What does Kelly Ripa’s sister do for a living?
Introduction
Being the sibling of a celebrity must be a double-edged sword.
While it must be awesome to see your beloved brother or sister become so famous and so successful, it must also bring a bit of a spotlight.
This is especially true when it comes to big-name personalities in television.
For example, talk show hosts often become a bit of an enigma; people want to know everything about them.
When that happens, it often means that their families come into the public discussion around that person.
One celebrity that this is definitely true of is Kelly Ripa.
As you no doubt know, Kelly Ripa is a television talk show host and has been one of the biggest names in that scene for years.
Her TV show, Live! Kelly and Mark has been one of the most prominent talk shows on American TV for over 20 years. Ripa has also enjoyed a successful career away from her talk show, including acting roles in shows like All My Children, which helped launch her fame and Hope & Faith.
Alongside her husband, Mark Consuelos, Ripa has made a huge name in American TV.
Kelly Ripa visits People Now on February 19, 2020 in New York – @Getty
In the past, she has been dubbed one of the most powerful people in the American media landscape.
This fame and success, though, often means that people want to know what brought her to this kind of success in the first place: was it her family?
With that in mind, let’s look at Kelly’s family, especially focusing on her sister Linda Ripa.
Kelly Ripa: who is her family?
Who is part of Kelly Ripa’s family?
Kelly Ripa was born on the 2nd of October 1970 in Berlin, New Jersey.
She was also born and raised in the city and was the daughter of her mother, Esther, and her father, Joseph, a labor union president and bus driver.
She also has a sister, Linda. Linda is a bit of a name in her own right, as she has made a successful career away from her sister’s success. What does Kelly Ripa’s sister do for a living? She is a children’s author. More on that shortly, though!
Is Kelly Ripa married?
Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa attend Michael Gelman & Ali Wentworth Celebrate The Launch Of Yoga Pant Nation By Laurie Gelman at Private Residence – @Getty
Yes, she is. Kelly Ripa married Mark Conseulos, her co-star on All My Children. The duo met on the show; by 1996, they had eloped together. From 1997 until 2003, the two had three children: Michael Joseph, Lola Grace, and Joaquin Antonio.
Consuelos played the character Mateo Santos on the show and has also enjoyed roles on shows like Riverdale.
Kelly Ripa: how did she become famous?
Early career success
Kelly Ripa visits “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” at Rockefeller Center – @Getty
Before Kelly Ripa got into the TV world, she worked as part of Dancin’ On Air, a local dance show on PHL17.
She was also involved in various commercials, including one where she posed as a chat line girl where people (mostly guys) could phone and talk to girls.
Thanks to her success on local TV gigs, she managed to land herself the role of Dancin’ on Air in 1986.
This eventually became Dance Party USA. At one stage, Ripa had dreamed of being a newscaster; she had covered some news coverage for the cast of Dance Party USA.
However, her first big break in the TV industry came in 1990 when she was selected to play Hayley Vaughan in All My Children.
She stayed on the show from 1990 until 2002, when her talk show career began blossoming. However, she has returned once, appearing in 2010 as a special guest to help mark 40 years of the All My Children show being active on TV.
At this point, though, Kelly began to move into the TV world.
Joining Live!
Kelly Ripa attends Logo TV Fire Island Premiere Party at Atlas Social Club – @Getty
Her big break in the TV world came when Kathie Lee Gifford stepped down from Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee.
Auditions were held to find Gifford’s replacement, and it was decided that Ripa would be the ideal replacement.
Ripa had previously been involved with the show as a guest, and her standout personality had made her stick in the mind of Regis Philbin and co.
The decision was soon made, then, that Kelly would replace Gifford. Interestingly, during her try-out phase for the show, there was a psychic in the audience. The psychic correctly guessed that Ripa was, in fact, pregnant with her second child – something she hadn’t exactly disclosed during the interview process!
After such a memorable moment to mark her debut, then, Kelly managed to land the role as part of the Live! Program.
This set up her career for years until Philbin left the show in 2011.
The two enjoyed a pretty emotional ending to their time together on the show, but it is fair to say that Ripa has managed to build an even better career for herself away from that first iteration of Live!
Since then, the show has seen various co-hosts come into the format.
The most recent person to take the position with Ripa is her husband, Mark Consuelos. The duo have started working together on the show since 2023. So far, this will be a pretty successful partnership between one of Talk TV’s ‘power couples.’
Linda Ripa: who is Kelly Ripa’s sister?
Kelly Ripa joins her sister at a booksigning for Linda Ripa’s childrens book “The Ladybug Blues” at Borders Bookstore in New York City. July 24, 2002 – @Getty
While it must be tough having such a famous sister, it is pretty clear that Linda Ripa has not let it dull her success in life. Early in life, Linda Ripa had intended to become a famous actress or even a model; however, an incident in the late 1990s changed her life forever.
