Kelly Ripa debuted her new podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera on March 22, and her first guest was her own husband, Mark Consuelos. The two talked about the secrets to their long-lasting marriage, including how they made things work while separated amidst the coronavirus pandemic. While Mark was filming Riverdale in Vancouver, Kelly was back home in New York City, and they spent ten months apart, only seeing each other for about two weeks of that time. “There were definitely rituals that we followed,” Mark admitted.
Of course, Kelly didn’t hold back from getting more specific with said rituals. “We had sexual rituals,” she confirmed. “They were so ludicrous over FaceTime. I became so alarmed at my appearance over FaceTime that I started rigging the computer to hang from a ladder. I hung the computer over a ladder so that I could look up to Mark and he did not have to see what gravity was actually doing. You get really close to yourself in situations when you’re separated from your husband for long periods of time.”
Kelly and Mark also wore bracelets when they were apart, and when one of them touched their own bracelet, it would vibrate on the other’s wrist. “It was really nice,” Mark admitted, with Kelly adding, “It would let us know that the other person was thinking about them.”
While things aren’t perfect in Mark and Kelly’s relationship, they’ve been committed to making it work ever since they eloped in 1996. “I think we [always] made time for ourselves,” Kelly shared. Kelly and Mark have three children together, but with their youngest now in college, they’re empty-nesters. Being without children in the house is what led them to start marriage counseling.
“I think once the distraction [of kids] leaves and you’re left with two people, wouldn’t it be great to get past some of the things we’ve been bumping around for the past 25 years?” Mark explained, of why he came around to couples’ therapy. “Like how to better communicate. We’re bad arguers.” Mark also admitted that he’s found many benefits to marriage counseling, and it’s helped him let go of behaviors that he previously held onto. “I thought twice about doing [those things] because I knew that within a week or five days, I’d be accountable to somebody,” he revealed.
However, Mark admitted that “lack of intimacy” would be a dealbreaker for him in the relationship. “If you just decided we’re not having sex anymore, I would probably have a problem with that,” he admitted. He did confirm, though, that he would give a pass if Kelly had a medical condition where she lost the ability to be sexually active.