Kelly Ripa Gets Choked Up During Ryan Seacrest’s Final ‘Live’ Show: ‘We’ll Never Say Goodbye’

April 14 marked Ryan Seacrest’s last day hosting ‘Live’ alongside Kelly Ripa. During the show, Kelly Ripa gave a sweet send-off speech to her co-host of six years, and even teared up a bit.

Ryan Seacrest bid farewell to LIVE With Kelly & Ryan during the show’s April 14 episode. For the last time as a regular co-host, Ryan sat next to Kelly Ripa for the ABC morning show. He officially handed the baton off to Kelly’s husband, Mark Consuelos, who is now joining his wife in the anchor chairs. Throughout Ryan’s final show, he got to relive some of his best moments from the past six years as co-host on Live. There were various montages of clips from throughout his time on the show. Toward the end of the hour, Kelly took a minute to speak about her co-host, and she got teary-eyed as she paid tribute to Ryan.

“This has, without question, been the fastest six years of my life,” Kelly began. “Although you and I have been friends for decades and decades, I feel like I’ve gained, through this process, a younger brother slash oldest son. That’s how I feel about you. I’m so grateful that our success together on this show has led to us developing an even closer, yet also co-dependent relationship.”

She continued her speech with compliments about Ryan’s work on Live. “On our show, I feel like you got to show off your immeasurable talents to the world, to our audience, to our viewers,” Kelly gushed. “And our viewers got to know the you that we all know.” Kelly praised Ryan for sharing his “incredible family” with viewers, including his niece, Flora.

“I always jokingly refer to you as an onion with all these layers,” Kelly continued. “But really, you’re a blooming onion, because you’re layers upon layers of goodness, of charm, of brilliance, of authenticity and generosity. Your generosity is unmatched.” Of course, Kelly also poked some fun at Ryan for his “satin sheets” and “home-brewed” coffee, and vowed that she’ll be “trolling” him on social media even after he leaves the show.

To conclude, she said, “From the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of all of our hearts, we just want to thank you for being wonderful. For being an original, authentic addition to this show. YOu are forever our family. We will never say goodbye to you. We will only say see you soon. And I love you!”

Ryan also took a minute to address Kelly and the viewers. “It’s not lost on me how fortunate I am,” Ryan admitted. “Fortunate to have had this seat next to you for six years. You’re incomparable. There’s no one like you. Fortunate to have this job where I get to talk and laugh and screw things up. Fortunate to connect with viewers from across America and Canada, as well. I’ve spent my entire career talking. Words are my bread and butter. But today, it’s hard to put into words how deeply I’ve appreciated being here and being with you, being invited into your homes every day to try to deliver a smile or a laugh or two. I’m honored to be part of this family. I’m blessed with so many memories. I will cherish and relive those memories forever. There’s no place like this on television. I got to learn that.”

He concluded his message with a note to Kelly, adding, “I so appreciate your leadership, your love, your wisdom. I really do feel like a family member and we will have that forever. I’ll miss you the second we say goodbye today.” The show ended with Mark coming out to deliver Ryan a cake, and Ryan ceremoniously passing his mug onto Mark.”

Ryan has been hosting Live alongside Kelly since 2017. He joined the show following Michael Strahan’s exit in 2016. For nearly a year, Kelly hosted Live with various guest hosts, including Ryan, before he was selected as the full-time anchor. Ryan announced his exit from Live in Feb. 2023.

The announcement was made on-air during the show’s Feb. 16 episode. “Working alongside Kelly for the past six years has been a dream job and one of the highlights of my career,” Ryan admitted. “She has been an amazing, partner, friend and confidant, and although we will always be part of each other’s lives, I’ll miss our mornings together.”

Ryan and Kelly were longtime friends even before he became her co-host. Now, Ryan is headed back to Los Angeles full-time, where he’ll focus on his role as American Idol host. The show is set to begin live shows for its 21st season in the coming weeks. However, he said that he will return to Live to fill in as a guest host, when needed, in the future.