Kelly Ripa took a moment to honor Luke Perry‘s memory after the 52-year-old actor died on Monday following a massive stroke.
“It’s a tough day around here, it really is,” Ripa said on “Live with Kelly and Ryan” on Tuesday. “We lost a great friend to the show, a great guy, Luke Perry passed away yesterday very, very, very shockingly. I am still stunned. I woke up this morning thinking that there had to have been a mistake.”
The TV personality explained that she and her husband Mark Conseulos were extremely close with the late actor since Perry and Consuelos “spent all their time together” on and off the set of “Riverdale.”
“I have to say, this was a good good man,” Ripa said of her family friend. “You won’t see a person say otherwise. He is a good man, a good soul, conscientious, a gentleman, a dear friend of our family, of the ‘Live’ family.”
The “Live” host gushed over Perry’s role as Dylan McKay in “Beverly Hills, 90210” and confessed she used to call him by his whole name because he was such a star to her.
“When Mark was working with Luke, I only called him Luke Perry, and Mark would FaceTime me ’cause he knew I just never got over the whole Dylan McKay thing,” she said. “Every time he would FaceTime me and Luke was there, I would say, ‘Hang on, let me get lipstick” and Luke would say, ‘Honey, we’re a little old for pretense don’t you think?’ and I was like ‘Not for you Luke Perry,’” as she put on lipstick.
She and Ryan Seacrest paid tribute to Perry with a short video commemorating his time on their morning show, to which Ripa said was very difficult to watch.
“Our thoughts are with his family of course, and his beloved children who he really thought about constantly,” Ripa said holding back tears. “That’s why he went to work, and they really were in his thoughts all the time. I’ve never had a conversation with him without talking about his kids.”
Perry has two children, Jack, 21 and Sophie, 18.