On the second to last day of the year 1984, a young mother from Akron, Ohio, gave birth to a healthy boy. The young mother, Gloria Marie James, named him her newborn boy LeBron, which roughly translates to “the brown-haired one.”

Unfortunately, Gloria James had to raise that little boy all by herself, with only the help of her mother. But regardless of the absence of a father figure, she raised him to become a person everyone wants to know.

With her mother’s passing when she was only 19, Gloria had to raise the boy alone, and he was now just over two years old. This meant no more help from anybody, so she had to care for a little boy on her own.

While going from one neighborhood to the next in Akron, finding a job was difficult, so life became quite challenging. This was when she decided that she needed to move to a place where there’d be some stability for her and the boy.

While they were living in Akron, they moved around a lot, and often they stayed with friends. This made him change schools regularly, and he lost nearly half of the year while traveling from one place to another.

At this time of his life, he found comfort in sports and started playing pee wee football for the South Side Rangers. This team, where he found sanctuary, was coached by Frank Walker, who decided to look out for the family.

When Frank Walker and his wife Pam heard that the young mother was looking for a new place, he made her an offer. So, they moved in with the Walkers and became part of a healthy home environment where a child could grow up.

Frank and his wife asked Gloria to move in with them until she found something permanent for her and her child. This was the best thing that could happen for the little boy who was struggling to find his place in life.

A great opportunity was given to LeBron by Frank, who was the coach of the youth football team. When he was still in fourth grade, he joined the team and became friends and teammates with Frank Walker Jr.

This was a great way for the energetic young boy to find his feet and become part of a team. Becoming part of something that meant a lot to him was only the beginning of a new era in his life.

When LeBron James was nine years old, he was introduced to basketball by his coach and mentor, and that changed everything. After his first taste of basketball, there was no stopping this young player, and he played whenever he could.

His first introduction was joining the first rec-league basketball team, the Summit Lake Community Center Hornets. This was where he belonged, James was in his element now, and things just started happening for this young athlete.

Just one year after joining the team of Frank Walker, LeBron James joined the Shooting Stars basketball team. This was a traveling youth league basketball team and was part of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) from Northeast Ohio.

This team became both a local and national hit and showed that LeBron was an exceptional player. Life was becoming great for the young boy who had recently struggled to stay ahead with his schoolwork.

It was playing for this team that LeBron and three of his teammates became known as the Fabulous Four. They were LeBron James, Sian Cotton, Willie McGee, and Dru Joyce, who led their basketball team.

These four also became best friends off the court and ended up in the same high school after a mutual decision. They all chose to attend the private school, St. Vincent-St. Mary high school.

While LeBon was playing in the Summit Lake community team, Dru Joyce or Little Dru was playing at the Ed Davis Community Center team. They practiced together at the Salvation Army gym and soon started playing together in the traveling Youth League team.

Cotton, who was a football and baseball player, was persuaded to play basketball and joined them soon after. When McGee moved from Chicago to live with his older brother, he joined their team. With the addition of McGee, the group was complete.

When joining this school, the first thing that Lebron did was join the many different sports teams played with a ball. LeBron became a favorite in both the football and basketball teams, where he dominated in all aspects.

Unfortunately, he had an injury while playing football, making him focus more on playing basketball than the other. According to expert sports analysts, if it weren’t for that, LeBron would easily have been chosen to play in the NFL.

Savannah was born on August 27th, 1986 as the youngest daughter of JK and Jennifer Brinson. She was one of five children and, being the youngest, was raised by all members of the family.

She grew up in a stable and healthy environment with parents who taught her the better values of life. This made her appreciate many things and made her care not just about her close family but also about those who are in need.

As long as Savanah can remember, her parent’s house was always open to those who needed a place or any help. Her parents were always taking care of others who were in need.

These were some of the values she learned from her parents, which made her the person she is today. Any kid or friend of her two brothers and two sisters who had some kind of trouble or need was always welcome in their home.

While she was a member of the cheerleading squad, Savannah Brinson was also quite an accomplished athlete in her own right. She also grew up in Akron and was in a rival school in the area where LeBron was born and raised.

She was part of her school’s softball team and had quite a busy social life at the age of 16. At that time, she knew nothing of the popular basketball player just a few miles away.

He was only 17, and she was 16 when they met, making them the first famous couple from Akron, Ohio. When asked much later, LeBron could still remember what color clothes she wore that first day they met.

They first met when Savanah was a high school sophomore and LeBron was attending a rival school; they became high school sweethearts after that. She remembered that he had asked a friend for her number and she decided that she would take his phone number.

According to LeBron, he didn’t have the courage to ask her out at first and asked a friend to be his wingman. Even though they were in rival schools, that didn’t bother him, and he decided to go after her anyway.

Even though he didn’t muster the courage to ask her out, they eventually became a couple and have been ever since. Many fans and the press say they are the first power couple coming from the same highly competitive area.

