Kelly Ripa gave an emotional tribute to Regis Philbin on Monday, but if the reports are true, she won’t be able to pay her final respects personally. A source close to the family tells "OK!" that she hasn’t been invited to her former co-host’s funeral.
“You have to understand the dynamic of their relationship,” an insider explained. “It was an on-air, not off-air, friendship—and towards the end (of their time on-air together), there was a lot of bad blood.” Word has it that she was NOT pleased when Regis left in 2011. He even confirmed it in a 2017 interview with Larry King.
“She got very offended when I left. She thought I was leaving because of her,” Philbin said. “I was leaving because I was getting older, and it wasn’t right for me anymore.” And Jimmy Kimmel implied in an interview last year that Regis didn’t leave because he wanted to. Instead, he suggested that his strained relationship with Kelly was the real reason.
Either way, it remains to be seen if Ripa will show up to the services, which will take place at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and the burial at Cedar Grove Cemetery on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. No date has been set.