Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa may have had a strained relationship, but his current co-host, Sara Haines, is revealing how she manages to stay drama-free with the NFL star-turned-TV anchor.
“The secret is we were all raised the same,” Haines, 42, told Page Six of her co-hosts Strahan, 48, and Keke Palmer at the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection event on Wednesday. “We all come from multi-sibling families where you’re taught very young that you’re not the center of this world, so there’s a modesty to all of us, a humility, and mostly there’s a gratitude.”
The “Strahan, Sara and Keke” host said when she first met Strahan a few years ago, he told her, “I just want to work at a place where I show up and I’m happy to be there and everyone else is, too.”
Strahan, 48, recently opened up about the tension he experienced while working with Ripa, 49, on “Live with Kelly and Michael,” claiming he attempted to meet with her several times until she allegedly said they “didn’t need to meet.”
However, Strahan is not the only one whose previous workplace was contentious.
In July, Haines accepted ABC’s offer to host the third hour of “Good Morning America,” and gave up her spot on “The View,” where co-hosts are known for feuding backstage.
Most recently, Meghan McCain confirmed she and longtime pal Abby Huntsman had a disagreement before Huntsman, 33, quit to help her father’s gubernatorial campaign.
With Huntsman’s seat leaving an opening, Haines told Page Six, “Whoever goes there, I want them to come with a gratitude that this place stood before you came and it’ll stand after, so come in knowing that you are lucky to ever sit at that table.”
The mother of three shared that she was “a fan for years” before ever hosting the talk show, and added, “The people that I got to sit with, I looked around … and I just want that space protected.”
Haines said she still “begs to come back,” but wouldn’t actually give up her current gig, saying, “I love where I’m at.”
She added that she enjoys saying “hi” to all her former co-hosts, including Sunny Hostin, who also participated in the Red Dress Collection catwalk on Wednesday night.
“She’s like, ‘Get away from me,” Haines said, clarifying, “Jokingly!”
