Viewers of ABC each morning love seeing Michael Strahan on each morning as one of the anchors of the morning news show Good Morning America alongside Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos.

MORE: GMA introduces new presenter Janai Norman – all the details

However, the ex-football star has long been a part of the ABC family, having been one of the hosts of Live! with Kelly Ripa from 2012 to 2016.

VIDEO: Michael Strahan makes surprising confession about his home

The transition from Live! to GMA proved to be more abrupt than viewers would believe, having involved a good bit of sudden shuffling behind-the-scenes.

Michael opened up about his move during an interview with New York Times in early 2020, talking also about his rocky relationship with Kelly at the time.

MORE: Michael Strahan is cheered on by fans as he celebrates achievement away from work

Speaking of his departure, he said: “It could have been handled better. I didn’t wake up and say, ‘I want a job at GMA,’ I was asked to do it by the people who run the network. 

“It was really not a choice. It was a request. But it was treated as if I was the guy who walked in and said, ‘I’m leaving.’ That part was totally misconstrued, mishandled in every way. 

Michael has become a beloved member of the GMA team

He continued: “People who should have handled it better have all apologized, but a lot of the damage had already been done. For me, it was like: Move on. Success is the best thing. Just keep on moving.”

Kelly, for her part, was left blindsided by the news as she hadn’t been informed of the development and was not on when Michael announced his departure on the air.

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She returned after a few days away to issue a call for respect in the workplace and a need for “communication and consideration.”

The mom-of-three, who currently hosts the show with Ryan Seacrest, spoke to Variety about the aftermath of her on-air declaration and the response it got from other female broadcast journalists.

His departure from Live! came as a shock to Kelly

“I don’t think there was an on-air woman that I didn’t hear from: either a personal letter or an email or a text or DM,” she said. “It’s so easy to think that it’s just you. But you’d be amazed how many people don’t feel seen or heard at all. 

“I didn’t kick up a fuss; it wasn’t a big thing; I was just like, I’m not doing this. If I’m not worthy of a discussion, if I’m not worthy of you running this conversation by me — it was outrageous.”

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