Weird Things Everyone Ignores About Kelly Ripa And Mark Consuelos' Marriage

TV personalities Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have been quite open about the status of their relationship over the years — perhaps a little too much at times. 

The "LIVE with Kelly and Mark" hosts first met while cast members of "All My Children" in 1995, when Ripa played Hayley Vaughan and Consuelos was cast as her love interest Mateo Santos. Ripa told People she wasn't looking her best the first time she saw her future husband, as her hair was still in rollers and she wasn't wearing makeup. "I looked really gross," Ripa said, who told the outlet she quickly fixed herself up. "I wanted him to see me looking like a normal person!" As for Consuelos, he told HuffPost in 2014, "I thought she was adorable, hot and sexy and all that stuff ... I didn't really think I had a chance with her, so I wasn't really focused on that."

The two made their relationship public by February 1996, then tied the knot on May 1 that same year. They have three children together, sons Michael and Joaquin and daughter Lola. However, while Ripa and Consuelos appear to have had many happy years together, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Here are some of the strange things we've noticed about their relationship — we even asked Susan Winter, a New York City-based relationship expert, for her take on some of these unusual facets of their love story.

When Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos first met on the set of "All My Children," sparks flew and the two started dating — though they kept their budding romance from their co-workers. It seems likely that the two didn't want any awkwardness in the workplace if it didn't work out. After all, Ripa once said she wasn't the type of woman that Consuelos usually dated. "You had a wild attraction to women who were not necessarily good for you," she told her husband in 2023 on "LIVE with Kelly and Mark" (per Decider).

The two went so far as to get married before their castmates — and the world — found out, thanks to then-gossip reporter Wendy Williams. "Nobody at [All My Children] knew we were even dating, much less married to each other," Ripa told Entertainment Weekly. Three months in, however, they were listening to Williams' show on the radio when she shared a juicy tidbit "that two soap stars from All My Children, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos ... eloped in Las Vegas," Ripa recalled. Williams' source had seen the couple getting their marriage license.

Overall, relationship expert Susan Winter said the couple played it smart by keeping their relationship hush-hush. "Keeping a new workplace romance under wraps is a good idea in the initial stages of partnership development," Winter told The List exclusively. "It's wise to remain discreet, as the 'honeymoon phase' holds heightened expectations that might not survive as time progresses." Of course, she said it can be difficult not to slip up and to keep co-workers in the dark, "but the benefit lies in eliminating outside chatter that could dissuade or confuse the new partnership."

About that wedding — it almost didn't happen. Like many couples, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos went through a rough patch and took a break from their relationship in 1996. However, while most couples might celebrate getting back together with a fancy dinner and maybe some makeup sex, Ripa and Consuelos took things a step further — they got married. "We broke up and we got back together the day before we went off and eloped," Ripa said on the "Comments by Celebs" podcast. "Yeah, we eloped. We went to Vegas and got married."

There was also a little sourness with the sweetness of the whole experience, as the breakup did drive Consuelos to stalk Ripa. "She wouldn't talk to me, and that made me go crazy," he confessed on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2019. "I followed her into Central Park. I stalked her, and then we went back to my place, and then we got married the next day." Still, while it seems hasty to get hitched right after getting back together, so far it's worked for them. In 2013, Ripa shared a throwback photo to the ceremony on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Omg. Here it is. 5/1/96 pic.twitter.com/xL79Qzdalv

— Kelly Ripa (@KellyRipa) May 1, 2013

The couple also revisited the wedding chapel during a "LIVE with Kelly and Mark" taping in 2024. "It really is such an efficient way to get married," Ripa had previously said on a 2022 episode of that show (via People). "And it was fun. We were like, 'Now, this is gambling! Woohoo!'"

One of the hallmarks of a thriving and healthy relationship is trust, but it seems like it took Mark Consuelos a little bit longer to get there than Kelly Ripa did. Consuelos related one incident in the book, "What Makes a Marriage Last" — compiled by talk show host Phil Donahue and actor Marlo Thomas, a married couple — that painted himself in a less-than-flattering light. 

