Michael Strahan on working with Kelly Ripa on Live: "I didn’t know I was supposed to be a sidekick. I thought I was coming here to be a partner"

The New York Times

In an interview with The New York Times, the Good Morning America co-host says he learned so much on Live from Ripa and producer Michael Gelman when he co-hosted the ABC daytime show between 2012 and 2016. But, he adds, "when it was time to go, it was time to go. Certain things that were going on behind the scenes just caught up." Strahan says his controversial departure could've been handled better. He says he was asked to join Good Morning America. "It was really not a choice," he says. "It was a request. But it was treated as if I was the guy who walked in and said, 'I’m leaving.' That part was totally misconstrued, mishandled in every way. People who should have handled it better have all apologized, but a lot of the damage had already been done. For me, it was like: Move on. Success is the best thing. Just keep on moving." Strahan adds that he and Ripa would meet every few weeks, but at some point she said they didn't need to meet. Still, Strahan credits Ripa for teaching him the art of host chitchat. "Oh, I’m sure the same things she learned from Regis Philbin," he says. "If you look at the show, it really hasn’t changed since Regis started the damn thing. He created this formula. It’s kind of a plug-and-play. You learn how to craft a story. 'What did you do last night?' 'Oh, I had a glass of water.' But you learn to tell the story to make it seem like the most interesting glass of water. Those are things that I learned from her. She’s brilliant in that way. 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." ALSO: Strahan says the New York Giants are retiring his jersey.