Who Is Kelly Ripa’s Sister Linda Ripa? Inside Her Life After Sustaining Injuries From Car Accident

Kelly Ripa rarely discusses her only sibling, Linda Ripa, on Live With Kelly and Mark. The talk show host’s sister has a tragic backstory.

Who Is Kelly Ripa’s Sister Linda Ripa?

Linda was born in 1972 to Esther and Joseph Ripa. She is two years younger than Kelly, who was born in 1970. They were born and raised in New Jersey, a short train ride away from where Kelly currently films Live in New York City.

“Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter Linda!! As my secondborn, she arrived at 4:11 a.m. on this date in 1972 and has continued to make her mother and I very proud,” Joe captioned a throwback photo of Linda on Facebook in December 2014.

The siblings have something in common with their careers, as they are both published authors. Linda wrote and illustrated the children’s book The Lady Bug Blues, which was released in 2002. Meanwhile, Kelly released her first book, Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories, in 2022.

What Happened to Kelly Ripa’s Sister Linda Ripa?

In 1999, Linda was seven months pregnant when her car was struck by a drunk driver while running errands in Pennsylvania. She was severely injured, breaking and crushing multiple broken bones, after her car was rammed head-on.

Linda almost lost her unborn child after the collision. The baby went into a coma in utero due to Linda’s pelvis being crushed. She welcomed her son, Sergio-Giuseppe Ripa, seven weeks early. Due to injuries she sustained in the crash and undergoing multiple surgeries, Esther and Joe stepped in to help Linda raise her child.

“My mother is a 24-hour-a-day nurse to my sister,” Kelly said in 2001, per the New York Post.

Prior to the accident, she was hoping to pursue acting and modeling opportunities.

“She will never, ever know a normal life again. And there’s nothing they can do,” Kelly explained.

Linda is an aunt to Kelly’s three children, Michael, Lola and Joaquin, whom she shares with husband Mark Consuelos.

“Every day of my life that I feel like I’m going to complain about something small, minute, I think of my sister,” Kelly once said, per Hello! Magazine. “And it makes you appreciate what’s important in life.”

She continued, “We, Mark and me, have three beautiful, healthy kids and if everything we’ve achieved together disappeared tomorrow, we would still have three healthy, beautiful kids. And who could ask for anything more than that?”

Who Is Kelly Ripa’s Nephew Sergio-Giuseppe Ripa?

In September 2021, Kelly shared a rare photo of her nephew on Instagram to celebrate his birthday. Sergio is a musician who shares videos playing the guitar and information about his band’s gigs on his Instagram account.