Mark Consuelos reassured his wife of over 20 years, Kelly Ripa, that he has no plans to remarry if he and Ripa should ever split up. One of the big reasons being, though, because he “isn’t gonna have more kids”.
Their conversation on the matter was seen on a preview for Kelly’s upcoming podcast, Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa.
“I don’t want more kids,” Consuelos told Ripa on the show. “I’ll be an older dad.”
So many celebrities become parents later in life for a number of reasons, like their busy schedule winding down and them being able to make time to start a family. A few examples include Jeff Goldblum who was 62 when he became a father, Billy Joel, 66, Steve Martin, 67, and many others.
Kelly responded to Mark’s declaration with this idea in mind.
“Do you know how many dads I know older than you that were just starting to have kids?” she asked.
“Yeah. And those poor b—tards have no idea, because what happens next? You’re talking about hip replacements, knee replacements, and they’re gonna be that dad, not there’s anything wrong with that dad,” he replied. “But I did it early. I didn’t plan it that way. It just happened. And we got really lucky, that’s what we did when we did it.”
Mark and Kelly welcomed their first child, Michael, when they were 26 years old. Considering that’s around the age, maybe even a little young for your typical couple, in “Hollywood years”, that’s pretty young.
“I thought it was too early. We should have had like a good year or two years just to ourselves,” he added. “But no, I think that I’m looking forward to being a grandfather. I’m really looking forward to that. That’s about as much parenting as I want.”
Their three kids, Michael, Lola, and Joaquin, are 25, 21, and 20, respectively. So being a grandparent isn’t necessarily something that’s in the distant future for both Kelly and Mark.
And as Kelly pointed out earlier this year, kids have a way of growing up in “a flash”.
“It is my son’s 20th birthday today. The newborn,” Kelly said on her daytime talk show with Ryan Seacrest, Live! With Kelly and Ryan this past February, celebrating her son Joaquin’s birthday.
“Does it go by in a flash? I know it’s a long journey,” Ryan asked.
“No, it’s a flash. It’s a minute,” she responded.
Ryan asked how proud she and Mark were of raising “three amazing kids” who are entering adulthood.
“We are so thrilled we did it young because now I’m like, ‘Imagine if our kids were this age now?’”
Mark will soon be joining Kelly on Live! as Seacrest announced earlier this year that he’d be leaving the show after this season. Kelly’s podcast will have its first episode air on March 22.
Sources:
https://people.com/parents/mark-consuelos-tells-kelly-ripa-doesnt-want-more-kids/