Times Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos Took The PDA Too Far

Kelly Ripa was already enamored with Mark Consuelos before she even met him. While on "All My Children" in 1995, a casting director showed her a photo of him as a potential love interest on the show and it was kismet. "When I saw him, the photograph of him, I saw my entire future with him flash before [my eyes] — like I saw it," Ripa revealed on "Lunch with Bruce" in 2018. Consuelos also fancied Ripa from the get-go, revealing to Huffpost Live in 2014: "I thought she was adorable, hot and sexy and all that stuff." Not too long after they settled into their roles as TV couple Hayley Vaughan and Mateo Santos, they become a real couple. In 1996, Ripa and Consuelos — who did briefly break up before their wedding day but then reconciled — got married. They've since gone on to have three kids. And in 2023, they became co-workers again when Consuelos joined Ripa on "Live With Kelly and Mark" as a co-host. 

Even after all these years, the one thing that has seemingly never diminished from their relationship is chemistry. In addition to Ripa and Consuelos making inappropriate confessions about their sex lives publicly, they've never shied away from showing the world how much they love each other. Unfortunately, their attraction for each other hasn't always been well-received by fans. There are instances where Ripa and Consuelos have taken their public displays of affection, or PDA, too far.

Relationship selfies saturate Instagram, but it's not too often that you see a couple selfie where one partner's butt is facing the other's face. In 2021, a swimsuit-clad and bent over Kelly Ripa shared a photo on Instagram of her giving a shirtless Mark Consuelos a peek at her behind. "When the end is in sight......😜," she captioned the photo, which showed Mark with a shocked yet delighted look on his face as he marveled at her derriere. The photo received a handful of comments from friends who supported their sexy snap, including actress Lisa Rinna who wrote, "This is just epic. Period. I don't even have anything clever to say. It's just hot!" (via People). Meanwhile, Bravo mainstay Andy Cohen commented, "This is the best pic you've ever posted."

But not everyone approved. "You both are better than that," wrote one person in the comment section with a tearful emoji. Another opined: "Your children have officially disowned you!" While the latter is an exaggeration, Ripa's kids do have her blocked on social media, but not for the content she posts. However, in 2020, daughter Lola Consuelos told Ripa during an interview for People's first-ever Family Issue what she thought of her "belfie" (or "The butt selfie"): "That was ridiculous." When Ripa asked her daughter to weigh in on the "thirst traps" that she posted of Mark, Lola said, "That's disgusting," adding, "I block that out of my mind. I forgot that you even did that."

In April 2023, "Live With Kelly and Mark" kicked off with Mark Consuelos hosting alongside wife Kelly Ripa, who's been hosting the longtime morning show since 2001. Within his first week, viewers began to notice that he and Ripa were getting touchy with one another. Responding to a post on X, formerly Twitter, about Consuelos' first show, one user couldn't help but drag the "Riverdale" alum for frequently touching his wife. "Is there something wrong with Mark's right hand? It seems it a magnet and Kelly's leg is metal. Hes [sic] either touching her leg or arm," the user wrote, revealing that in one of the episodes during his first week, Consuelos touched his wife "more times in TEN minutes than Ryan did in a week!" The user further wrote: "LEAVE THE MARRIAGE AT THE HOME! I mean come on!!!" Another viewer also spoke out about their on-air PDA following the show's premiere. "LESS married couple of 27 yrs — MORE morning talk show colleagues/cohosts," they wrote on X (via Page Six).

It likely didn't help that amongst the criticism for being too handsy on air, their third episode co-hosting together featured an intimate partner yoga segment, led by husband-and-wife duo Colleen Saidman and Rodney Yee. While the segment didn't feature any NSFW gestures, the level of closeness likely would have been uncomfortable for them if they weren't married.

After receiving negative feedback during their first week of "Live With Kelly and Mark," Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos seemingly reassessed their body language to make viewers more comfortable. However, the couple appeared to have slipped up during a November 2023 episode when Ripa was shown with her hand in Consuelos' shirt. The interaction started off-air as a vacation prize clip played, but went the clip concluded, the camera returned to the couple on stage who had gotten into a playful tussle after Consuelos shoved notes down his shirt. "He didn't want me to show you this, so he crumpled it up and shoved it down his shirt! Like I wasn't gonna go down there to get it," Ripa said after retrieving her husband's slapdash notes for one of his solo segments. The couple couldn't stop laughing, but a clip shared on Page Six's TikTok proved that viewers weren't laughing along. "i just can't stand these two!" chirped one. Another asked: "Will this show ever end??" with a laughing emoji. 

Given that that's how Ripa and Consuelos interact on air, it makes you wonder what their backstage activity is like. Ripa revealed during a July 2024 episode that she and Consuelos have fooled around backstage. "I did something backstage to Mark that was so inappropriate that if we weren't married, I would probably be fired right now," she said (via Facebook).

In December 2023, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos marked Christmas Day on Instagram with two photos together. In the first photo, the couple is pictured in front of their Christmas tree dressed to the nines in formal evening wear. In the second, Ripa and Consuelos are both donning Santa T-shirts that read "Big Nick Energy," which appears to be a play on words of the slang term "big d*** energy." But that's not the kicker! Ripa's pants are nowhere to be found as she's seen posing in her underwear. While this isn't a scandalous PDA moment, due to the couple simply having their arms around each other, the nature of the photo could suggest that there could have been some naughty list behavior going on prior to posing together.

"Kelly forgot to put on pants," read one comment (via Closer). Another user asked, "Why is she in her underwear?" Others, seemingly partial to Consuelos, questioned why his pants were on. Finally, one user offered some clarity to this potentially scandalous picture. "People!!!! It's a swimsuit!!! Can't you see the cabana in the background!!! and if it was underwear, it's her Insta, she can post what she wants!! Good grief," they wrote. Others echoed the thought that Ripa was wearing a bathing suit, not her underwear. But in terms of Ripa and Consuelos posing in front of a cabana, the background appears to be a bedroom.  

After more than two decades of marriage, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos seem to have no trouble keeping their spark alive — and reminding fans of it. While it's hard to top Ripa's 2021 swimsuit photo of her sticking her butt in the face of a delighted Consuelos, she seemingly found a new pose of her and Consuelos to grace Instagram with. In August 2024, Ripa shared a selfie of her and Consuelos outside in swimwear, with the caption "Sunset with sexy" (via Closer). The sunset and body of water they were seemingly swimming in was nowhere to be seen, but the blue sky background does suggest that they were outside. What was pictured in the photo was Consuelos standing up, gripping a towel around his waist, and showing off his chiseled abs. Meanwhile, Ripa is seemingly kneeling on the ground with her head aligning with his groin in a way that could hint at a certain sexual act.

Ripa has also posted some other provocative photos of Consuelos on her Instagram, including one of him laying down at the beach with a beach hat cheekily placed on top of his pelvic region.