Mark Consuelos Reveals Major Reason He Joined Wife Kelly Ripa as ‘LIVE’ Co-Host

Live With Kelly Ripa has undergone a lot of changes. Since her time on the show, she’s had four co-hosts: Regis Philbin, Michael Strahan, Ryan Seacrest, and now her longtime husband, Mark Consuelos. Despite their close bond, the two admit to initially having hesitations of working that closely together for the daytime talk show. On the latest episode of Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Consuelos joined his wife and business partner, and they spoke about finally deciding to host the show together.

“So, when they asked me, we both said, “No, this is insane. We can’t do this,” and then we started talking about it, I remember us talking about it. I’m like, “No, you know, no.” The answer was no,” Consuelos said on his wife’s podcast. “But we’ll talk about it, but just kind of try to get them off our back a little bit, and then when we talked about it.”

After some thinking, Consuelos realized the benefits of working on the show and how it could help their marriage and family dynamic. “I know that one of the key deciding factors for me was over the past seven years leading up to, you know, this past year I’d been gone so much. I’d been, you know, in different countries, different states, on a damn airplane every week if not twice a week,” he recalled. “Sometimes I’d come see you for 24 hours and get back on a plane and go back to work, and so I was kind of tired of living by myself. I don’t sleep well when I’m away from you. I literally don’t sleep.

Ripa noted that Consuelos “made a pros and cons list,” and went for it. “We made a pros and cons list and the cons were, you know, stuff that just wasn’t gonna happen,” he explained. “You know, I know one of the cons, you said, “Well what if you never get to act again?” and I said, “I know me and you can’t tell me I’m never gonna do anything again.”