Kelly Ripa is a name that should need no introduction. After all, she is one of the most prominent figures that can be found on the TV landscape of the United States thanks to the morning talk show Live that has been running in one form or another since 2001. As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that she is believed to have a very high current net worth, though the exact estimates can see a fair amount of variation. For example, The Richest estimates about $75 million. In contrast, CelebrityNetWorth.com has a much higher estimate at about $120 million. Whichever one is closer, it seems safe to say that Ripa’s career success is very much reflected by her finances.

How Did Kelly Ripa Reach Her Current Net Worth?

For those who are unfamiliar, Ripa was born in a borough called Berlin that can be found in the state of New Jersey. Background-wise, she can claim about three quarters Italian descent and one quarter Irish descent. Furthermore, her mother Esther was a homemaker while her father Joseph was a bus driver as well as the president of a labor union. With that said, Ripa became involved with the arts when she was still a child, as shown by how she started taking ballet lessons when she was still at the age of three. Something that was followed up by music as well.

It wasn’t until high school that Ripa discovered acting. In this, she received a great deal of support from her high school drama teacher, who believed that she had the potential to go very far indeed. As a result, Ripa started appearing in local theatre productions, which worked out very well for her because she was discovered when she was still a high school student while performing in The Ugly Duckling. For a time, she studied psychology at Camden County College, but it wasn’t too long before she decided to drop out of school so that she could put serious time and effort into pursuing a career as a professional actor in New York City.

There, Ripa embarked on a career in the entertainment industries. Initially, she got local roles in local projects. However, as she managed to build up her credentials, she managed to get more and more prominent roles. With that said, while Ripa still retained some interest in acting, she also developed an interest in the news with the result that her career goal became becoming a newsreporter.

Fortunately for Ripa, when the Live! host Regis Philbin started looking for a replacement for his former co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, both he and his executive producer started thinking about Ripa, who had already become prominent enough to appear on the show by that point in time. Essentially, Ripa had a combination of characteristics such as confidence, a keen mind, a sense of fun, and a lack of pretentiousness that made her an excellent choice for a potential co-host. Due to this, she got the chance to co-host the show along with a number of other potential candidates. However, it wasn’t long before the selection process became moot because apparently as soon as Ripa had her chance as the co-host, the whole issue was settled then and there.

Combined, Philbin and Ripa proved to be a very effective combination on the TV screen, particularly since the two worked well with one another. As such, when Philbin left, it was natural that Ripa would continue on with a new co-host chosen through the same kind of process that had chosen her. This resulted in Michael Strahan, who became the new Live! co-host in 2012 and continued to be so until 2016 when he moved on over to Good Morning America. For a short while, Ripa continued on her own, but it wasn’t too long before another selection process resulted in Ryan Seacrest becoming the new Live! co-host in 2017. Something that has continued to the present time.

Naturally, a lot of Ripa’s current net worth was built up through her role as the Live! host. In fact, it should be mentioned that Forbes reported that Ripa made an amazing $18 million in 2017 because of the show, which was expected to increase to an even more amazing $20 million in 2018. With that said, while Ripa has made much because of her involvement with Live! ever since 2001, it seems reasonable to speculate that her involvement has enabled her to make even more through other avenues. After all, name recognition is an asset in its own right, meaning that people who are willing can make plenty of money off of it.

The exact extent to which Ripa has benefited from her name recognition is unknown. After all, she isn’t exactly running around releasing private information about her finances left, right, and center, meaning that while there is plenty of public interest, public interest will have to settle for very rough estimates if that based on very minimal scraps of information. Still, it is known that Ripa has had many, many endorsement deals with a wide range of businesses, which have presumably proven to be lucrative. Furthermore, she has set up her own production company as well.

Further Thoughts

For the time being, Ripa’s current net worth has been estimated to be as high as $120 million. However, it seems safe to say that said figure will continue to grow and grow in the time to come. After all, she is just in her late 40s, meaning that she can continue on in her current role as the Live! host for decades and decades to come so long as she can keep up her numbers. Naturally, this means a very handsome pay-off. Moreover, it means plenty of other revenue-earning opportunities as well. The exact numbers won’t be known because they are never known barring rare and unusual circumstances, but they seem certain to increase by leaps and by bounds with the current trajectory.

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