Kelly Ripa’s mom is recovering after going under the knife for heart surgery earlier this week.
The co-host of “Live with Kelly and Ryan” said Wednesday morning that she developed a greater respect for hospital workers after caring for Esther Ripa in the ICU.
“I have something to tell you, until you — and all people go through this, and you don’t really realize what gems hospital workers are,” she said.
“Not just the surgeons and the physician assistants, but those ICU nurses are just so special and so fantastic at allaying everyone’s fears, worries and just keeping everyone informed.”
Ripa, 51, told co-host Ryan Seacrest that her mother was “doing well” and joked that her father, Joseph Ripa, pestered Esther with too many questions.
The former soap star first mentioned her mother’s procedure on Tuesday when she said it happened at the same time as her show’s taping and joked that her mother “makes the worst patient”.
“I will say this, we were [at the hospital] late last night and very early this morning,” Ripa told Seacrest, 47, at the time. “My mom wore this turban, if you like, a shawl? [her] head, and she wouldn’t wear it to surgery. They won’t allow that. And this morning I see my mom wearing the fanciest French bob I’ve ever seen.”
Ripa revealed that the new style belonged to her father.
“She says, ‘Ugh, I didn’t want to deal with it. I didn’t want to worry about my hair, so I let your dad cut it with the kitchen scissors,'” she said. “My dad missed his calling as a hairstylist .”