Born on the 3rd of December 1968, Linda is the older of the two sisters. Like her sister, she was born in New Jersey and has mixed Italian and Irish ancestry.
Linda Ripa: what happened to her?
Linda has been through some challenging times in life, but the most difficult moment of her life arrived in 1999 when she was involved in a horrendous, high-profile car accident.
Many believe that Linda Ripa is lucky to be alive today, given the severity of the crash and the damage that was done to her.
The crash happened after a drunk driver slammed into her car.
At the time, Linda was seven months pregnant with her son.
The injuries were incredible: Linda suffered many broken bones and also had her pelvis crushed.
This nearly ended her unborn son’s life, as her pelvis was pushed into the head of her son.
Sergio was, therefore, forced to be born some seven weeks early due to the incredible damage that his mother suffered from. He has been described to many as a “miracle,” given how unlikely he would survive the incident.
The journey to recovery was a long and arduous one: Linda Ripa was in bed for over a year as she recovered from the severity of the damage that she suffered. She had to undergo various surgeries to help correct the damage done.
What happened after?
Even more worryingly for Linda, a surgery that she received was ‘botched.’
While she eventually received a $15m payout for the damage caused by the surgery, that does not change the pain and difficulty that she had gone through during and after the crash and later surgery.
The impact of her surgery was such that she was left with nerve damage and a clawed foot.
This stopped her from being able to pursue her old career of being a model and being involved in the TV world.
At one point, her parents had to provide around-the-clock care for Linda and her son Sergio.
Thankfully, while her life was obviously put in danger by the surgery, and, according to sister Kelly, her life will never be the same again, Linda has managed to create a very successful career for herself in her own right.
Is Linda Ripa married?
It is unclear – unlike her sister, Linda is often out of the celebrity spotlight. Though she has children, it is unknown whether Linda Ripa is married or not. Without any of her sister’s major social media following, her personal life is often shrouded in mystery compared to her sister Kelly.
She does have one child, though, a son called Sergio Giuseppe.
He was born in September 1999 and was born prematurely after the incident above that nearly changed her life forever. Sergio is a musician and looks to have a bright career in the music industry shortly.
What does Linda Ripa do for a living?
After her accident, Linda decided that she had to find something to do to help her find some normality again after such a trying period in her personal life. And so she turned her immense talents to two places: authorship and illustration. She found her niche as a successful children’s author and has produced some very popular kids’ books.
One of her most popular books is The Ladybug Blues.
Linda has in the past stated that her nickname as a kid was ladybug, and thus, it stuck when it came to creating the kind of world and characters that she wanted to develop as part of her new portfolio as an author.
Her success as an author has seen her build a successful career for herself away from her sister’s TV success.
Linda, though, did at one stage work on television herself.
Before her accident, she was a successful model and sports show host. However, her career was turned upside down by the incident she had gone through in 1999.
Since then, though, she has focused on building a successful career that she can produce even from the comfort of her home after the car crash and surgery incidents.
How did Linda Ripa become an author?
Moving from being a model to an author is quite the career change. Linda, though, decided to go down this route after she became sick of not being able to stand up after her treatment.
Therefore, someone in her family decided they would give her some pencils and some coloring tools.
This would give her something to do while she recovered, and the family member recalled that, as a child, Linda liked to draw and be artistic.
So, after her childhood nickname of Ladybug, she started to draw some ladybugs to pass the time while she was recovering.
Her nephew, the son of Kelly Michael, would come to visit her while she was in the process of recovering from the damage that she had suffered.
She would then create drawings for Michael to help pass the time and further their bond, and it was obvious that he loved the pictures.
Linda would also tell various little stories that she would come up with to Michael and her newborn son, Sergio.
She wrote stories to start telling the kids, and they were enthralled with her storytelling and ability to make the story come to life.
Everyone in the family thought her stories were naturally brilliant and could easily be publishable.
So, the journey to becoming an author started from there, thanks to her ability to tell great stories and draw awesome pictures, she started her journey into becoming an author.
Final Thoughts
Kelly Ripa attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center – @Getty
So, who is Kelly Ripa’s sister, Linda? She is a highly successful, best-selling author and illustrator.
Her life might not be as well-known as Kelly’s, but she has built a strong career through perseverance.
Having overcome such a dreadful accident, Linda has since gone on to build a career that she can be very proud of.
Her commitment to finding something to do after her original career was taken away from her can be quite inspirational.
Many people find that their lives change forever after an accident, but Linda has found a calling that is exciting and perfectly suited to her skills.
It might not be the path she intended to take in life, but Linda has taken everything – the accident, the surgery, the change of careers, and even dealing with having a superstar sister – in her stride.
Linda Ripa has built a hugely successful life for herself and her family thanks to her determination and natural talent.
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Lee Parry is a writer and blogger originally from Manchester, UK, and he has a B.A. in Modern Languages from Manchester Metropolitan University. Parry occasionally teaches English and spends most of his free time reading.