‘Live!’ Co-host Mark Consuelos Reveals His Father’s Day Plans With Kelly Ripa and Their Three Kids
The weather forecast in New York City, French fries, young airline pilots, Kelly Ripa’s “translucent” gray hair and magnet fishing were just some of the topics discussed during the opening segment of an early June edition of Live! With Kelly and Mark.
But Mark Consuelos, speaking to the Parade exactly two hours after waving goodbye to the cameras, can’t recall any of it.
“You get amnesia from doing show after show after show,” he says. “It’s almost like a dream—if you don’t write it down right after you wake up, you don’t remember it.”
That’s not to say he didn’t have a good time. It’s now been more than a year since Consuelos, 53, officially joined Ripa, his wife of 28 years, as a co-host on the popular weekday ABC morning staple. Since then, he’s been all-in from going on-location in Las Vegas (where he and Ripa eloped in 1996) to doing the annual post-Oscars show in Hollywood. But he still gets a jolt just before the two walk out together at 9 a.m. weekdays in NYC. “You always have that nervous adrenaline energy because it’s live TV and I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of that,” he says.
Still, talking about fun current events and interviewing celebrities is just a sliver of his full life. Earlier in the morning, he was on the phone taking a meeting about Campobasso, the Italian soccer club that he co-owns in the Molise region of the country. (“Oh my gosh, we just got promoted to the third division so the we’re playing with the big boys!”) The Riverdale alum also still loves to act and recently appeared on the Max series The Girls on the Bus.
And, of course, he and Ripa, 53, are proud parents to three: son Michael, 27, daughter Lola, 23 on June 16, and son Joaquin, 21. “I think when they were in their teens and out of the house, all parties were like ‘I don’t think I want to spend time with you,’” he jokes. “But now I’m so grateful that they’re at the age where they do want to spend time with us. It’s funny how it works.”
Ahead of Father’s Day, Consuelos talks about his big plans and more to Parade.
Will the family all be together for Father’s Day?
No, no, we’ve got people going in different directions with work and school. My middle child lives in London. I think I’ll see my eldest, Michael, because he lives in Brooklyn. I’m sure they’ll call me and send me a generic card and say, “Happy Father’s Day.”
Are Mother’s Day and Father’s Day traditionally big holidays around the house?
We always try to, like, maybe have a meal together. I wouldn’t say it’s massive, but it’s always something nice and sentimental and perfect.
But if any dad doesn’t get a gift, it’s game over, right?
No, no, not for us. The kids are all in different places, and everybody’s really, really busy, so I appreciate when they take time off just to check in and tell me they love me. And I think that’s for me, that’s the gift, honestly.
It’s kind of crazy that your kids are grown. Longtime viewers surely remember when Kelly announced her pregnancies!
Life is flying by. It’s really scary. Our youngest, Joaquin, is going to be a senior at the University of Michigan. I can’t believe it, but I’ll be excited about not having to write another tuition check! But yeah, one of the beauties of the show is that you do share as much as you can about your life. And so as our kids have grown up and hit milestones, they’ve been a major part of Kelly’s conversations. If you watch the show and you’re a fan of the show, you’re part of the Live family.
Does the show feel different in the summer or does it all blend together?
It does a little. Kids are out of school and families are visiting New York. And we get to go outside and do grilling and talk about the beach and have segments about protecting yourself from being sunburned.
Do you and Kelly usually discuss the show later in the day at home?
I gotta say, we talk less about work now that I’m doing the show. If something really cracked us up, we’ll talk about it that night. Like, as we’re brushing our teeth, one of us will bring it up and we’ll start laughing again. But we have so much stuff going on with kids and with our lives. It’s not by design that we don’t talk about work. We just don’t.
Is acting on the backburner right now?
Oh, no. I’m about to go do a [television] pilot. But I’m so happy because I did take a year to get my footing here—and nothing was happening anyway because of the [SAG-AFRTA] strike. I can’t go off to Australia do a show, but stuff on the East Coast is fair game
Well, Kelly used to star in Hope & Faith in her spare time!
Yeah, she did. And acting is still a big part of who I am and what I want to do. I’m looking to do some theater when things calm down because our schedule lends itself to doing theater in such a great way. I can’t do a musical because I can’t sing or dance, but I could be in a play. I think being the fifth [billed] in a play is manageable.
Why did you go all-in on an Italian soccer team?
I really, really do love it. During the time I wasn’t acting, and the show has such a great schedule, so it left a lot of holes in the day for me to get involved in something else. It was really kind of therapeutic for me, especially during the strike, because it gave me another outlet. Plus, I love football. It’s my favorite. I played it. My mom is Italian and spent the first third of her life in Italy. So to be able to actually make a difference and put our thumbprint on something in Italian soccer has given me the opportunity to talk to her about something else other than whatever we’ve been talking about for the past, you know, 53 years.
So what are your summer plans?
We have time off in August, and the whole family will be together. I really love spending time with my kids. My adult children now like hanging out with us, which is awesome. So they are looking forward to spending some time together, and bringing some friends or significant other. We’ll have quality time together, and I can’t wait.
