‘Live’ Kelly Ripa Shares Husband Mark Consuelos Was Reluctant To Co-Host
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are famous as both a couple and as a pair of co-workers. Over the years, they’ve been side-by-side on a variety of projects, especially Live! with Kelly and Mark. However, Ripa recently revealed that this almost wasn’t the case for their famous talk show.
Kelly Ripa’s Real-Life Husband Became Her Talk Show Co-Host In 2023
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos met each other while playing love interests on All My Children. The two then married in 1996.
Since then, the two have appeared in a variety of projects together. Back in 2023, Mark joined Kelly on the talk show Live! with Kelly and Mark, taking over for Ryan Seacrest.

However, Ripa recently revealed that almost wasn’t the case. She shared this during a recent episode of Kylie Kelce’s Not Gonna Lie podcast.
At the time, Ripa acknowledged that she and her husband already had experience when it came to working with each other. She shared, “We were used to working together, and over the years, we had worked together a lot. And Mark, I think by the time he took over cohosting permanently, had cohosted with me at least 100 times.”
When it came to the idea of Mark joining her talk show, Kelly thought that it was an obvious idea. She noted, “He was always filling in the last minute. COVID year, he was constantly filling in, like, he was just always there. So, he made sense to take over. We just had to make it make sense for him.”
However, Consuelos needed some convincing. While he enjoyed filling in at times, he reportedly thought taking over permanently was a different story.
Kelly Ripa Also Shared That She & Mark Aren’t As Joined At The Hip As Some People Think
Ripa added, “He’s like, ‘No, it’s fun to do [it] once in a while, because it’s only once in a while.’ But then, I sort of said,’ It’s so great. It’s so much easier than doing a soap. It’s such a finite amount of time, and you can still go off and have a full life.’ And so, I think that has made it really easy.”
During the conversation, Ripa noted that she and her husband aren’t always joined at the hip as some fans think. According to her, after taping episodes of their talk show, they don’t see each other again until dinnertime.

Ripa shared, “We need some separation. We need some mystery between us. I don’t know where he goes or what he does. I have no idea. And he doesn’t even know I’m doing this [interview].”
Ripa also took time to poke fun at people who ask her if she’s worried about fighting with her husband while taping the show. As she pointed out, “And I’m like, ‘We have arguments on the air.’ And it’s great to have an argument on the air because your audience becomes your counselors and they will let you know who is wrong and who is right. Spoiler alert, I’m usually right.”
Have you been keeping up with Live! with Kelly and Mark? Did you listen to Kelly Ripa during this recent podcast appearance? Make sure you come back to TV Shows Ace for all the latest TV and celebrity news.
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