According to her 2022 memoir, “Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories,” Ripa was getting intimate with her husband, Mark Consuelos, when she passed out and woke up in the hospital. It turned out that two ruptured ovarian cysts were the culprit, a phenomenon that is common, but can be frightening nonetheless.
Thankfully, Ripa was fine, but her pride took a hit as her husband dressed her in a rather chaotic outfit in his haste to get her some help. Ripa and Consuelos have a loving, happy marriage, but apparently he isn’t much help in the fashion department. In her memoir, Ripa recalled she was wearing a leotard, red Manolo Blahnik heels, and a pair of oversized warm-up pants when she woke up in the hospital. “[H]ere is my husband, who is, dare I say, stylish, well-dressed at all times, and yet he dressed me like a dime store prostitute in my time of need,” Ripa wrote.
Kelly Ripa experienced serious depression and anxiety
Kelly Ripa’s fans know her to be bubbly and funny, the perfectly affable daytime host. However, Ripa has faced her fair share of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. “I have a severe case of social anxiety disorder, and I tend to say awkward or inappropriate things when under duress,” Ripa revealed in “Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories.”.
Ripa also seemed to be struggling with depression, as she recalled telling her therapist, “I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. … I feel like I’m in physical pain. My hair hurts. I have no energy at all.” She also spoke about feeling constantly distracted and overwhelmed, and recalled feeling like she had to cry more often than not. “I cry in the shower. I cry myself to sleep. I cry backstage. I sometimes want to cry in the middle of the show. Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe,” she wrote.
Ripa credits therapy with helping her cope, and providing her with a healthier outlook on her busy life. What’s more, her therapist encouraged her to look out for herself. As Ripa shared with People, “[S]he really taught me just how to be a better self advocate, how to think of things in a different way.”
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Cancer has affected her friends and family
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In 2011, Kelly Ripa partnered with appliance maker Electrolux for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, participating in a virtual sleepover event to raise money for ovarian cancer research. Cancer is something Ripa was all too familiar with, as it had touched the lives of several family members and friends. “The reason I got involved with Ovarian Cancer Research Fund is a close friend and neighbor of mine growing up died when she was younger than I am now of ovarian cancer and she never really even knew she was sick. She never knew she had the disease until it was too late,” Ripa told Yahoo! in 2011.
Ripa also revealed that she and husband, Mark Consuelos, grappled with cancer within their families. “Both my mother and Mark’s mother have both battled and overcome cancer,” Ripa shared. Thankfully, both Camilla Consuelos and Esther Ripa survived the insidious disease, and Ripa continued her charity work to help others do the same. In 2015, she and designer Donna Karan hosted Super Saturday NY, a high-end garage sale and kids’ carnival whose proceeds went to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.
