Kelly Ripa And Mark Consuelos Broke Up Before Their Wedding Day

Very few couples can withstand the havoc Hollywood wreaks on a relationship. The ones that do survive naturally have much of the public rooting for them. Take Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, for example. They're so much more than just co-hosts on "Live with Kelly and Mark;" they're a power couple who has been killing it for decades.

After meeting during Consuelos' 1995 audition for the soap opera Ripa also starred in, "All My Children," the duo's relationship quickly took off — especially after Consuelos was cast in the show as Ripa's character's love interest. They eloped to Las Vegas on May 1, 1996, and welcomed their first child a little over a year later. 

Fast forward to 2023, and the celebrity couple now has three children, a successful television show, and a reputation as one of the strongest pairings in the biz. So impenetrable, in fact, that you may be surprised to learn that their relationship almost wasn't to be. 

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' characters in "All My Children" had a lengthy on-screen relationship. In fact, when Ripa was shown Consuelos' picture before his audition, she had a vision that they would end up together, as the TV icon revealed on "Lunch with Bruce" in 2018 (via People). Many people probably weren't surprised when real life imitated reel life as Ripa and Consuelos fell in love offscreen too. 

The sparks between the couple on the soap opera were immediately evident and chemistry like that was too strong to be denied. Although, at one point, the actors did try to deny it. The hosts of the "Comments by Celebs" podcast got Ripa to admit that she and Consuelos briefly split before they tied the knot. She stated, "We broke up, and we got back together the day before we went off and eloped." 

Consuelos confirmed the break-up on an episode of "Watch What Happens Live," acknowledging that he was the one to make the move to win her back. According to the "Riverdale" alum, "When we were together, she wouldn't talk to me and that made me go crazy, so I followed her in Central Park, and then we went back to my place, and we got married the next day."

Mark Consuelos didn't elaborate on what he said or did to win Kelly Ripa back, but whatever it was, it must have been convincing because not 24 hours later, they were headed to a chapel in Las Vegas. According to People, in 2021, when Ripa was co-hosting "Live with Kelly and Ryan" with Ryan Seacrest, she showed a slightly blurry photo of the very wedding chapel they were married in, referring to it as the "scene of the crime." 

One of the couple's children presumably took the photo, as Ripa shared that the family visited Sin City in 2009. Despite returning to the venue, Consuelos and Ripa are adamant that vow renewals are a tell-tale sign of divorce and will therefore never be on the table. On another episode, Ripa mentioned that they "are very superstitious about vow renewals," even describing them as "a pre-divorce" (via People). 

When the show's executive producer brought up the idea of renewing their vows on live TV, both Consuelos and Ripa responded with a resounding "No." We're still rooting for their marriage, even if they don't want to recreate their elopement to Vegas with a televised vow renewal. It's been almost three decades, and if their chemistry on "Live with Kelly and Mark" is any indication, the actors are still very much in love.