It was a big week for Kelly Ripa, as she received one of the greatest honors of her life: being named a Disney Legend. At her side was her devoted husband Mark Consuelos and best friend David Muir.
“Your wit, charm and beauty have long been legendary. Congratulations – more than deserved,” David publicly shared in Kelly’s Instagram post, which showed a compilation of moments from their ceremony.
Mark also praised his wife, writing: “The woman, the myth, the Disney legend!!! Proud of you baby!!!!”
In her speech, Kelly joked, “I know what you’re thinking, why her? What has she ever done? She doesn’t even come here! To have been employed by the same company for 34 years is my great fortune.I owe everything to Disney – not just my career, but my entire immediate family.”
Kelly met her husband, actor and talk show host Mark Consuelos, on the set of All my children in the 1990s; they played love interests in the soap opera and are now married with three children. Together they host the morning show Live!
© Paul BruinoogeKelly also told a story about how her father once drove the family from New Jersey to “a magical new world called Disney,” where they “stayed at the Polynesian Village… and I can still smell the gardenias, I can see the parade of lights, and we still talk about that trip like it was yesterday.”
“Being able to bring our parents back to Disney with their grandchildren has been the privilege of a lifetime and to be named a Disney Legend is just the icing on the cake. My adult life would not have been possible without you, thank you so much, I am so honored,” she concluded.
Instagram9-1-1 star Angela Bassett was also named a Disney Legend and introduced by Black Panther Director Ryan Coogler, while Star Wars icon Harrison Ford received a standing ovation.
“I love the life you’ve given me. I love the people I’ve been able to work with. No one in this business gets anything done for long without collaboration, no matter who we are or what we do,” he said.
© DisneyThe ceremony also included star Wars And Indiana Jones Composer John Williams and Frank Oz – the voice of Jedi Master Yoda – were inducted as Disney Legends, as was Miley Cyrus, who was the youngest to receive this honor.
The singer also joked that she was “definitely not created in a lab,” referring to conspiracy theories that Disney child stars are created in Disney’s California office.
“If that was the case, there must have been a system error somewhere between 2013 and 2016 that caused a malfunction,” she joked, alluding to her controversial Bangerz music era.