Consuelos said that one time, he was out of town and couldn't reach Ripa all day, so he started getting suspicious that she might be stepping out on him. "So I got on a flight to New York and called her from the plane and asked her what she was doing that night," he wrote (via Cosmopolitan). For her part, Ripa explained that she had been cleaning all day, so she was happily surprised when the doorman told her there was a flower delivery. It was all a ruse, however, as Consuelos was hoping to catch her in the act. "Meanwhile, I have a johnny mop in one hand, and I'm wearing a bathrobe," Kelly wrote. "So I open the door, and it's him. He comes in — he doesn't even say hello. He's looking for something. I'm still looking for the flower guy! And he's sweeping the scene!"

While the couple didn't specify when this happened, Counsuelos did mention it was before cell phones were common, so it must've been early on in their marriage. We hope he has a little more trust in his wife these days.

It turns out that maybe Kelly Ripa is the one who should've been worried, as Mark Consuelos admitted he once kissed another woman amid a celebration after a sports victory. 

Consuelos spilled the beans on the air during an April 2024 episode of "LIVE with Kelly and Mark," though we're guessing — and hoping — this was something he had told Ripa before bringing it up on live television. Consuelos said he was celebrating the win of his favorite Italian soccer team Campobasso 1919 when he smooched a woman he characterized as "someone else's aunt" (via Us Weekly). He and Ripa are co-owners of the team. 

"In the adulation, in the celebration, on the field, ... we ran over to our fans. I'm running and I see this lady, let's call her my aunt — maybe someone else's aunt — and we look at each other and we're so excited and there's this [plexi]glass and we come to the glass, and you know what? I kissed her," Consuelos told Ripa. His wife seemed unruffled by his retelling of the incident and joked with her husband about it, so it seems that smooching a stranger in the heat of the moment wasn't a big deal for her.  

As a television personality, Kelly Ripa has hosted "LIVE" for decades. She locked down the full-time gig in 2001 when she replaced Kathie Lee Gifford, becoming the permanent co-host alongside longtime host Regis Philbin. After Philbin retired in 2011, retired football player Michael Strahan joined the show, and then Ryan Seacrest took the spot after that. When the "American Idol" host retired, Mark Consuelos joined his wife in 2013 to make it "LIVE with Kelly and Mark."

While some people find joy in working alongside their spouses, it can cause stress because the couple's lives are so entwined. However, having a career or job in common can be a fulfilling experience, said relationship expert Susan Winter. "Couples that work together must negotiate their differences of opinion and arrive at viable solutions," she said. "Done well, it creates a solid platform for ongoing partnership growth. ... Solid relationships flourish by having a "third thing." That means a joint passion, business, or goal that keeps the couple in current conversation."

Not having something else in common besides just the fact that they're in a relationship can be troublesome, Winter continued, because living separate lives can make partners distant. "They siphon off into their own interests and eventually feel too far away from each other to reconnect," Winter said. "Far too many relationships dissolve because the couples no longer interact."

It doesn't seem like Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have ever seriously considered splitting up, at least as of this writing, but Ripa did reveal that the separation of reality TV personalities Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky had shaken her. Ripa discussed this on an episode of her podcast, "Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa," which featured Richards as a guest.

"When the news broke that you and Mauricio had separated, I did something I never do," Ripa told Richards. "I sent the article to Mark, and I was like, 'Oh my God, is this going to happen to us?' Because we've been married the same amount of time." Ripa said she knows that Richards' relationship has garnered a lot of public interest, thanks to Richards and Umansky's appearances on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," and Ripa realized that she and Consuelos are in the same boat. "It was one of those things where I was truly shocked by that headline," she said. While Richards and Umansky were still sharing a home at the time the podcast was recorded, Ripa said she couldn't imagine doing that if she and Consuelos had split. 

Ripa and Consuelos have talked about going to couples therapy before to help bolster their marriage. When asked for one lesson they learned from it, Ripa told USA Today that their therapist told them, "Whether you're getting along or fighting, you should turn to each other before bed and say something positive about the other person, and it's such a nice (thing) — even if it's ridiculous." Well, if it works, it's worth it!