Clay Aiken spoke out about the moment he contentiously placed his hand over Kelly Ripa’s mouth more than two decades after their intense on-air clash on “Live with Regis and Kelly” in 2006.

The “American Idol” alum, 47, recalled stepping in as a co-host on the daytime show and attempting to stop Ripa from talking so he could ask their guests questions.

When asked if they had spoken since, he responded on Wednesday’s podcast episode of “Hollywood Raw,” “No. I didn’t have the problem.”

Aiken, who has been active in the New York City Broadway scene and society, explained he’s seen Ripa, 55, at some events.

“Maybe I should feel bad that I have not gone up and said something myself, but she hasn’t either,” he said. “We’re talking about something that happened — 20 years ago — which became this huge blowup.”

“That was the most catastrophic week of my life,” the musician added. “No one would remember but me because I was the one with the scars.”

“I’m on the show because I wanted to show them I could handle this myself; I could host something and I wasn’t getting to talk,” he said.

“Like, there were cue cards. They had my name on them. So I tried to be funny, and I did what I did, which was incredibly innocent. And then it got a little cold in the room.”

Aiken admitted that he felt bad and was “worried” that he had upset Ripa after seeing the audience “frozen.”

“Is that a no-no?” Aiken asked Ripa at the time, to which she responded, “Oh, that’s a no, no, no. Don’t know where that hand’s been, honey.”

The TV personality shared on the podcast that he didn’t remember how he and Ripa parted ways, but it wasn’t until the following week, when the latter’s co-host, Regis Philbin, had returned, that the situation escalated.

At the time, Philbin, who died in 2020, and Ripa discussed Aiken’s “hostility.”

“There was a lack of respect, and when you’re a certain person, you’re in the public eye, you have to be respectful of other people,” Ripa told her co-host.

“And I don’t think that he was respectful in any way. If that upsets his fans, I’m sorry to hear that, but you don’t put your hands over somebody’s face and mouth when they’re conducting an interview, even if it’s for a laugh. And that’s all I’m gonna say.” 

Then the following day, Rosie O’Donnell addressed the incident on “The View” and referred to Ripa as  “homophobic” despite Aiken not having been out yet.

Ripa responded to the actress by calling into the talk show to defend herself, stating, “I have three kids. He’s shaking hands with everybody in the audience.”

“I mean, it’s cold and flu season. That’s what I meant. To imply that it’s anything homophobic is outrageous, Rosie, and you know better. You should be more responsible,” the TV personality told O’Donnell.

Recalling the “blow up,” Aiken said, “I was not out at the time. I was to Rosie … I was out to people who I knew, but I wasn’t publicly out about it.”

“I was not out to my grandparents and the people in my family. And not only does Rosie call it a homophobic remark — which I think she accidentally said, and then she tried to walk it back a little bit — but then Kelly calls in live to ‘The View’ that day and they get in an argument over it.”

The actor added, “Not only did she out me, but they had a big argument about whether I was gay and who talked about me being gay.” 

That same week, Aiken reflected on how his “wonderful publicist” and interns did “great work” on finding videos of Ripa placing her hand over Philbin’s mouth throughout the years and sending the clips to the media.

“The tides sort of turned,” Aiken said, explaining that he then sent Ripa flowers, which she thanked him for and allegedly apologized for “blowing” the situation out of proportion.

Per Aiken, Ripa extended an olive branch to him and an offer to return to the show. However, the Broadway star alleged that he’s “tried” to appear on the show but has been unable to return.

A rep for Ripa wasn’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.

Jewel was once homeless and suffering from debilitating mental health issues before transforming her life and becoming a successful singer and songwriter.

The “Foolish Games” singer shared some of the traumas from her upbringing, including when her mother left their family when she was 8 years old, while chatting on the “No Magic Pill” podcast.

Her father became “physically abusive” once they moved back to his hometown, which is where Jewel’s “whole world really turned upside down.”

“I made a promise really young not to do drugs or drink,” she said. “Again, I think just cuz I had such an extreme front row seat to seeing what it did. It didn’t look glamorous, you know, it didn’t look sexy.

“And some deep, deep part of me knew to be deadly terrified of it.”

