Kelly Ripa has officially cemented her legend status!
On Sunday, Aug. 11, the talk show host was named a Disney Legend, an honor bestowed on individuals who have significantly influenced the company, at the D23 event in Anaheim, California.
Ryan Seacrest presented the award to Ripa, 53, in a sweet moment that saw her reunited with her former cohost. Seacrest, 49, departed Live with Kelly and Ryan last year, and Ripa’s husband, Mark Consuelos, replaced him as cohost.
“Thank you so much, and Ryan, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m just so glad that you finally found something else to host,” Ripa began her speech, poking fun at Seacrest’s many gigs.
Then congratulating all of those who were also being honored as a Disney Legend, Ripa continued, “This feels surreal for me, and I wanna thank Bob Iger for this truly magical experience.”
“I’ve known Bob for incidentally 35 years, and he has not aged a day,” she joked. “So I just want to know what ride that is.”
Ripa also gave a shoutout to all those who attended D23, before she teased her own honor. “I know what you’re thinking. Why her? What has she ever done? She doesn’t even go here,” Ripa said. “But to you, I say, you sound just like my family.”
Later during her speech, Ripa stated that she “owes everything” to the Walt Disney Company — both professionally and personally — given that she met her “smoking hot husband” Consuelos on the set of All My Children.
The mother of three then joked that the pair “made” their children — sons Michael and Joaquin, plus daughter Lola — “right backstage in the Disney labs.”
Ripa ended her speech by recalling a time her father took their family on a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida for the first time, before she sent some more thanks to those who bestowed her with the honor.
Kevin Mazur/Getty
Ripa was honored at the ceremony for her work in television over the course of her three-decade career, beginning with All My Children and followed by close to a quarter-century of hosting Live!
Other stars who were also named Disney Legends included Miley Cyrus, Angela Bassett, Colleen Atwood, Martha Blanding, James L. Brooks, James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis, Steve Ditko, Harrison Ford, Mark Henn, Frank Oz, Joe Rohde and John Williams.
In a video announcing this year’s honorees, Seacrest said that it’s a chance to “celebrate people who define Disney and who have made an indelible mark on the company.”
Calling it the “highest honor the Walt Disney Company can bestow,” he added that the title is reserved for creatives who have “pushed the envelope of creativity, challenged conventional wisdom and broken the restraints of the status quo in search of new possibilities and excellence.”
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