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Ryan Seacrest Is Leaving Kelly Ripa, Will Be Replaced By Her Husband

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Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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Ryan Seacrest said Thursday morning that he is leaving morning show “Live with Kelly and Ryan” and will be replaced by Kelly Ripa’s husband, Mark Consuelos.

“This is something that [Kelly] and I have been talking about for a long time, and it was a tough, tough decision. Last year we spoke, and I made the decision to make this my last season as co-host,” he told viewers in a heartfelt message shared online. “What I plan to do is, once ‘American Idol’ starts from Los Angeles later this spring, I’ll head out to the West Coast and host that show.”

The reality television star promised that he will return to guest host and fill in, PageSix noted. Ripa, 52, said that Seacrest, 48, is “one of my best friends,” and that he was only supposed to be part of the show for three years. He ended up staying for six years.

Ripa then announced that her husband, Conseulos, 51, will be permanently replacing Seacrest. “The only person I can think of that is capable of holding [Ryan’s] torch the way [he has] held it would be my husband, Mark Consuelos, in what Ryan and I are calling the nation’s weirdest social experiment,” she laughed. (RELATED: Is This Instagram Influencer The Greatest Social Climber Of All Time?)

Consuelos is Ripa’s fourth co-host. She previously chaired the long-running show with Regis Philbin, who was replaced by Michael Strahan, before Seacrest joined in 2016. Ripa and Consuelos have been married since 1996 and have three adult children together.