Maybe Kelly Ripa shouldn’t be so cavalier in calling herself “the black widow.”

This morning, with “Live with Regis and Kelly” co-host Regis Philbin out for hip replacement surgery, Ripa coaxed some previously undisclosed information out of fill-in host Bryant Gumbel. And when Gumbel revealed to the world that he had a malignant tumor removed from his lung two months ago, Ripa looked so shocked she almost fell off her chair.

“Oh my gosh, I had no idea,” she said. “I thought we were friends!”

Thankfully, Gumbel seems to be doing okay after his surgery and following treatment. “They opened up my chest, they took a malignant tumor, and they took part of my lung and they took some other goodies, and pathology on most of the stuff came back benign,” the former “Today” show anchor said. “But enough aggressive cells had escaped the tumor that it warranted some treatment, and I went through treatment, and it’s done now. We hope — we hope — it’s over and done with.”

Watch the whole thing unfold here. And here’s a tip for anyone who gets an offer to co-host with Ripa in the future: be very careful!

Bryant Gumbel: “I Had Cancer Surgery” –TVNewser