Kelly Ripa is not taking the cancellation of iconic ABC soap opera "All My Children" lightly.
The "Live! With Regis and Kelly" co-host, who portrayed Chandler fortune heiress /cosmetics executive Hayley Vaughan Santos on the just-cancelled soap from 1990 to 2002, issued a statement shortly after ABC axed both "Children" and "One Life to Live."
She compared seeing her former series get the ax to a relative's death.
"This is like losing a member of your family," Ripa's statement reads. "'All My Children" was more than a job — it was my family. It was there that I met my husband; it was there when my first two children were born; it was there where I met many of my life-long friends. It was the greatest training ground ever. I feel heartsick."
Ripa's husband, Mark Consuelos, portrayed her on-screen spouse, Mateo Santos, on the series. After meeting on the set, the pair married — for real — in May 1996.