Longtime Loves
Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos Reveal How ‘Live’ Studio Led to Their Reunion After Breakup
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are taking their talk show, Live With Kelly and Mark, to a new studio, and they’re leaving behind many fond memories in the old one. Even before Consuelos began cohosting the morning show alongside his wife in 2023, the studio at 7 Lincoln Square was a special place for the couple.
Live has been filming there for 37 years, so Ripa has been showing up to work there since she started hosting the show alongside Regis Philbin in 2001. The studio also played an important part in the pair’s relationship.
Ripa and Consuelos started dating in 1995 after meeting on the set of All My Children, but they broke up in 1996. Following the split, they were both due to appear on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee to surprise an All My Children fan for the show’s Mother’s Day special.
“We had to be here,” Consuelos explained to People. “And we both tried to get out of it, but we both ended up being here on this stage. Obviously, seeing her, it was like, ‘This is the worst decision of my life. I have to be with her forever.’ And I asked her to marry me and we flew to Vegas the next day.”
Ripa added, “Isn’t that wild? So we owe a lot to this place, and it’s going to be hard to replicate.”
During a 2018 appearance on the Comments by Celebs podcast, Ripa opened up about the breakup. “Right before we got married, we broke up,” she shared. “We broke up and we got back together the day before we went off and eloped. Yeah, we eloped. We went to Vegas and got married.”
The longtime couple tied the knot on May 1, 1996, and welcomed kids Michael, Lola, and Joaquin in 1997, 2001, and 2003, respectively. They also have fond memories of bringing the kids to the Live studio when they were younger.
“You have to remember, I had my kids back in a time when maternity leave was not really a thing; we didn’t really know how to negotiate that or navigate that,” Ripa explained. “But the good news is you could bring your kids to work with you. And because they’re very mindful of our hours here — as it is a live morning television show — I was able to be a full-time working woman and a full-time mother simultaneously, which is a very rare thing and not something I take for granted at all.”
Live With Kelly and Mark, Weekdays, 9 a.m., ABC
