Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey are expecting their first baby

Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey are expecting a baby, the daddy-to-be announced Monday while co-hosting "Live! With Kelly."

And the mother-to-be — she's actually Vanessa Lachey now — followed up with a tweet of her own: "Finally, Nick and I are ready to share Our news... We have been Blessed with a little Angel! We can't wait to meet Baby Lachey!!!"

Said Nick during the show: "I've had a chance to do a lot of great things in my career and my life, but this is the one thing that, more than any other, I look forward to. The fact that it's actually here, it's overwhelming."

The TV personality and former 98 Degrees singer said his wife found out she was pregnant after appearing on the same show. After guesting, "she started to feel a little different, not quite herself, so she went to the store, got a pregnancy test, and it came back positive," he said. "So we're having a baby!"

Vanessa, 31, a television host and former Miss Teen USA, is about 12 weeks along, with a due date in late summer or early fall, said Nick, 38, who doesn't yet know the sex of the baby. The two got married last July on Richard Branson's Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.

Rumors were swirling last week after Vanessa was photographed in Mexico with what appeared to be a baby bump — and that's exactly what it was.

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— Christie D'Zurilla
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Photo: Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo before Clive Davis' Grammys pre-party in February. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times.

 

Regis Philbin gives notice of his last day on 'Live!'

Regis Philbin on Tuesday announced his final date with "Live! With Regis and Kelly": It'll be Nov. 18, the Friday before Thanksgiving.

The detail came after Monday's kickoff of the show's new season, which has been dubbed Philbin's "Celebration Farewell Season" and includes plans for months of trivia contests and flashback clips from the last 28 years.

In January, Philbin announced he'd be stepping away from his 28-year morning gig, joking that, "There is a time that everything must come to an end for certain people on camera, especially certain old people."

Sources told TMZ at the time that the decision came after ABC execs told his agent the host's next contract would include a pay cut. Philbin, who'd dumped his longtime agency a day after announcing his plans to leave "Live!" denied that assertion, saying he'd actually made up his mind to leave "a long time ago."

On Monday, Kelly Ripa took offense to the 80-year-old host referring to the eventuality of "our final show," pointing out that the morning talker would go on after his departure. Ripa pulled up a seat next to Reege in 2001, permanently filling a spot left vacant by Kathie Lee Gifford in 2000.

"You mean the show isn't wrapping up?" joked a faux-flummoxed Philbin.

And so -- let the flashbacks begin.

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-- Christie D'Zurilla
twitter.com/dzurillaville

Photo: How's this for a flashback? Regis Philbin introduces Kelly Ripa as his new co-host in February 2001. Credit: Reuters.

 

Lisa Rinna says she'd join Kelly Ripa after Regis Philbin leaves 'Live'

Lisa Rinna, who 10 years ago was up for the "Live" job that Kelly Ripa ultimately snagged, would now like to take Regis Philbin's spot on the show.

"I think it's actually smart to put a lady in there [with] Kelly," the former "Days of Our Lives" star told PopEater. "It would be fun to co-host with her, at least see what the chemistry would be like, 'cause we know sometimes women get along, sometimes they don't."

Philbin, 79, who has hosted "Live" for nearly 28 years, announced in January he would leave the show at the end of this summer. Ripa has been his co-host for a decade, since Kathie Lee Gifford left the show.

"You can't replace Regis," said Rinna, who recently co-hosted "Live" while Ripa was on vacation, but added that Philbin has long been a supporter.

"Kelly, she of course should have gotten the role, but every time I sit down with Regis, he says, 'It could have been yours.' Ten years later, he said it again today," Rinna told PopEater.

Do you think "Live With Kelly and Lisa" could be a hit? Let us know in the comments.

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— Noelene Clark
twitter.com/NoeleneClark

Photos: Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, left. Lisa Rinna, right. Credits: Steve Friedman / Buena Vista Television / Reuters, left; Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times, right.

Regis Philbin retiring from 'Live With Regis and Kelly' [poll]

Regis Philbin is retiring, he announced Tuesday on "Live! With Regis and Kelly" -- ending a decades-long run on the morning show, but not ending the show itself.

"This will be my last year on this show," Philbin told viewers. "It's been a long time; it's been 28 years since I've been here. And it was the biggest thrill of my life.

"There is a time that everything must come to an end for certain people on camera, especially certain old people," he joked.

Philbin, 79, didn't give a specific end date, but said he'd wrap it up "at the end of summer, into the fall."

The announcement was a surprise. Even co-host Kelly Ripa didn't know the news until about 15 minutes before the show started. Was it calling in to Larry King's retirement show that got him thinking?

Ripa will continue on the show, and the studio said in a statement that it will find a new co-host to sit down with her. Kathie Lee Gifford was Philbin's co-host starting in 1985, two years into the show's run, until Ripa replaced her in 2001.

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-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Host Regis Philbin onstage at the 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards at the Las Vegas Hilton in 2010. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Bryant Gumbel reveals he's been treated for lung cancer

Bryant Gumbel revealed today on "Live With Regis and Kelly" that he has been diagnosed with and treated for lung cancer, having undergone surgery two months ago.

"They took a malignant tumor, and they took part of my lung, and they took some other goodies," he told co-host Kelly Ripa, "and the pathology on most of the stuff came back benign, but enough aggressive cells had escaped the tumor that it warranted some treatment, and I went through that, and it's done now."

He said he even kept the news from his "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel" staff and emphasized that he hopes -- hopes -- that it's over and done now. 

Gumbel has been filling in for Regis Philbin, who had hip surgery Dec. 1.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Bryant Gumbel and his wife, Hillary, in New York last month. Credit: Mark Von Holden / Getty Images for Dimension Films.

For more Ministry dispatches on celebrities who are ill or recovering, click here. 

Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Facebook and Twitter (we're @LATcelebs).

'Jon and Kate' do 'Regis and Kelly' show together for Halloween

Some people go sexy for Halloween. Some go silly. On "Live With Regis and Kelly," they went just plain scary: Regis Philbin showed up Friday as Jon Gosselin, and Kelly Ripa joined the party in a Kate Gosselin reverse mullet.

More scary fun came from a production of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance -- here's a behind-the-scenes peek at costume, makeup and rehearsals, and the video is below. 

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: For their show's Halloween celebration, Regis Philbin, left, showed up for work as Jon Gosselin and Kelly Ripa took one for the team as Kate Gosselin. Credit: David M. Russell / Associated Press / Disney-ABC Domestic Television