- Kelly Ripa once discouraged Sarah Michelle Gellar from moving to California to pursue acting.
- "You think you're going to become a star?'" Ripa recalled asking Gellar.
On Monday's episode of "LIVE with Kelly & Ryan," Kelly Ripa admitted that she was nearly responsible for depriving the world of the Buffy Summers we know and love.
While announcing the guests of the day with Ryan Seacrest, Ripa admitted that she had discouraged the actor from moving to California back when they worked together on "All My Children" in New York.
"I'm so glad Sarah Michelle Gellar did not listen to me," Ripa said. "Many years ago, when she was on 'All My Children' and leaving, she said, 'I'm going out to California.' And I said, 'what? There's nothing in California. What are you talking about? You don't want to go to California as a young starlet. What do you think? You think you're going to become a star?'"
Ripa said she encouraged Gellar to stay in New York "where the work is." Gellar was undeterred, and responded, "you're wrong," per Ripa's memory."She was like, 'hold my beer, I'm gonna be a star,'" the host joked.
Gellar went on to become one of the most celebrated teen stars of the '90s thanks to her role as Buffy Summers in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which aired on the WB and then UPN for seven seasons beginning in 1997.
Yet even though Gellar started her acting career at a young age and went on to star in hits like "Cruel Intentions," she recently told The Hollywood Reporter's Mikey O'Connell that she won't let her 13-year-old daughter Charlotte Prinze act until she's older.
"We have rules in place. She can't be in front of a camera until she graduates high school," Gellar told THR. "She says to me, 'That's unfair. You were a child actor.' Yes, I was. But I was not the child of two famous parents."
Charlotte's father is actor Freddie Prinze Jr., whom Gellar married in 2002. Gellar said Charlotte is allowed on sets when her parents work, but "just not going on camera while she's living under our roof."
The "Do Revenge" star said that since both she and Prinze are actors, people will have "different expectations" of Charlotte.
"So she needs to learn everything there is first, " Gellar explained of her reasoning.