(Sorry for this late Friday night email). I wanted to thank you all for giving me the time to process this new information. Your kindness, support, and love has overwhelmed me," she wrote. "We are a family and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday morning. Love, Kelly."
Ripa was expected to remain away from Live! until Tuesday—she had requested time off work to celebrate her and Mark Consuelos' 20th wedding anniversary with a vacation in Turks and Caicos, E! News had previously learned. The couple ended up not going.
She has not commented about Strahan and his upcoming departure, which was announced in a press release shortly after Ripa was informed about it. A source had recently told E! News Ripa was "livid" about hearing the news when everyone else did.
Multiple sources have also told E! News she and Strahan did not get along behind the scenes. Another source said Thursday the two haven't spoken since ABC executives informed Ripa, in front of Strahan, that he was leaving Live! to go to Good Morning America in September.
The source also said Strahan "has no bad blood towards her at this point and is looking forward to start his new chapter with his new team."
The two and the network have not commented.
Strahan sung Ripa's praises during an appearance on Good Morning America Thursday.
"It's like my second family here. I'm going to miss everybody at Live!," he said. "I've been sitting next to Kelly every day and having a lot of fun on that show for the last four years. I'm very thankful for her—to her—because I learned so much from her."
Ripa was seen in public for the first time since the shocker Thursday, outside her home in New York City. She held a a copy of Malcom Gladwell's David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.