“It is a rare thing to work with a guy who is so authentic and fun and joyful and humble and generous and kind to everyone,” Kelly Ripa praised her co-host

Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Photo: Disney/ABC Home Entertainment and TV Distribution/Pawel Kaminski

Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest have formed a tight bond over the three-plus years they’ve hosted Live with Kelly and Ryan together.

The co-hosts recently chatted with Entertainment Tonight about their dynamic, with Seacrest, 45, getting a bit teary-eyed as longtime host Ripa showered him with compliments.

“He just brings a joyfulness, an enthusiasm, a professionalism and an authenticity to this place that I’m just so grateful to have here,” said Ripa, 50, in the joint virtual interview from their set.

“I’m using every ounce of energy to fight back tears right now while she’s saying that,” Seacrest responded.

“Working with your friends is a great privilege. It is a joy, and I have to say that it is a rare thing to work with a guy who is so authentic and fun and joyful and humble and generous and kind to everyone,” Ripa said. “What you see of Ryan on the air is the person he is backstage, which is a unique thing.”

Ryan Seacrest and Kelly Ripa. Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix/Courtesy The Paley Center for Media
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The On Air with Ryan Seacrest host also rained praise upon the “amazing” Ripa, telling the outlet it’s “incredible” to get to work with her and that he has “learned so much from her, not just [about] being on the air but about life. I mean she’s a remarkable colleague, the most amazing mother and wife and I get to see all sides of that.”

“I’m on the text messages with she and her husband so I really get to see their exchanges,” Seacrest continued, laughing. “It’s a great lesson in life for me from my coach Kelly.”

Ripa went on to say that Seacrest has retained his humble nature, sharing, “He’s not spoiled, the way a lot of people get spoiled really, when they get their fancy job — and by fancy I mean like, you know, a show-business-y job.”

“Ryan has not been jaded or made cynical by a job that often makes people cynical or jaded immediately,” she added.

The two have learned “so much about” each other in their time together, they even know each other’s respective personal schedules and quirks.

“I know every day Kelly and I work out about the same time; she watches things that irritate her to burn off calories, I listen to ballads, love songs. She eats dinner when I go to bed. There’re just these things we know about each other’s rhythms that you learn once you work together,” Seacrest said.

Seacrest later added that his relationship with Ripa in real life translates seamlessly into their onscreen dynamic and that the daily program is “not just a television show” for them.

“We come in and we literally have our first cup of coffee together and catch up with each other as friends do, and that’s the dynamic we hope we have with people who are watching, as well,” said the American Idol host.

Ripa added that one of the “interesting” parts of their relationship is that they “usually text each other 15 times before the show. … Yet we still have things to say on the air, which is weird.”

“It’s a weird codependency,” she continued, joking, “We’re happy to have our psychiatric episodes unfold before everyone on live TV.”