Kelly Ripa is speaking out about her experience with pay disparity in Hollywood.
The 50-year-old recently spoke with Bustle, where she looked back on how she’s changed since she was 28 years old and working on “All My Children,” saying she’s now “less tolerant of people’s bulls**t.”
The “Live with Kelly and Ryan” host claims her husband Mark Consuelos was paid more than she was for her role on the soap opera at the time, despite how they were both hired with no acting experience.
“I watched my husband who had no acting experience when he got his job at ‘All My Children,’ much the same way I had no acting experience. But I got my job in 1990 and I think he got his job in ’95. And he was paid more than me immediately. It was immediate,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe how quickly they were willing to pay the man more than the woman.”
The mother-of-three continued, saying that the situation has bothered her ever since and how she expects to get blowback from revealing it.
“It’s bothered me ever since. I’ve earned everything I’ve had over the course of 30 years of working for the same company, whereas I think that men still don’t have an understanding of how hard women have to work to have the opportunity to say this statement that I’m saying right now. And that will no doubt get blowback. People will say, ‘Oh, but she earns such a good living.’ Yeah, I do, because I really worked hard for it.”
Ripa played Hayley Vaughn on ABC’s “All My Children” for over a decade opposite Consuelos, who played Mateo Santos for seven years, with both wrapping up their time on the show in 2002.
— Stephanie Swaim
Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos’ Love Story Over The Last 25 Years
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