Kelly Ripa Reveals the One Celebrity Who Made Her Starstruck

Kelly Ripa interviews all kinds of fellow celebs on her talk show, Live with Kelly and Ryan, but even big names like Ripa find themselves starstruck sometimes too. Recently, the TV personality shared a throwback to Instagram, where she revealed the one celebrity who truly enchanted her: Anderson Cooper.

The All My Children alum made a TBT post late last night, which included a pic from when she was hanging around Cooper at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2012. In one iconic snap (seen below), the CNN anchor is captured laughing and Ripa looks on at him in awe. On Instagram, Ripa posted this same photo and captioned it: “#tbt 2012 @vanityfair #Oscar party trying not to look star struck with @andersoncooper.”

Of course, this wasn't the first time that Ripa had met Cooper. Prior to this party, Cooper had visited the Live set in 2009 (back when the show was still called Live With Regis And Kelly), to compete in the talk show's “Ultimate Hometown Grill Off.” Also, Ripa and Cooper both stopped by Watch What Happens Live to play a game of Jeopardy! centered on Bravo TV shows (called Bravopardy!) in 2012.

However, despite having known Cooper for years, it seems Ripa couldn't keep herself from feeling awestruck. Fans loved the throwback, like one user who wrote, “Find somebody who looks at you the way Kelly looks at Anderson.” Meanwhile, Ripa's husband, Mark Consuelos (who will soon be taking over Ryan Seacrest's position on Live), commented: “Faves.”

Cooper may be Ripa's idol, but he's also one of her besties, and the two have posed together on a number of red carpets, most recently attending the CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute event together in December 2022.

The Live co-host made a birthday tribute to Cooper in 2021, while also wishing a happy bday to their other pal, Andy Cohen. “Happy birthday to our other favorite Geminis! @andersoncooper and @bravoandy,” Ripa wrote in her caption.

We adore this friendship.

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