“It’s very hard being married to somebody who is jealous,” Ripa said on the debut episode of her SiriusXM podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are opening up about the ups and downs of their 26-year marriage, including some of the challenges they’ve faced.
The couple discussed their relationship on the first edition of Ripa’s new Sirius XM podcast Let’s Chat Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, which premiered on Wednesday, stating that they got through some difficult times in their relationship by discussing their concerns together.
“It constantly gets better,” Consuelos, 51, remarked. “There is nothing insurmountable if you communicate and talk things through.”
That doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of the hard times, said Ripa, 52, recalling how they used to feud over Consuelos’ jealousy.
“My biggest gripe about you during our marriage — and this isn’t new, ’cause it changed, and I’m not sure whether I changed, if you changed, or if it was some mix of change — you used to be jealous,” Ripa remarked. “That was a difficult pill to swallow. It’s difficult to be married to someone envious. It’s unappealing.”
She went on to say that Consuelos was frequently envious of “an incorrect understanding of a scenario.” She related a story about how, soon after the All My Children lovebirds secretly eloped in 1996, a server at a Boston restaurant affectionately called her a “princess” in Italian.
“The waiter was a charming old man. He was at least in his 70s, if not his 80s, “Ripa recalled. “I thought it was adorable that this old man called me a princess. And I looked at him and smiled as I handed him my order. Then he walked away while you chose a terrible conflict with me.”
Consuelos, who will replace Ryan Seacrest as co-host on Live next month, verified the allegation, telling Ripa, “I got irritated.”
“Hey, when I was 25, I was completely mad. But that jealousy did stick with me for a while, “He stated. “I’m no longer envious… It’s a fault in my character. It’s hideous. And as bad as it seems to the person on the receiving end, it’s far worse on the inside. If it’s any comfort, you know you’re insane. The jealous individual understands it’s terrible and nasty, yet they can’t stop themselves.”
When asked “what changed,” Consuelos answered it was about personal development. “I wanted to work on myself,” he explained. “It was one of the primary issues I needed to address because it impeded my progress.”
However, Ripa also needed to work on some things, notably her poor habit of hanging up the phone during a quarrel.
“You haven’t done it in such a long time, but when you’re pissed off on the phone, you hang up,” Consuelos explained, adding, “Sometimes if the person’s like, say, in Vancouver, and you don’t pick up the phone in a day, a day and a half, it’s extremely unnerving.”
“That’s terrible. It’s terrible,” Ripa said on her podcast after previously claiming that she and Consuelos were “poor arguers.” “and needed to communicate more effectively at times. “That’s a result of my upbringing. I came from a famous family of hanger-uppers.”
The couple emphasized that none of their pet peeves were ever deal breakers.
“We have ups and downs; everyone does,” Ripa admitted. “It is never merely even or flat. I compared it to a heartbeat: if you’re flatlining, you’re probably dead.”
The couple, who have sons Michael, 25, Joaquin, 20, and daughter Lola, 21, has also seen a marriage counselor, especially since becoming empty-nesters.
“I’m a lifer; I want to be married for the rest of my life,” Consuelos explained. “However, once the diversion is gone, I believe you’ll be left with just you and me in a house. And I wanted to go to counseling to work through some of the issues we’d been dealing with for the past 26 years.”
Talking with a counselor has helped them overcome their unhealthy behaviors, according to Consuelos.
“One of the great benefits of going to marriage counseling — especially when things are good, and you want them to get better — is that the old habits and behaviors you kind of hung on to, I thought twice about doing them because I knew that within a week or five days, I would be accountable to somebody and that person would look at me like, ‘You want to explain that?’” he explained.
Let’s Chat Off Camera with Kelly Ripa is produced with SiriusXM by Consuelos & Ripa’s Milojo Productions. Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Carol Burnett, and Matthew McConaughey are among the first guests on the program.
