Kelly Ripa is no stranger to elopement, after marrying her husband Mark Consuelos in Las Vegas in 1996, a year after meeting on the set of All My Children.
And yet, the talk show star has changed her tune in the decades since, admitting that she would “literally die” if her daughter Lola decided to elope.
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“We would track her down and un-elope her!” she said in an interview with People.
“They track my iPhone,” Lola chimed in. “They would bring me back.” The 23-year-old is in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend, Cassius.
Saying “I do”
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Kelly and Mark’s journey to the altar was a rocky one, with the pair going through a brief breakup. However, their split didn’t last long, and they married in Vegas a day after deciding to reunite. “We never had a day off of work, so it just seemed like the sensible thing to do,” Kelly said of their decision to elope.
The mother of three previously revealed on Live! With Kelly and Mark that their parents were less than impressed with their impulsive decision, yet eventually came around.
“None of our parents like the fact that we eloped,” Kelly shared on the show. “Spoiler alert: if you’re planning on eloping, your parents will hate that.”
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Her husband quipped that their parents accepted their choice “10 years later” when they “figured out all the money they saved” by not having a traditional wedding.
Kelly shared that their nuptials cost a total of $179 including airfare, and that their non-traditional wedding led to a deeper connection between the pair, who were 25 when they tied the knot.
“There would have been hard feelings and blame all over the place,” she said of a big white wedding. “And I can honestly say, we do not feel less married. As a matter of fact, we feel more married than those people, because we’re still married.”
Intimidation tactics
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Lola explained how overprotective her father was when it came to her dating life, sharing that he would often intimidate anyone she was interested in.
“Growing up, he was actually frightening,” she told her mother in the People interview. “He’s mellowed so much, but I think also he trusts me more and I think he obviously trusts the way that you’ve [both] raised me, and so I think he knows that I’ll make the right decisions for myself.”
Kelly Ripa: 5 suprising facts
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1. Psychic pregnancy
During her early days on Live, Kelly’s pregnancy was supposed to be a secret. However, when psychic Char Margolis appeared on the daytime talk show, she revealed on air that Kelly was expecting after predicting a “new baby” was on the way.
2. Business partners
Kelly and her husband, Mark Consuelous, own their own production company together called Milojo, which is a combination of their children’s names – Michael, Lola and Joaquin.
3. Musical star
Kelly’s manager discovered her and encouraged her to pursue acting after seeing her perform in her senior high school play, The Ugly Duckling.
4. Three tattoos
Kelly has three tattoos: one on the side of her ankle, another of her husband’s last name on her wrist, and a third design which remains a mystery.
5. En pointe
Kelly holds the Guinness World Record for being part of a group of 305 dancers who performed en pointe simultaneously. She set the record live on Kelly and Ryan in 2019 in New York City.
“At the end of the day, I think he really just wants to see me happy and whoever I’m with happy and all of us happy together,” she continued. “But no, I think it took a while for him to get over the fact that maybe there was another man in my life that wasn’t my father anymore.”
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Kelly added: “He did at one point practically believe that you should not date until you were 30 years old, which I explained to him was a ridiculous thought process.”
The 54-year-old then revealed that when Lola attended her high school prom, Mark wanted to stake out the venue.
“That would be insane,” the musician laughed. “But we love where he is now — super chilled. Chilled Mark is the best.” Kelly and Mark also share two sons, Michael and Joaquin.
To learn more about Lola’s budding music career, see below…
