Kelly Ripa Has A MESSAGE For Kathie Lee Gifford After Memoir Criticism!

Kelly Ripa isn’t going to let Kathie Lee Gifford just say whatever she wants!

As Perezcious readers will recall, Regis Philbin‘s longtime daytime TV co-host and close friend went after Ripa — Regis’ more recent longtime morning show co-host — over Kelly’s recently-released memoir Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories.

At issue for Kathie Lee was how Kelly wrote about her late co-host. Except there was just one problem: Gifford admitted she hadn’t read the book, and she wasn’t going to either! So the criticism fell flat for Mark Consuelos‘ wife!

Now, the 52-year-old star is speaking out about Kathie Lee’s comments.

Kelly popped up on Tuesday’s episode of Dear Media‘s Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast to discuss the book and backlash. For one, Ripa credits Kathie Lee with re-igniting interest in the book a few weeks after it was first released:

“It’s really hard to sell a book, right? And [her comments came in] like, week three of the book [release]. I’m not going to lie, I was not reading any headlines anywhere [when Gifford spoke]. And suddenly all of these headlines pop up and there’s all of this attention on my book. I am a person that tends to take a negative and turn it into a positive, so my ultimate comment is, ‘thank you.'”

Ryan Seacrest‘s co-host also took issue with how Kathie Lee characterized the book — especially since Gifford herself admitted she wasn’t going to read it. Kelly used the podcast to ask others to do a “deep dive” on the memoir, and said she hoped those “people that read the book” will have a completely different take on the chapters which mention Regis.

Ripa explained:

“You know, if you read it, if you do the deep dive, I take his side in most of the chapter. I’m, like, on his side because … at the time, I had no awareness that this was not a choice for him [to get a new co-host]. I wasn’t a choice for him.”

And she went on, claiming readers have been sending in “overwhelmingly positive” comments about her writing on her time on air with Philbin:

“This entire chapter is about correcting the record in real-time. Do you do it? Should one do it, theoretically? … People who read the book have a very different take on those chapters because they read the book. … And the comments I’ve gotten about those chapters have been overwhelmingly positive and the people who read the book took away a lot of positivity from it.”

Interesting! But the real shade was yet to come!!

Kelly also told Hirsch that while “nobody has to read every book on Earth,” she seemed mystified that Kathie Lee would comment on something she doesn’t know about.

The key quote came up next:

“I’m like, the opposite [of her]. I don’t comment on things I don’t know about, so I don’t know [what she said].”

WHEW!!!

Remember, Kathie Lee went on Fox 5 New York last Monday and defended the late Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host while slamming Kelly’s book for even broaching the subject of her good friend:

“I’m not gonna read the book. … I just know what Regis was to me. He was 15 years the best partner I could ever have professionally. But he was my friend. We were dear friends and after I left the show … for the next 20 years we became better friends. Dearer friends.”

During that local TV interview, Kathie Lee also petitioned for sympathy from viewers and fans alike:

“Lord, protect Joy [Philbin] and the girls from this. In all the years I’ve known him, I never saw him [be] unkind to anyone. I never did. I’m just saying my reality is something completely different from that.”

Yeah, no wonder those comments didn’t sit well with Kelly. And no wonder Kelly wanted to throw back some shade in response!!

What do U make of this back-and-forth, Perezcious readers??

Sound OFF with your takes here down in the comments (below)!

[Image via Tamron Hall Show/YouTube/Watch What Happens Live/YouTube]