Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos proclaimed their eternal love for each other as they celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, May 1.
The pair walked onto the set of Live with Kelly and Mark to their favorite song, Stevie Wonder’s 1976 classic, “As.”
“It makes me so excited. Stevie Wonder. He is just the soundtrack of our life together. He really is,” Ripa, 53, said.
As they exchanged “happy anniversary” wishes, Consuelos, 53, reflected on the milestone.
“I was in bed last night trying to do the math,” he said. “My benchmark for a long time is going through first grade to being a senior in high school. Twelve years is a long time. Like, when you were a kid, that’s a whole lifetime. That’s like doing that twice plus a PhD. Plus four years in college and master’s program!”
Ripa joked, “You have your PhD in being married. Should I call you Dr. Consuelos?” Her husband liked the idea, teasing about “maybe doing a house call later.”
Ripa met Consuelos in 1995 when they starred on All My Children together. The two eloped and got married on May 1, 1996 in Las Vegas at the Nevada Chapel of The Bells.
“We cherish those memories, still to this day. It’s been 28 years and we still can remember every minute of that wedding,” Ripa told People in February about the ceremony, which cost them $179 including airfare. “And I mean, it was really minutes. It was like two minutes!”
Two months ago, Ripa and Consuelos recreated their Las Vegas wedding photos on Instagram.
“Viva Las Vegas ✨ Then ➡️ Now,” Ripa captioned the pics. They also returned to the chapel earlier this year to film a week of their show.
The couple has three children: Michael 26, Lola, 22, and Joaquin Antonio, 20.
When asked to share their goals for the future on Wednesday’s show, Consuelos answered, “To continue what we’ve got going. And by that I mean getting all the kids off the payroll.”
“We’re so close,” Ripa commented on their kids living on their own. “We can taste it! We can taste the financial freedom. Not that we’re not grateful for the three beautiful children that we love and adore.”
The happy parents also celebrated their anniversary on social media.
“Squeezing 28 years into 10 pics is not possible, but you get the idea. Happy anniversary to the love of my life @instasuelos ♥️ So grateful to you for all the dreams come true,” Ripa captioned a carousel of throwback photos.
“Forever thankful you decided to go on this crazy, beautiful ride with me. Happy 28th anniversary. Love you @kellyripa,” Consuelos wrote as he posted his own photo gallery.
The celebration came one day after Consuelos admitted to his wife and the Live With Kelly and Mark audience that he shared a kiss with another woman while celebrating a championship win for the Campobasso 1919 Italian soccer team that he owns with Ripa.
“In the adulation, in the celebration on the field, when we found out that the other team tied and we are champions, we ran over to our fans,” he explained. “I’m running and I see this lady, let’s call her my aunt — maybe someone else’s aunt — and we look at each other and we’re so excited and there’s this [plexi]glass and we come to the glass, and you know what? I kissed her.”
Ripa asked whether it was “open-mouth” and if her husband had an “emotional affair,” at which point Consuelos tried to backtrack and say that the person he kissed could have been a guy.
“Don’t try to save yourself now,” Ripa quipped. “You’ve already qualified this as somebody’s aun
