What To Know
- Kelly Ripa humorously recounted leaving Mark Consuelos to care for their three kids solo for the first time.
- Ripa revealed the funny comment one of the babysitters she hired told her when she returned home from a work trip.
- On Live With Kelly and Mark, the couple opened up about how their parenting style differed from their friends.
Mark Consuelos had some help while watching his and Kelly Ripa‘s three kids by himself for the first time.
In a behind-the-scenes video shared on Live With Kelly and Mark‘s Instagram page, Ripa shared a funny story about leaving Consuelos at home to care for their kids — Michael, Lola, and Joaquin — while filming the show in a different state.
“We were shooting this show in Chicago. Joaquin was like 6 months old, and I hired babysitters to work in 8-hour shifts, like nurses,” she told audience members during a commercial break on Tuesday, May 19.
Ripa said the last of the babysitters was still on shift when she returned home to New York City a few days later. “She said to me, ‘You can’t die, because he doesn’t know where anything is,’” she recalled. “So, I was like, ‘Good note. Oh, my god. I can’t die!’”
Fans shared their reactions to the hilarious story in the post’s comments. “Ha ha! It’s amazing how dads can watch us moms take care of the kids every single day but when they have to do it on their own, they suddenly become lost! That’s my husband for sure!” one user joked.
Another posted, “My husband cannot even find a new tube of toothpaste that is obviously in the closet where we have kept toiletries for 26 years.” Someone else quipped, “Sentiments shared by moms everywhere.” A different person wrote, “My Dad would have been completely lost too if my mom left him alone with us as babies!”
Ripa and Consuelos, who wed in 1996, became parents with the birth of Michael in 1997. They went on to welcome Lola in 2001 and Joaquin in 2003. Ripa was hosting Live with longtime star Regis Philbin at the time of her story. Mark took over for Ryan Seacrest as her Live co-host in 2023.
The couple brought up their kids during a discussion about parenting styles on the Friday, May 22, episode of Live. “We were kind of, like, strict, regimented parents, and I had some loosey-goosey friends with loosey-goosey kids parenting styles where the kids were in charge,” Ripa told viewers. “They were best friends with our kids. We didn’t do that.”
She went on to joke, “I was like, ‘I’ll be friends with my kids when they’re adults and normal people. Right now, since I pay for everything, they are not my friends. They are basically my employees.’ But a lot of my friends did not have the same parenting style, so I was always at a crossroads.”
Courtesy of Kelly Ripa/Instagram
Consuelos, meanwhile, recalled a parenting talk he once had with Michael. “He was way too young for this conversation. He was like, ‘Why can’t I…’ I go, ‘Listen, dude. My job is to keep you out of the morgue and out of rehab,’” he shared. “And he was like ‘What?’ And I go, ‘And out of jail. That’s what my job is at this moment.’ And he’s like, ‘What are you talking about. Morgue? What’s a morgue?’ But now, we’re friends.”
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