Kelly Ripa’s Husband Mark Consuelos Quips He ‘Would’ve Been Married 3 or 4’ Times in Cheeky Birthday Message

Kelly Ripa turns 49 on Tuesday, Oct. 2, and her husband, Mark Consuelos, made sure to celebrate on social media with a post for his wife, marking the occasion in typically funny fashion.

Consuelos used Instagram to share a slideshow of photos of Ripa, the first throwback photo of the Live! With Kelly & Ryan host blowing out her birthday candles as a young child. There were also snaps of the couple together, Ripa as a toddler and a photo of the host on a recent beach vacation.

“Happy Birthday to my Fave..I’m really glad you were born.. Because let’s face it, if you weren’t , I would’ve been married 3 or 4 times by now,” Consuelos joked in his caption. “Which would’ve been really expensive, not to mention the super tense parent teacher conferences and all the awkward blended family holiday/vacations. Anyway, happy birthday sweetie.”

“Thank you sweetie,” Ripa commented. “heartfelt.”

The couple’s friend Andy Cohen added, “Mateo [heart] Hayley,” referencing the pair’s roles on the soap opera All My Children, which is where they met when Consuelos was cast as Ripa’s love interest. The couple married in 1996 and share three children, Michael, Lola and Joaquin.

“I saw my husband in a photograph before I saw him,” Ripa previously told Bruce Bozzi on his SiriusXM Radio Andy show Lunch with Bruce last year. “I knew when I saw his photograph.”

“[Casting director Judy Blye Wilson] showed me his picture and, Bruce, I’m not this person, at that point I was not a hopeless romantic. I never thought about getting married, it never occurred to me that I would grow old with someone,” the mom of three recalled. “I just thought I would be living my single girl life in the city and sort of like moving. You know, if I needed to up and move to a location, I could do that. I had no responsibilities and I was earning a good living on this soap opera because I was there for almost seven years before Mark got there…I was a baby when I got the job.”

“When I saw him, the photograph of him, I saw my entire future with him flash before — like I saw it,” she continued. “And I don’t believe in any of that and now I do because of that moment.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Nick Agro