After being married for a quarter of a century, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have certainly figured out the secret to their own relationship. The pair recently opened up about their marriage, and explained how it’s actually surprisingly traditional.
The two stars — who consider themselves to be “progressive” in most aspects of their lives and beliefs — recently joined the Double Date podcast and explained how their roles within their relationship might be considered “old-fashioned” by some.
The Live With Kelly and Ryan host says they’ve fallen into their roles because her work has never taken her away from her family.
“I’ve been able to raise my kids here in this city, in the nest, and he’s always been willing to travel and go to a set and go off here and sometimes he’s had to go live in another country to work on a set over there,” Ripa explained.
Because of that, Consuelos says Ripa “makes the home a home,” with her connection to the family and daily involvement.
“What’s funny is I think of us as such a progressive as a couple. I always think of us as politically progressive,” Ripa shared. “Yet, when it comes to our own family and our marriage and our roles, I think of us as very traditional and almost old-fashioned in our roles.”
For Consuelos, his role — the traveling father working away from home — comes with some emotional challenges.
“Traveling is hard and being away from home is hard and sometimes he would miss milestones for the kids,” said Ripa, who shares three children with Consuelos — sons Michael, 23, and Joaquin, 18, and daughter Lola, 19. “I know that was hard for him.”
“In that way, we’re very traditional,” she continued. “He made those sacrifices, but I think he wouldn’t know how to find a ballet class. He wouldn’t know how to go about signing the kids up for religion classes.”
Back in February, ET spoke with Ripa about her family, and how she and her husband plan to spend family time together when it’s safe to travel again.
“I want to go to beaches. I actually want to go overseas. I would love to go have some really good Italian food,” Ripa shared. “I would like to gallivant far, far away.”
As for how Ripa’s family travels, she notes, “I have to say that we, the Consuelos family, we like to go off the beaten path and we try to not have a schedule. We go where the people who live there go… We tend to ask local people, ‘What do you like to eat? Where do you like to go?’… We are a bit spontaneous and nomadic when it comes to travel.”