By 15, Jewel was living on her own, and a few years later moved to San Diego to take care of her ailing mother. Paychecks fell through and bills mounted by the time she decided to live in her car while her mom went back to Alaska.

At first, Jewel tried to be optimistic about the situation, but her mental health began to suffer.

“My panic attacks were getting worse. My agoraphobia was getting worse,” she said. “I didn’t have food. I didn’t have water. I didn’t have … anything. I didn’t have gas for the car.”

Jewel recalled her lowest point when she began shoplifting.

“I started stealing food and stealing, like, herbs and things like that to try and … I had bad kidneys,” she said. “And then, it just kind of evolved into stealing things that weren’t food and things that I didn’t need.”

Host Blake Mycoskie noted a point in the singer’s memoir, “Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story,” where she described looking in the mirror at a dressed-down version of herself and realizing that stealing was about the fear that she would never be enough.

“I think, you know, stealing for me really became a real addiction,” she said. “It was compulsive. I couldn’t control it.”

While standing in a changing room and attempting to tuck a stolen dress into her pants, Jewel was hit with a difficult epiphany.

“I saw my reflection in the mirror and … I was a statistic,” she said. “I’m a homeless kid shoplifting, and I’m going to end up in jail or dead if this keeps going.”

The musician leaned on a quote she remembered: “Happiness doesn’t depend on who you are or what you have. It depends on what you think.”

From there, Jewel felt empowered to change her mind and change her ways to fully heal from her past. One unconventional step she took: writing everything down that she did with her hands over a two-week period.

“I haven’t had a panic attack in two weeks,” she realized. “What I stumbled on was being radically present. Journaling about my hands all day … I literally would watch my hands open a door. I’d watch my hands not shake a hand, or whatever it was.

“I’d watch my hand steal. I was so radically present that … I forgot to worry about a future that hadn’t happened yet. It was so liberating.”

She added, “I realized that fear is a thief, and it robs you of the only opportunity you have to change your life.”

“It was a sad day,” behind the scenes of the “Today” show on Tuesday, as Savannah Guthrie broke down in tears while discussing the ransom note her family received in February allegedly claiming her missing mom, Nancy Guthrie, had died.

“A lot of people at ‘Today’ are affected by it,” says a source. “There was a sense of sadness today. Everybody just feels so bad for her. There is a lot of uncertainty.” 

We’re told Guthrie has been surrounded by support as she continues to navigate the unimaginable ordeal.

“There is a lot of admiration and praise for her that she is still able to do her job,” says our source. “People really support her and care about her, and people are heartbroken.”

During the show, Guthrie said she had “no comment” on the headlines and is “not involved in … coverage” of her mother’s abduction, but that she couldn’t “pretend” to not be present for the conversation.

“I just wanted to take the opportunity to really ask people and really beg people to come forward because somebody knows something,” Guthrie continued.

“This is a news story today that is on your radar, but this is the life my sister, [Annie Guthrie], lives, that I live, that my brother, [Camron Guthrie], lives, that our extended families live, that our children live every day,” she explained.

“We cannot be at peace,” the journalist said. “No matter how much I try to come out here every day and smile and find that joy — and I will, I promise I will — this is a moment to say we need your help. … I’m not gonna miss that opportunity.”

Guthrie ended her emotional plea with a promise: “We love our mom, and we’ll never stop looking for her. Ever.”

Gurthrie was surround by colleagues Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Carson Daly and Jenna Bush Hager.

“The bravery and courage with which you have done this job every day since that happened is nothing short of remarkable,” Melvin said.

Savannah took a brief hiatus from the show after her mother went missing from her Arizona home on Feb. 1. She returned in April. 

Sources close to the investigation told Air Mail over the weekend that a ransom note, believed to be credible, referred to the 84-year-old as “safe but scared” hours after her disappearance — and demanded $6 million in Bitcoin.

The second, which came from the same IP address days later, indicated that Nancy had passed.

Savannah told Hoda Kotb in March that she “tend[s] to believe” the two notes that she and her siblings “responded to” in emotional social media pleas were, in fact, “real.”

There have been no arrests. Police did detain Derrick Callella for allegedly attempting to extort with fake ransom texts. The 42-year-old faces federal charges.