Kelly Ripa sparks debate over her new 'skinny' Christmas tree after ditching her failed first attempt

Kelly Ripa revealed it was a struggle getting the right Christmas tree this holiday season as she claimed they all looked more sparse and less full than previous years. 

Despite managing to find a beautiful one to adorn with twinkly lights, ornaments and garland, the star, 54, couldn't help but poke fun at her tree for its more slender size. 

'Behold the lady,' the talk show host captioned a shot of her lit tree in the center of her living room. 'Even the trees are skinny this year #treezempic?' 

'Your tree has a beautiful shape! Trim and slim, like its owners,' one fan commented while another agreed with Ripa that her tree looked like it was on Ozempic 'for sure.' 

Another quipped: 'You didn't have to move any furniture for that tiny tree lol.' 

One eagle-eyed commenter noted that the tree did not look as full as the ones Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, typically purchase. 

'Wow, that's not as big as you usually get, but still pretty,' another observant Instagram user wrote. 

Others insisted to Ripa that the tree was 'very beautiful' and a 'slender stunner.' 

One of her followers shared that they also had trouble finding 'any plump trees' this year. 

A handful called the abundance 'skinny' Christmas trees for sale an 'epidemic.' 

Last year, Ripa's extra-wide Christmas tree reached all the way to the top of her ceiling and had more than enough branches for all her holiday décor. 

Ripa's post comes after she admitted that she's on her second Christmas tree because the first that arrived 'was too big for us to fit in our house.'

'The Christmas tree is a big deal for me every year, it’s what I look forward to. And when the tree arrived, and they cut it open, it was like a scene out of [National Lampoon's Christmas] Vacation. The entire tree became [huge] It was like a bloomin’ onion,' she recalled on Monday's episode of Live with Kelly and Mark. 

The original tree, which she referred to as giant, was 'three feet taller' than the room's ceiling height would allow and 'was [practically] the width of the room.' 

That's when they settled on a scrawnier one. 

'So we got what I like to call Treezempic, or Pinejaro. She’s skinny, don’t skinny-shame her. She’s sensitive about it. She’s been exercising every day. She’s beautiful,' Ripa mused. 'But when I tell you, hanging ornaments on this tree… even the lightest ornament and the branches are like, "I can’t."' 

Consuelos added: 'Yeah, I heard terms like, "These branches are flaccid."'

Ripa said they just ended up putting 'most of the ornaments' inside the tree. 

Although it took some time to adjust to the smaller tree, Consuelos says he thinks 'it’s great' now. 

'I’ve never been able to get around to the backside of the tree. It’s usually under-decorated because I just can’t get back there. But now, it’s fully dressed,' Ripa said. 

Consuelos told viewers they were already enjoying gathering around the tree with their fireplace roaring. 

Last year, Ripa revealed that she decorates her tree with her more than 33-year-old ornament collection every year. 

Ripa and Consuelos, who have been married for 29 years, share sons Michael, 27, and Joaquin, 21, as well as their 23-year-old Lola, 23.