Mark Consuelos Recalls Spontaneous Proposal to Kelly Ripa After Brief Split

Mark Consuelos is recalling his spontaneous proposal to now-wife Kelly Ripa, just one week after their brief split.

“I broke up with her ‘cause I was dumb and it was the most agonizing week of my life,” Consuelos, 54, said on the Monday, September 15, episode of “The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast.” “I just knew that I never wanted to feel like that. I’ve never felt like that in my life.”

The actor revealed that when he broke up with Ripa, 54, she wasn’t “returning any of [his calls]”, but they both happened to have to be together to “do a bit of PR.”

“We were both on a soap,” he explained, noting that they were going to be “presenting a winner” for the “Queen for the Day” segment on the Live with Regis and Kathy Lee Gifford show. “We both tried to get out of it. I called the PR person. … She tried to get out of it as well.”

The couple ended up not being able to get out of their business obligations, so they both showed..

“She looked amazing. I can still see this little Chanel beautiful jacket … with a kerchief. I’m, like, she’s French all the sudden?” Consuelos recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh man, she looks so good. Boy, did I screw up.’”

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Consuelos went on to say that Ripa didn’t want to speak to Consuelos, despite his many attempts to strike up a conversation. Eventually, he convinced her to walk with him through Central Park.

“She really didn’t want to, but I was convincing,” he said. “We ended up back at my place downtown and I asked her to marry me. … She said, ‘Ask me when you’re serious. And I said, ‘I am dead serious. … We have a day off work tomorrow. Let’s fly to Vegas and get married.’”

The pair eloped in Vegas in May 1996. To this day, Ripa is thankful it all worked out the way it did.

“Listen, I’ve got to tell you, [Mark and I] had a Vegas wedding, and I firmly believe in the power of Vegas weddings,” Ripa told former cohost Ryan Seacrest in May 2019.

Consuelos and Ripa went on to welcome son Michael followed by daughter Lola and son Joaquin in 1997, 2001 and 2003, respectively.

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“I really like my wife. A lot. The love’s always going to be there, but I really like my wife,” Consuelos gushed to Us Weekly in July.

Ripa said that their marriage has kept working out because the twosome have “a lot of shared trust.”

“We have a shared history and there’s something really nice,” Ripa told Us. “It’s two people who have a shared interest, that also have developed interests outside of what they commonly share. Two people who maintain their individuality while simultaneously grow[ing] together and build[ing] the other person up.”