Regis why he left

Philbin has been cryptic about his reasons, but even at age 80 after over 56 years on TV in L. He also has said how much he has enjoyed the show he has done since first with Kathie Lee Gifford and since with Kelly Ripa.

Some said Philbin was finally tired of the daily grind, the early hours and wanted an easier life. That contract also was very restrictive in term of what he could do outside of the show.

Philbin denied it was over salary and said they had never even reached the point of a salary negotiation. Philbin had apparently been thinking of taking it easier for some time.

His show schedule requires him to get up in the wee hours of the morning, and makes living a normal life difficult since he has to go to bed early.

Regis Philbin began hosting the morning talk fest, then known as AM America, in He had three different co-hosts between then and , when Kathie Lee Johnson later Gifford would join him, taking the show to up to the number one position in the New York market, which led to national syndication for the show in Gifford left the show in July , and Kelly Ripa would take her place in early By the time Philbin left the show in , he was 80 years old, and, as he told Larry King, the daily format of the show simply wasn't right for him at that time in his life anymore, so he made the decision to call it quits.

Somehow, it seems like Kelly Ripa took offense at his decision to leave her behind at the chat show desk. Not only did Ripa take Philbin's departure personally, the show, despite needing replacement co-hosts at times over the years since he left, has never asked him to return. I can certainly see that, if you are a producer on Live! Which means that it's unlikely that fans will ever see Regis Philbin back on the Live! You can check out the snippet of the interview in question below Well, seeing as how Kelly Ripa is currently still looking for someone to replace former co-host Michael Strahan, it'll be interesting to see if this public revelation from Regis Philbin makes her extend an olive branch to the man who helped launch her daytime hosting career.

Of course, now that we know why they didn't keep in touch, that wouldn't seem like the most genuine offer, would it? Health issues dogged Philbin since the s. In , he underwent emergency angioplasty to unblock a heart vessel. In , he had to have triple-bypass heart surgery.

Two years later, he had hip replacement surgery, followed by the removal of a potentially fatal blood clot in His struggled with high cholesterol, blood pressure, and severe acid reflux.

Philbin and Lee came across as a pair of friends unafraid to have run at the expense of the other. He teased her about her hair, clothes and husband.

She accused him of spitting all over her when he got worked up. After trying out several co-hosts, Philbin teamed up with Kelly Ripa.