Kelly Ripa’s husband set to replace Ryan Seacrest on ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’
Ryan Seacrest announced he's leaving 'Live with Kelly' to focus on the upcoming 'American Idol' reboot. Ripa's husband, Mark Consuelos, is set to join the South Jersey girl as her permanent co-star.
Kelly Ripa’s new work husband will be her actual husband.
On Thursday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan, Ryan Seacrest — who has been Ripa’s coanchor for the last six years, announced he was leaving the show to focus on the upcoming American Idol reboot.
“It was a tough, tough decision,” Seacrest said. “I love the fact that we get a chance to sit here every day and connect with you [the viewers] in your kitchens and your living rooms, at work ... It’s been a memorable ride and now I’m excited to pass the baton to Kelly’s ‘real’ husband, Mark.”
Seacrest was Ripa’s third on-air partner following Michael Strahan controversy
Seacrest was Ripa’s third on-air partner for this daytime show format. She joined Regis Philbin in 2001 after Kathie Lee Gifford’s departure from Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. After Philbin left in 2011, Michael Strahan joined Ripa from 2012 until 2016. Seacrest replaced Strahan, initially signing a three-year contract, but staying for six.
Ripa infamously described being “blindsided” by Strahan’s departure for a role at Good Morning America, saying she found out at the same time as the press. When she addressed the TV audience about the news, she said workplace partnerships need to have “communication, consideration and, most importantly, respect.”
But Ripa only had good things to say about Seacrest during his goodbye.
“I’m so grateful to have spent the last six years beside my dear friend of too many decades to count and will miss starting my days with Ryan,” she said. “Ryan’s energy, passion and love for entertainment is one-of-a-kind.”
According to show officials, Ripa’s fourth costar is meant to be permanent. The South Jersey girl will be joined by actor Mark Consuelos, her husband of 26 years. The show will be renamed Live with Kelly and Mark.
Who is Mark Consuelos?
Consuelos is an actor and dancer, best known for his time playing Mateo Santos on the soap opera All My Children. He recently returned to mainstream television where he played Hiram Lodge on the Archie-comics-based series, Riverdale.
Along the way, Consuelos had roles in movies including My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Ugly Betty and made guest appearances on different TV shows. He also hosted two reality dating shows in the early 2000s.
Ripa and Consuelos met on the set of All My Children, her first major TV appearance, aside from local dance sensation Dancin’ on Air. Their onscreen characters got married four years after the pair eloped IRL in Vegas. Together, they have three children and live in Manhattan.
“We’re lifers,” Ripa recently told USA Today of her marriage. “His parents have been married 60 years, my parents have been married 61 years. That’s all we know. We only know how to compromise and be together.”
While Live with Kelly is filmed in New York, the show has garnered a fierce fan base across New Jersey, where Ripa was born and raised. Her mother was a homemaker and her father was a labor union president and bus driver. She was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2017.
“My mom and dad are the reason I am who I am today. What you see on the show is just the way I used to act at home,” Ripa told South Jersey Magazine. “I mostly talk to nice people and I give back what I get. But treat me with disrespect, and you’ll learn real fast that I’m from Jersey.”