Bellamy Young talks backstage ‘tension’ before Kelly Ripa’s ‘Live!’ return

As Kelly Ripa wryly put it, our long national nightmare is over.

The daytime host returned to Live! with Kelly and Michael on Tuesday, her first time sitting beside Michael Strahan since the former NFL player’s surprise announcement that he’s leaving their ABC show for Good Morning America.

Ripa walked on stage to standing ovation and thanked her fans for standing by her amid the media firestorm before congratulating Strahan on his new gig.

But Scandal’s Bellamy Young said behind the scenes, there was still some drama.

“I was the first guest up after the opening monologue, the detente, as I like to call it,” the actress said on Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy. “They were tense. Bless their hearts. Backstage there was some tension, ’cause it could have gone any way. But once it got underway it was beautiful. Kelly gave a monologue, she got to clear the air, and they went on. They’re professional people and there’s a lot of love.”

Young, 46, added that the co-hosts didn’t speak in their dressing rooms beforehand.

“It was sort of separate, and then everybody went out, and then the show started, and then everyone remembers that we’re grown-ups and we have jobs and we do our jobs,” she said.

Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy airs weekdays at 10 am ET on SiriusXM Stars (Ch. 109).

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