Kelly Ripa has always been dedicated to her role on TV, and never fails to bring fans behind the scenes of her life as a mother of three.
The blonde beauty took this a step further when she gave birth to her daughter, Lola, and called into her show hours later in a shock move for the newly post-partum star.
The show must go on
© InstagramKelly recalled Lola’s birth story on the Not Gonna Lie podcast, revealing that her daughter’s “brilliant timing” meant that Live! viewers could be there for her first few hours of life.
“It was brilliant timing on Lola’s part. Brilliant timing,” the TV personality said. “I went into labor like 14 hours before. She was born on Father’s Day, and the nurses came in with a Polaroid picture of my husband with his head in the bassinet, and she’s got her hand around his finger.”
“And they said, ‘There’s a new woman in your husband’s life.’ And, I’m looking at the clock and I’m like, ‘Theoretically, I think I’m going to be able to call in,'” she continued.
© Getty Images“They were like, ‘If there’s any way you can call in, that would be great.’ And sure enough, I called in and they said, ‘Oh, she’s here?’ And I said, ‘Yes, she’s here. She’s a girl. She’s adorable.'”
“It was so funny that she was such a good girl that she timed it just right for her to be announced during the show,” Kelly added.
Calling it in
© InstagramAccording to the 54-year-old, she had to temper the expectations of the doctors and nurses in the room when they thought they would be featured on TV.
“I’m like, ‘Nobody’s going to be on TV. My voice is going to be on a phone patched through a TV studio,'” she said.
“I think everybody was sort of excited just to know that they were calling into Regis [Philbin], who was such a cultural icon in that moment.”
© WireImageKelly previously opened up about Lola’s perfect timing on an episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, sharing that she had hoped to call in to the show to share the good news with the world.
“She was born at 6:30 a.m., but I called into the show — Gelman had scheduled it. He was like, ‘Try to get out of the operating room by 9:15,'” she recounted on an episode of Live!
“I was like, ‘Guys, I have to be on the air.’ Talk about content — you think you making eggs is impressive. I was like, ‘If we could speed this c-section along!'”
© InstagramLola is Kelly’s only daughter, whom she shares with her husband and Live! co-star Mark Consuelos. They are also proud parents to Michael, 28, and Joaquin, 22.
Lola has been living in London and is a budding musician, with a handful of singles to her name including “Paranoia Silverlining”, “Divine Timing” and “Roles”.
Forever family
© InstagramThe 24-year-old frequently appeared on her mother’s show growing up, with Kelly explaining on the Not Gonna Lie podcast that her kids were raised by millions of viewers.
“When my kids were little, they had the opportunity to come on and do, like, little segments…and people got a glimpse into their lives,” she reminisced.
“And then they grew up, and they move on, and they move out, and they move out of the country in some cases, and people don’t get to regularly check in with them.”
“And so I feel like, once in a while, it’s important to sort of let people in because I feel like they had a group experience,” she added.
“My kids had a group childhood. It was like they had lots of aunties, lots of uncles, lots of grandparents.”
