Add Kelly Ripa to Hollywood's booze-free and proud contingent.
The "Live with Kelly and Ryan" host joked on the Monday, Jan. 20, edition of the show that her new sober livin' was the reason wine sales in the U.S. dropped dramatically in 2019.
"They're saying that Americans bought less wine last year. It's the first drop in a quarter of a century," Kelly told her co-host, Ryan Seacrest (via People). "Now, I believe this is because I quit drinking, that I caused this dip," she cracked. "I have influenced the market. I'm not saying I've driven people [out of drinking alcohol], I'm saying I stopped buying wine and there's a … dip."
Kelly and Ryan appeared to hint that the shift happened around the start of Ryan's tenure on the show, when he replaced Michael Strahan in 2017.
"I started the show and she quit drinking. What does that tell you?" joked Ryan, whose addition to "Live …" came hand-in-hand with rumors he and Kelly did not get along on set.
(Their very public and relatively frequent kind words for one another have since tamped down those rumors.)
"Exactly," Kelly said, feigning seriousness. "It's amazing."
As People reminds us, Kelly has said she tries to maintain a high-alkaline diet, which favors non-acidic veggies and protein. Since sugars are also acidic — and wine is essentially sugar, getting off the sauce may have simply been the logical next step for the health-conscious 49-year-old.
"It has changed my life, it's changed the whole way I think about food," she said at the time.
Kelly reportedly got turned on to the diet by celebrity nutritionist Dr. Daryl Gioffre.