Growing together. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have been married for more than two decades, navigating the ins and outs of what makes a relationship survive — and thrive — in Hollywood.
The Live with Kelly and Ryan host, 47, appeared on Anna Faris’ podcast “Unqualified” while at Comic-Con in San Diego, where she spoke candidly about her 22-year relationship — which isn’t without its flaws.
When asked for advice on how to maintain a happy relationship, Ripa — who married the All My Children alum in 1996 — explained, “This is what I’ve found works for me in my marriage with Marc: You’re gonna fight. You’re gonna have at each other. We’re gonna annoy each other and do stuff that irritates each other because we’re human beings. But at the end of the day, we’re loyal to each other, we care about each other deeply. We’re good friends and, you know, relationships evolve and we just happen to be lucky enough that we evolved together. We grew together. Our roots became entangled.”
According to the former Hope & Faith actress, she still finds her her husband — with whom she shares Michael, 21, Lola, 17, and Joaquin, 15 — “breathtaking.” After touching upon getting her makeup done earlier in the day, Ripa remarked, “I know who I am, so I know with the right amount of everything, I can look fine. With the right amount, the right angles … so for a very average girl from New Jersey to get that guy? I’m talking if you scrub me down … I’m talking about the wet Chihuahua version of me, the natural me, the normal me. I’m being rewarded for doing something great in a past life.”
And it helps that Ripa works to keep everything, um, in place. When the Mom star, 41, and Ripa discussed doing Kegels, Faris joked, “So Marc’s enjoying himself?” Ripa quipped, “I mean, I think he’s having… he doesn’t complain. He’s so stoic. He looked happy, didn’t he look fine? I think he seems OK. ”
Consuelos, 47, also stopped by the podcast, where he mentioned that he now understands the importance of not leaving the toilet seat up, joking that Ripa “trained him” pretty well. And The Stand In star didn’t refute that claim, saying, “This is the thing. It’s taken a long time, I say it all the time. .. I’m certainly not giving him up now that he’s perfect. Because some other woman will come in and be like, ‘Oh my God, he came this way assembled fully in the box with his batteries in’ and I’m like no honey, I put that … set together, piece by piece.”
