Kelly Ripa, 54, Says She Gained This Much Weight When She Quit Drinking
Kelly Ripa opened up about gaining weight after quitting alcohol in 2017.
She expected a "windfall of weight loss," but actually gained 12 pounds after she began eating more sugar.
Kelly and husband Mark Consuelos remain sober today.
Kelly Ripa, 54, has been sober for years. But now, she's revealing that she actually gained weight after she stopped drinking alcohol in 2017.
On a January 22 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, Kelly shared more details about her decision to quit drinking with Andy Cohen, who filled in for her usual co-host and husband, Mark Consuelos. It all started after Andy said that he’s avoiding alcohol this month for Dry January, and is surprised that he hasn’t lost weight over the past few weeks.
“Usually a little weight loss comes my way after," he said, noting that it's "not really happening yet.”
“I told you, when I quit drinking, I expected there to be this windfall of weight loss because everybody's like, ‘Well, you are going to get too skinny, and you can't afford to lose it,’” Kelly replied. “I gained 12 pounds [and said], ‘I don't understand this magical weight loss that people apply.’”
But Kelly realized she gained weight because she'd started eating more sugar instead. “Apparently, alcohol is a lot of sugar, which you don't really realize when it goes in it tastes kind of bitter,” she said.
Sugar cravings after quitting alcohol seem to be common. One small study of adults with alcohol use disorder found that cravings for sugar “significantly” jumped after people were treated for the condition. Another small study of adults who were hospitalized for alcohol use disorder noted that people started craving sweets soon after they stopped drinking.
In 2020, Kelly shared that she stopped drinking in 2017, around the time that Ryan Seacrest became her co-host. (He left the show in 2023.) While she didn’t reveal then why she stopped drinking, Ryan joked that he had something to do with it. “I started the show and she quit drinking. What does that tell you?” he said.
Kelly later shared that she stopped drinking along with her husband. “Not that we were sitting around drinking day and night, but I think that there is something about like clean living—maybe that's what did it,” she told Parade. “Maybe that's the difference.”
Kelly stopped drinking after doing a month of sobriety.
“I did a sober month—all my girlfriends did it, we all did it together—and I just never went back to it,” she told People. “It wasn’t even really a thought process. It felt great, I felt like I looked great, I felt like I didn’t feel hungover.”
Kelly also revealed that she “didn’t really feel the need or desire to go back to it. It wasn’t really a choice or a thought. It was just, ‘Yeah, I guess I don’t drink anymore.’”
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