Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ marriage changed when their children entered college, leaving the talk show host afraid they would “divorce” like empty nesters.
“It’s scary, exciting, liberating, shocking… and quiet,” the co-host of “Live with Kelly and Ryan” told People about her newfound dynamic with the “Riverdale” star in an interview published Monday.
“There were times when I thought, ‘We’re going to be that couple: Our third child is going to college and we’re getting divorced because this is it,'” she explained.
Ripa, 51, admitted to the magazine that she and Consuelos, also 51, were “too young” when they married at age 25 in May 1996.
“On paper it shouldn’t have worked, and when it didn’t work, we actually worked on it,” she said.
“We fought for our marriage when it would have been easier to quit and throw in the towel.”
Ripa — who shares Michael, 25, Lola, 21, and Joaquin, 19, with Consuelos — called the “next phase of [their] is alive… pretty awesome,” she recalls a turning point on a beach with her husband.
“These other parents were running around us with little kids,” she recalls. “I realized I never noticed the sunset because I made sure our kids didn’t run into the water when I wasn’t looking.”
Ripa went on to gush about her sex life, telling the magazine that she has “no inhibitions whatsoever” while in bed with her former “All My Children” co-star.
“[That’s] the one part of our lives that’s always been really good,” she gushed. “Even if we argue, it’s okay.”
Ripa is no stranger to talking candidly about her and Consuelos’ chemistry.
Ripa told the audience of her ABC show in September 2021 that her husband is using “sexy time” to solve their problems.
In June 2019, she and the actor reflected on their daughter coming in while they were having sex, saying that Lola told them, “You just ruined my birthday and my life, and I used to see in color and now everything is gray.”
Lola began her freshman year at New York University in 2019, a year before Michael graduated from the same school.
As for Joaquin, he started at the University of Michigan in 2021.