Kelly Ripa 'Has No Intention of Going Anywhere' After She Missed a Few Episodes of 'Live With Kelly and Mark': 'Sometimes She Needs a Break'

Kelly Ripa sparked rumors that she might be considering stepping away from her hosting gig on Live With Kelly and Mark after missing several episodes of the popular chat-fest.

Maria Menounos stepped in for the mom-of-three in mid July. The following week, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper hosted an episode in her place. However, despite her recent absences, a network source claimed Ripa is here to stay.

"There’s nothing to worry about — Kelly has no intention of going anywhere," the source spilled to a news outlet.

"She loves her job, and she left the show in good hands," they added. "Mark [Consuelos] did great without her, and Anderson and Maria were fab. Sometimes Kelly just needs a break."

This comes weeks after Ripa joked that she would quit the show and disappear if she won the lottery.

"Listen, just so you know, I probably won't be here tomorrow or forever because I'm going to hit the $900 million Powerball," she declared in a July episode. "Nobody will even notice I'm gone. They'll just think I've had work done."

Consuelos hilariously brought up her comment the next day when she was "out on assignment."

"You know what Kelly said yesterday? Kelly said, 'I won't be seeing you guys tomorrow, because if I win, I'm not showing up,'" he recalled. "She was in bed when I left. She was there. She was going off to do stuff, but wait ... what if she's not home when I get back?"

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While the 52-year-old television personality isn't leaving the morning show anytime soon, she's been candid about her eventual retirement.

"I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but I do believe there is a great opportunity to get two younger people and start training them, because I like seamless transitions," she said in an interview with Variety. "However long it takes to get two people up and ready is how long we’ll be there."