Who is David Muir? About the journalist and family friend of Kelly Ripa

While there are a plethora of celebrity friendships for the average person to dot on, they rarely manifest in as sweet a way as the bond between Kelly Ripa and David Muir. Though it may seem like the the hard hitting news anchor and the talk show host have little in common, the two are incredibly tight.

Who is David Muir?

David Muir is an American Journalist and News Anchor. Described as “the Brad Pitt of news anchors,” Muir began his career in his hometown of Syracuse, New York at WTVH as an intern. Charismatic, handsome, and with a great sense for stories, Muir was able to quickly work his way up to anchor. Muir started to make a name for himself after covering several high-profile stories, including the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

After relocating to Boston WCVB, he won the Edward R Murrow Award for his work on tracking the 9/11 hijacker’s path through New England and giving the story a New England spin. Shortly after, he took a position at ABC News as the anchor for their overnight program, World News Now. Within four years he was moved to the early morning program, World News This Morning, where his grounded delivery built a dedicated following.

Muir’s diligence and in-depth reporting have earned him a number of awards over the years, and the Emmy Award-winning journalist has plenty of fascinating stories over his decades-long tenure in the business. During Hurricane Katrina, Muir was one of the only broadcasters within the New Orleans Superdome, and his reporting helped to reveal the deepening humanitarian crisis as living conditions deteriorated. Muir has made a name for himself as a conscientious reporter who covers events with a wide range on impact, like his coverage of the 2010 BP oil spill, which helped to highlight BP’s negligence.

By 2012 he was tapped to replace Diane Sawyer as the lead anchor for ABC’s weekend broadcast, which was renamed World News with David Muir. The anchor has tried to keep his broadcasts bipartisan, saying, “I think there’s a hunger for consensus in this country; there are so many polarizing voices.”

Outside of his stellar journalism, Muir has a laundry list of charity work with organizations that help children all over the world. On top of his extensive work history, Muir was also named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” in 2014.

David Muir’s friendship with Kelly Ripa

Both Muir and Ripa work for ABC News, but their relationship doesn’t begin and end with their mutual employer. Ripa told Hello Magazine that she was completely blown away by Muir the first time she saw him, though the exact date is unclear. Hijacking the ABC News email system, Ripa snagged his email (something she was she was not allowed to do) and wrote him, “Dude. You looked amazing tonight. Don’t know what was going on. Looked kinda dangerous where you are. But just wanted to let you know that you looked amazing. I had the volume down.”

As of 2018, the duo has been publicly celebrating one another for birthdays, promotions, and other big life events. Adorably, Ripa had to essentially bully Muir into letting her give him a birthday cake, a gift he returned by crashing her 50th birthday party on live television. The duo has even taken dancing lessons together.

Beyond his friendship with Kelly Ripa, Muir regularly engages with her kids and husband on the social media platform, liking and sharing their accomplishments or wishing them the best on important occasions. He congratulated daughter Lola on the release of her first album recently and cheered on her son Joaquin after he was accepted onto the University of Michigan’s wrestling team.

When Ryan Seacrest retired from Live with Kelly and Ryan in April 2023, Muir acted as a stand-in before Ripa’s Husband, Mark Consuelos (All My Children, Riverdale) stepped in. It wasn’t the first time he graced his gal-pal’s talk show. When he appeared on the show in June 2022, Ripa and Muir reminisced about pool parties, and Muir took the moment to gush about how great he thinks Ripa’s kids are.

When Mark Consuelos joined Ripa on her talk show as a permanent co-host — changing the show’s title to Live with Kelly and Mark — Muir was quick to congratulate the pair, leaving the couple a message on Instagram that read, “Most beautiful of full circles. Congratulations.” The circle refers to the couple’s original meet-cute on the set of All My Children when Ripa joined the cast in 1995. His friendship with Mark seems to be just as sturdy, Mark revealed his adorable nickname for Muir, AKA Captain Handsome, after a BTS moment went viral.

David Muir’s humanitarian work with Kelly Ripa

Outside of their friendly relationship, Muir and Ripa both lend their voices to humanitarian causes. Much of Muir’s early journalistic works revolved around humanitarian crises, and per Save The Children Ripa was more than happy to award him the “Voice Award” in 2016 for his in-depth reporting on the food crisis in Somalia.