Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Share ‘Horrible’ Jealous Moment That Taught Them About Trust in Marriage

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are sharing a particularly “horrible” moment of jealousy that taught them a valuable lesson about trust and marriage early on in their 24 years of matrimony. In a PEOPLE excerpt of the new book What Makes a Marriage Last by married couple Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue, the Riverdale actor reveals he had a deeply jealous streak back in the day.

“After we were married, I was doing a show in Boston, and I couldn’t get a hold of her all day. We didn’t have cell phones then. I got a really bad feeling. So I got on a flight to New York and called her from the plane and asked her what she was doing that night,” Consuelos said in the book, which also features stories from within their marriage from Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Howard, Al Roker and Melissa McCarthy.

Ripa chimed in that she told her husband she was cleaning the bathroom: “Apparently he thought that sounded very fishy. He wanted to catch me. So he gets home and tells the doorman to call up to the apartment and tell me there’s a flower delivery. I’m excited because I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s sending me flowers!’ Meanwhile, I have a johnny mop in one hand, and I’m wearing a bathrobe. … So I open the door, and it’s him. He comes in — he doesn’t even say hello. He’s looking for something. I’m still looking for the flower guy! And he’s sweeping the scene!”

Consuelos explained that jealousy “feels horrible and you know you’re wrong,” adding of the ways that he has changed in their nearly quarter-century of marriage, “I’m less jealous these days.” The change has clearly worked for the couple, who celebrated their 24th anniversary earlier this month, with Ripa joking that the two would share some “Cap’n Crunch” as a special meal while celebrating in quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic with children Michael, 22, Lola, 18, and Joaquin, 17.

Ripa opened up about keeping the spark in her relationship ahead of the milestone anniversary during an interview on SiriusXM Radio’s Andy’s Quarantined with Bruce. “I think we found each other at the right time in our lives,” she said “We really learned each other well. With that comes a certain level of comfort and confidence and experimentation and just fun.”