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Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are certainly one of Hollywood’s most powerful couples.
However, that’s not to say that their marriage has always been easy.
“We argue, but we have an allegiance to each other,” Ripa toldRedbook.
Fast forward to 2020, and Ripa and Consuelos have been together for 24 years.
They’re still that adorable young couple that fell in love for the first time.
“Can you believe we’ve been doing this for 20 years?”
“Because it goes fast.”
In fact, Ripa realized he was the one before she’d even met him.
“I saw my husband in a photograph before I saw him,” she admitted onRadio Andy.
“And I knew when I saw him.
I knew when I saw his photograph.”
Ripa even remembers her entire future flashing before her eyes the first time she saw him.
“And I don’t believe in any of that,” sheadmitted.
“But now I do.”
However, something was certainly up, because the two wouldn’t talk to each other.
“It was ridiculous.”
That night, they had pizza and wine at Consuelos' apartment.
“And I asked her to marry me,” he remembered.
Ripa was somewhat surprised by the situation.
“I said to him, ‘Ask me when you’re serious,'” she explained.
“And he said, ‘I am serious.'”
They made it official the very next day.
It all started the moment Consuelos proposed in his apartment during their pizza night.
He was excited to make it official and fast.
“Let’s go to Vegas tomorrow and get married,” Ripa explained on her talk show.
“We’re not working.
We have the day off.
Let’s do it.”
Luckily, she said yes.
“And guess what?
It still fits!”
We would too, asKelly Ripa stays so fit!
The pair’s romantic getaway was anybody’s dream a sweet, weeklong stay in Capri, Italy.
“Seems like yesterday to me,” Consuelos revealed onInstagram, alongside a throwback photo.
“It was worth it,” he added.
Now, they bring their kids along to show them around the country that Consuelos grew up in.
In fact, they even visited his childhood home during their trip there in 2019.
“It was just very emotional to go back,” Ripasharedon her talk show.
It wasn’t until 10 years into their marriage that Consuelos finally put a ring on it.
“So for our 10th anniversary we bought me a ring.”
It’s gorgeous, too!
The symbolic circular diamond is one that Ripa rocks pun intended daily on her morning talk show now.
In fact, it’s the most important thing she owns, she admits.
It was the perfect gift for the pair to commemorate a decade together.
“The goal is to eventually get off camera, some day,” Ripa toldE!
“Because as you’re able to see, we are not gorgeous like soap stars are.”
We couldn’t disagree more!
Surprisingly, this celebrity couple has always had a life like that.
“We’re actors,” Ripa explained toPeople.
“We’ve done it for years.
It’s not hard.
It’s actually something we’re quite good at.”
Truthfully, independence is what Ripa says is her best quality as a wife.
“He doesn’t need to take me everywhere or do everything with me,” she toldGood Housekeeping.
If Consuelos’ wants a guys’ night, he gets it.
It’s the same for Ripa and her gal pals.
However, this isn’t to say they never miss each other.
“You know what I found out,” Consuelos confessed on her show (viaThe Oprah Magazine).
After all, their onscreen chemistry is the real deal.
“No one would make me happier than Mark,” she toldVanity Fairof her search for a co-host.
“23 years of auditioning for a role I was born to play,” she joked onInstagram.
However, the director really wanted her, so Ripa felt as if she couldn’t refuse.
Consuelos was proud to see Ripa on the small screen again, especially alongside him.
“I was like a stage dad,” he shared.
Plus, having Ripa in Canada meant more time together for the otherwise busy couple.
“I think there’s definitely opportunity for [her] to come back.”
We would love to see that!
It was shortly after they tied the knot, and he was away working on the east coast.
“I couldn’t get a hold of her all day,” he said.
“We didn’t have cell phones then.”
The young Ripa said she was home cleaning toilets.
“I’m less jealous these days,” Consuelos admitted (viaPeople).
So when they’re together, they definitely make the most of it.
In fact, regularly scheduling date nights is one of the ways they’ve successfully stayed together for decades.
The secret to a successful marriage is all about carving out time as a couple.
It doesn’t have to be fancy either.
“A date night for us is watching Top Chef,” Ripa admitted.
After all, an expensive dinner isn’t what date night is all about.
“I am regretful that we didn’t have one more,” Ripaadmittedon her show.
Rather, she says a fourth child would have evened out their family.
“You always have two against one,” she explained.
“It is just the way it is.
It’s unavoidable.”
“So it scares me.”
However, that’s not exactly why she refers to him by that pet name.
It all started over a decade ago, when Consuelos was away filming.
When Cohen answered, he asked him to confirm one of their doors was locked.
And that’s where it started, and it stuck."
“I’m all about a daddy,” she toldGood Housekeepingplayfully.
“I like a daddy.”
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, however, have stood the test of time.
“Relationships evolve,” she told the podcast “Unqualified.”
“We’re just lucky enough that we evolved together.”
That isn’t to say that Ripa and Consuelos' commitment to one another has always been easy.
In fact, the first year they were married, they had little arguments all the time.
Looking back, they both consider themselves lucky to have found their soulmates so early on in life.
“We’ve really built a life together,” Ripatoldher studio audience.
… You’d be amazed how many people don’t feel seen or heard at all.
It’s probably his superpower."
In the interview, Ripa had nothing but praise for her husband.
“I’m very lucky!”
I always think of us as politically progressive … we’re progressive people," Ripa said.
“She makes the home a home,” Mark said.
Ripa also recognized that being the parent away from home was not an easy task for Mark.
The couple’s primary focus is on increasing the universal visibility of the club.
“So far we are crushing this empty nest thing,” she captioned thepicture.
Ripa isn’t necessarily longing to go back to the days when they were little.
“Do I miss having them as babies?”
Ripa mused in an interview withET Canada.
Ripa said that her and Consuelos' children do visit fairly often.
“Especially when they need something,” she joked.
“If something happened to Mark, [our kids] would expect me to also die.
You know what I mean?”
she told the audience.
“And Lola was like, ‘Oh my gosh, can you imagine?'”
Ripa explained to her daughter that that scenario isn’t necessarily uncommon.
Mark Consuelos also joined Ripa and Seacrest during an episode of “Live” and discussed his new role.
The episode was entirely heartwarming, with the three sharing insights about their personal dynamics outside the talk show.
“I do want to say you are a brother to me.
You are a family member to me.
I have become so close with both of you,” Seacrest confessed to Consuelos.
