Kelly Ripa is often sharing stories from her personal life on Live with Kelly and Mark, and since her husband Mark Consuelos joined the show in 2023, they have been a daily feature, much to the delight of viewers!
On Monday’s show, the couple discussed their weekend, which saw Mark stay home alone in New York City while Kelly went to a family visiting weekend at the University of Minnesota, where her niece is a student.
Mark was left to look after the family’s dogs, Lena and Chewie, and the couple soon went off on a hilarious tangent as they debated the age of their oldest dog Chewie, admitting that they had changed it so many times when telling their children, that it had become hard to remember!
“Chewie’s looking at me, she’s 18 or 17, what is she?” Mark asked Kelly. “She’s 18,” the All My Children alum replied. “I’m not sure that’s true, but she’s old,” Mark said. “She’s 18,” Kelly confidentiality concluded, before explaining: “We’ve been lying to the kids about her age for so long that we forget her actual age!”
The Riverdale actor went on to explain that he had taken Chewie out for an early morning walk, but panicked when he couldn’t find his keys. He had thought to call Kelly to ask for help, but didn’t like the idea of giving her number to a stranger on the street.
The couple are empty nesters, although their daughter Lola, 23, often comes home, having graduated from NYU in 2023. She now splits her time between NYC and London, and is currently busy promoting her new music, some of which was recorded in the UK capital.
They are also parents to 27-year-old son Michael, who lives in Brooklyn and is an aspiring actor, and 21-year-old Joaquin, who is a student at the University of Michigan.
The family are incredibly close and Kelly and Mark’s children are incredibly down-to-earth, despite their privileged upbringing. During a chat with Daily Mail about raising her children, Kelly said of their upbringing: “We want to raise productive people who are thoughtful and selfless.”
The star added: “I wanted to raise good, caring, generous, thoughtful people who are professional, who are polite, who don’t expect the world handed to them.”
While they don’t see each other as much as they used to now that the children are older and living away from home, the holidays are extra special to the family.
Mark previously gave an insight into their family dynamics during a chat with People, as he opened up about the holiday season.The star talked to the publication just after Christmas, where he told them how nice it was to hang out not only with his children, but their partners too.
“It was lovely…it was really nice people to spend time with. They did a great job. We love them all. I just was really proud of the fact that our kids wanted to hang out with us,” he said.
He continued: “That’s kind of the goal after you raise them and we’re still raising them, but they’re adults, so we’re not really, we’re kind of done. They’re on their own for the most part. But I was just really thrilled and honored that my kids would want to spend time with me and my wife.”
“And not be embarrassed by bringing their boyfriend or a girlfriend around,” he added.
