Kelly Ripa Marks 25 Seasons on ‘Live,’ Recalls Favorite Moments (Exclusive)

Kelly Ripa hit a major career milestone this week.

As Live with Kelly and Mark kicked off season 38, the six-time Emmy winner marked the beginning of her 25th season on the syndicated show — a record that ties her with Oprah Winfrey, TV’s longest-running female daytime talk host.

“That’s really nutty. Nutty!” Ripa tells PEOPLE on Tuesday, Sept. 4, in an interview from Live‘s set after she and husband Mark Consuelos wrapped up the season 38 premiere. “Mark was saying to me backstage, ‘It doesn’t feel like that many seasons.’ And I go, ‘For you, it hasn’t been that many seasons!’ ”

She’s not wrong. Consuelos joined the series in April 2023, replacing Ryan Seacrest, who had co-hosted with Ripa for six seasons beginning in 2017. Prior to that, Ripa sat beside Michael Strahan (from 2012-2016) and Regis Philbin (from 2001 to 2011).

Looking back on her time on Live, Ripa admits there’s been “so many” happy memories. But the ones she cherishes the most involve the three children she shares with Consuelos: Michael, 28, Lola, 24, and Joaquin, 22.

“What I didn’t realize would become my favorite moments later on — because at the time, they were like anxiety-inducing and sort of, I was out of my head space — but when my kids would come on the show as small children and toddlers and babies, that was so special,” Ripa says. “I have sort of this, living diary of their lives.”

Even Ripa and Consuelos’ kids agree. “Now that they’re adults, they appreciate how special that time was for them,” Ripa says.

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Live with Kelly and Mark is the No. 1 entertainment talk show on television, and currently up for three 2025 Daytime Emmys: Outstanding Daytime Talk Series and Outstanding Daytime Talk Series Hosts.

Season 38 has already featured a powerhouse string of guests, like Taylor Kitsch, Lila Tung, Rose Byrne, Derek Hough and Julianne Hough. Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Zeta-Jones are expected this week, too.

September will feature what the show is dubbing ‘Kelly and Mark Do It Week,’ where Ripa and Consuelos will take on the hottest viral challenges. 

“I can’t stand Do It Week,” Ripa tells PEOPLE. “I’m so sick of it because I’ve been doing it for decades, you know what I mean? And so every time we survive a Do It Week, I think to myself, ‘Well, we live through another one and here it comes again.’ ”

“And this year’s Do It Week, because we’re married, they’re putting us into more compromising positions,” she continues. “If we were not married, this would be an HR violation! I am convinced a hundred percent. Seacrest could never lift me the way [Mark’s] going to have to lift me!”

As for Consuelos, he’s got a long way to go to touch Ripa’s record. But two years in, he’s feeling more confident than ever. Asked what he knows now that he wished he knew on Day 1, Consuelos tells PEOPLE he’s learned to not put pressure on himself for not being perfect.

“I was a little hard on myself when I flubbed a line, read something that was not there, or just made a mistake,” he shares. “I was pretty hard on myself. So I’m a little easier on myself now.”

Live with Kelly and Mark airs weekdays (check local listings).