Kelly Ripa will return to ‘Live with Kelly and Michael’ on Tuesday

We figured that sooner or later Kelly Ripa would have to return to “Live with Kelly and Michael,” even if she was not exactly (or even remotely) pleased regarding the sudden departure of Michael Strahan from the show. Erin Andrews has helped to fill the co-hosting void since her hiatus, with Shay Mitchell also taking over on Monday.

Luckily, we do now have some confirmation that Ripa will in fact return to the show on Tuesday. Per Deadline, she sent an email to the show’s staff confirming that she will be back on the series come Tuesday, and in that she also thanked everyone for sticking with her while she “processed” what transpired:

“I wanted to thank you all for giving me the time to process this new information … Your kindness, support, and love has overwhelmed me. We are a family and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday morning.”

Was it right for Kelly to take some time off? We know that it’s been pretty easy to be critical of her for missing time and some have, but this is about preserving the overall quality of the product more than anything. If her being there was going to lead to obvious animosity on the show, that would have made way more headlines than her staying away from the show. Sometimes, you gotta think more about the long-term even in the short-term, since otherwise you run the risk of disaster striking.

Trust us when we say that we’ll have a whole lot more news in due time on this show, and what some of the plans for the future could be. Stay tuned! Also, be sure to head over here to get some more news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)