Clay Aiken has spoken out about his infamous two-decade-long feud with Kelly Ripa, saying that their tense on-air clash sparked the most 'catastrophic' week of his life. In 2006, the American Idol runner-up, now 47, shocked Live with Regis and Kelly audiences when he covered Ripa's mouth with his hand to stop her from speaking during an appearance on the show. The moment led to Ripa speaking out against Aiken days later, and it sparked a fierce clash between the two stars that remains ongoing even now, 20 years on. Aiken has now addressed the controversial moment in a new interview, insisting that he intended the stunt to be 'incredibly innocent.' Speaking on the latest episode of the Hollywood Raw podcast, he also revealed that he has not spoken to Ripa, 55, since despite seeing her at several events. 'Maybe I should feel bad that I have not gone up and said something myself, but she hasn't either,' he said. 'No one would remember but me I [am] the one with the scars.'

Addressing the reason why he covered her mouth, Aiken explained: '[I was] on the show because I wanted to show them I could handle this myself. [I wanted to show them] I could host something and I wasn't getting to talk. 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.' At the time, Aiken had been invited to co-host the talk show while Regis Philbin was absent.

The awkward moment happened when Aiken and Ripa sat down to interview Dancing with the Stars winner Emmitt Smith and professional dancer Cheryl Burke. Clearly frustrated that he hadn't been able to get his questions in, Aiken dramatically stopped Ripa from speaking by holding his hand over her lips. 'That's a no, no!' a shocked Ripa said. 'I don't know where that hand has been, honey.' No sooner than he made the move, Aiken realized he crossed the line. 'Oh, I'm in trouble,' he said. Ripa then encouraged him to ask his question. Days later, Ripa ripped into Aiken on the program and said that she felt there was 'a lot of hostility' during the move.

'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,' she said. '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.' Rosie O'Donnell unpacked the media storm on The View days later, where she referred to Ripa as 'homophobic' despite Aiken not yet being publicly out as gay at the time.

Ripa then defended herself and called into the show. 'I have three kids,' she said. '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.' Aiken voiced his frustration over the incident, especially because he had not come out to the public. He came out as gay two years later on the cover of People.

'I was not out at the time,' he said. 'I was to Rosie… I was out to people who I knew, but I wasn’t publicly out about it.' He added that some family members didn't even know he was gay at the time. '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.

'Not only did [O'Donnell] out me, but they had a big argument about whether I was gay and who talked about me being gay. '[It was] probably the most catastrophic week of my life, to be honest. I was caving in on myself, it was a lot.' In the wake of the blowup, Aiken sent Ripa flowers and she allegedly apologized for the situation getting out of hand. The Daily Mail has reached out to Ripa and O'Donnell for comment.