Bette Joy Philbin (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...
Senese; born February 1, 1941) is an American
television personality
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
, and the widow of television personality
Regis Philbin
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working ma ...
.
Career
In the late 1960s, Senese worked as an assistant to comedian and talk show host
Joey Bishop
Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk ...
. Regis Philbin was Bishop's on-air sidekick.
Many years later, after raising children, Philbin hosted
HGTV
HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, ...
's ''At Home With...'' and the
syndicated
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
home show, ''Haven''. She occasionally co-hosted with her husband on his show, ''
Live with Regis and Kathie Lee'' (1988–2001), and she also occasionally co-hosted with him on ''
Live with Regis and Kelly
''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...
'' in
Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa (; born October 2, 1970) is an American actress and talk show host. Since 2001, she has been the co-host of the syndicated morning talk show '' Live! with Kelly and Ryan'' in various formats.
As an actress, Ripa's best known roles i ...
's absence, until he retired. She also guest-starred with her husband on Ripa's
situation-comedy
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...
television series ''
Hope & Faith
''Hope & Faith'' is an American television sitcom, starring Faith Ford and Kelly Ripa as Hope Shanowski and Faith Fairfield. Hope is a homemaker and mother of three and Faith is her sister, a soap opera star whose character is killed off, lead ...
'' (2003–2006).
Personal life

Joy and Regis Philbin were married on March 1, 1970, and together the couple had two daughters, Joanna and
J. J.
In August 2007, Regis and Joy Philbin announced that their daughter J. J. and her husband, television producer
Michael Schur, were expecting their first child in 2008, a boy named William Xavier Schur. He was nicknamed "Mr. Trouble" by Regis, and was often referred to as such on ''Live''. In 2010, J. J. gave birth to another child, a girl named Ivy Elizabeth Schur.
The couple split their time between their apartment in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
and condo in
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
.
Regis Philbin died on July 25, 2020. The couple had been married for fifty years.
References
External links
*
1941 births
Living people
American women television personalities
Television personalities from New York City
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