Kelly Ripa is excited for Michael Strahan.

Although Kelly was blindsighted by the news that her 'Live with Kelly and Michael' co-host was leaving the show for 'Good Morning America', she insisted that she is happy for him but his departure left her worried about the future of her own programme.

She told PEOPLE: ''I get it. We're excited for Michael. He wanted that job, and it's great for him. I think it is a perfect match, I really do. However, what nobody considered is there's a whole other group of people that it really impacts, because we have to now find another great person.''

And Kelly revealed that it was left up to her to assure staff that their jobs were not under threat.

She explained: ''In that moment there were people looking at me, saying, 'Tell us this is going to be okay. Are we going to be okay?'. And I am fine, but I need assurances that we're all going to be fine.

''I think that requires a certain amount of empathy on a level. When you're dealing with big business, it's easy to forget that you're dealing with people and that people have feelings. It's easy to just look at it like a business unit, a unit, a unit.''