When Michael Strahan's actual departure was announced back in 2016, Kelly Ripa abruptly took a day off, and rumors started swirling about the former Giant blindsiding his co-host with his hasty decision to leave. In reality, though, it was the mishandling of the situation by network executives that caused the bulk of the drama. In the weeks that followed, ABC CEO Ben Sherwood admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that the network "made some mistakes" when dealing with Strahan's exit from the show, but the damage had already been done. As Strahan described to People, "The most disappointing thing to me was that I was painted as the bad guy, because I value the way I carry myself. I don't want people to see me as 'Oh, he just ran out, just left them there.' That's just not true."

Regardless of their personal relationship, Michael Strahan is open and honest about his professional feelings for his former co-worker some four years later, admitting in his New York Times interview, "I learned so much from Kelly." He went on to reveal, "If people think, Oh, he hates her — I don't hate her. I do respect her for what she can do at her job. I cannot say enough about how good she is at her job."