Kelly Ripa, the queen of daytime chatter and hilarious one-liners, is finally addressing the mystery we’ve all been whispering about (well, maybe just her daughter): why her voice has gone from chipmunk soprano to smooth jazz alto over the years.
On the November 27th episode of Live With Kelly & Mark, Kelly and her co-host/husband/human Ken doll, Mark Consuelos, had a deep (pun intended) conversation about the sound of their own voices. It all started when Mark bravely confessed that he feels “uncomfortable” hearing himself talk. Kelly, ever the supportive wife, chimed in with some science-y facts, saying there’s a whole psychological and social backstory to why we sound the way we do. (Translation: your voice sounds weird in your head because life is complicated.)
“It’s fascinating,” Kelly began, clearly ready to drop some wisdom. “My daughter will send me old clips of me on this show or from Hope & Faith,” she shared. (Fun fact: Hope & Faith was a sitcom, not an inspirational memoir.)
“And yeah, I know I sounded younger because, duh, I was younger. But also? I think I was just terrified.” That’s right: early-2000s Kelly wasn’t channeling Minnie Mouse for fun. She was doing it because she was shooketh.
She explained that in her rookie hosting days, she was “terrified” to the point where her vocal cords apparently decided, “We’re staying up here where it’s safe!” Add to that her sitcom days in front of a live audience, and she was practically yodeling from the stress. “I wasn’t breathing deeply into my diaphragm,” Kelly said, which is a very elegant way of saying, “I was freaking out and forgetting how to human.”
Meanwhile, Mark, whose voice has always been the audio equivalent of dark chocolate, casually mentioned that he’s always sounded like he was narrating a documentary on majestic whales. “My voice has always been down here,” he said, probably gesturing somewhere near the Earth’s core.
But Kelly wasn’t letting him off that easy. She accused—er, observed—that his voice sounds slightly higher when he’s hosting their talk show. Gasp! A scandal! “Really? Well, now I won’t be able to unhear it,” Mark said, probably already planning to open the next episode in full Barry White mode.
Kelly then spilled that his voice is lower when she gets those sweet, sultry voicemail messages from him. “Yeah, I’m a little more relaxed when I’m talking to you,” Mark admitted. Translation: Kelly Ripa is his vocal Zen zone.
Kelly’s voice dropped because she’s no longer living in a constant state of terror, and Mark’s voice stays deep unless he’s on TV. The moral of the story? Relaxation is key, and sometimes, love sounds like a deep voicemail.