Fortunately for LeBron, the wingman dared to ask for Savannah’s number on his behalf and passed it on. Savannah recalled she first thought to say no and ask for his number instead, so she could decide whether or not she wanted to meet him.

It didn’t take long for her to make a move and give him a call, which according to her, wasn’t a dramatic decision. She recalled she had the number of a boy and decided to call him and see how it went.

Because they were both athletes, LeBron asked her to attend one of the basketball games he was playing. She was quite surprised to find out that he was very talented and that he was a local hotshot at his high school.

After that match, she joined him and his team at a local Applebee’s, where they could get to know each other better in a friendly environment. This was the beginning of a years-long relationship that just got better over time.

For high schoolers, their first date was quite a decent feat; he took her out for an Outback Steakhouse dinner. According to Savannah, the date was very good but what impressed her most was the deed of chivalry after dinner.

She had her leftovers packed in a takeaway bag but forgot to take them with her. Luckily, he saw that she’d missed the bag and took care of it by bringing it to her.

LeBron James was a real gentleman and respected her parents’ rules by staying within the curfew set by them. He was wise enough to know that winning the favor of her parents was the best way to earn the girl’s respect.

LeBron made sure that her family knew that he was quite serious about Savannah and obeyed their rules. He brought her home in time and tried not to get on the bad side of her father.

Even though LeBron was quite a hotshot at his high school, his talent wouldn’t win her heart. She wasn’t interested in anything other than his personality and him being himself; that’s what made him attractive to her.

She didn’t need any fans or the spotlight or a big bank account to make her fall for this young athlete. She stuck with him right from the start, and they grew together into a great couple.

In 2003, LeBron James was not yet 19, and he was already a top pick in the NBA draft. This was a big year for him, not just because it was his senior year in high school but also for his basketball future.

He was destined for greater things than just being the hotshot basketball talent of his high school. Before he could get his bearings, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, which started his big-league life.

This was not junior or high school basketball, this was the big leagues, and much more was expected from LeBron James. Being the youngest rookie placed much more pressure on this talented player, even someone as talented as LeBron.

He was becoming an adult very quickly, much faster than was expected of most 18-year-old boys who’d just started senior year. But that was to become even worse with the newest event happening in the life of LeBron James and Savannah Brinson.

The pressure on LeBron was getting even stronger when he received the news that Savannah was expecting a baby. Everything happened at once; he was now a senior in high school, became the youngest ever top pick draft for the NBA, and now this.

With life getting a lot more complicated and intense, his first season in the NBA was about becoming very busy. But being the professional athlete that he is, he withstood the pressure and supported his high school sweetheart.

By the time it was prom for the 18-year-old Savannah, she was already five months into her pregnancy. She designed the dress to hide the bump, but she said afterward that she looked terrible. Luckily, that’s just her opinion.

The design was quite fashionable at that time, so nobody noticed that she was hiding something from them. They both got through this and became better people and a baby richer, even though she was quite nervous.

She was scared to tell her parents that she was expecting a baby and what it would do to LeBron’s new NBA career. LeBron put her mind to rest with the assurance that they’d get through this together, no matter what.

LeBron told her that this wouldn’t slow them down and that they’d keep doing what they were doing. This put her mind at ease, so she told her parents about it and everything worked out just fine.

Then, on October 6th, 2004, they became a family of three. They called the baby boy LeBron James Jr. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, as he’s just as talented as his father and participated in various sports.

But having the name of a famous father can have its own difficulties, as he experienced in his young life. There was a lot of pressure on Jr. to walk in the footsteps of an overachiever like LeBron James.

LeBron James Jr. is affectionately known as “Bronny” to his parents and everyone else close to the family. He also needed that pet name so people could know they weren’t talking about his famous father.

Bronny is a talented sportsman in his own right and has focused all his attention and talent on basketball. At high school age, he’s already drawing a lot of attention and will bring honor to his family name.

Three years after their firstborn, LeBron and Savannah had another child, a baby brother for Bronny, Bryce Maximus James. Following in his father and brother’s footsteps, he started playing basketball at a very young age.

This son of Lebron was named after the main gladiator Maximus in his favorite movie, The Gladiator. Even though LeBron still needed to attend a practice session, he stood by Savannah all the time she was in labor.

He can easily join the NBA in a few short years and even at the same age as his father at 18. This will be a great lineage of excellent sportsmen from the LeBron James family.

At the age of 15, Bryce was already a little taller than his older brother, Bronny, and played his father’s favorite game. It will be a great day for LeBron James if he can play with both of his sons in the NBA.

After the birth of his second son, LeBron James decided to move from his hometown team, Cleveland Cavaliers, to Miami. His many fans at home weren’t happy when they heard that their favorite player was going to join a rival team.

This happened in 2010 when LeBron became a free agent and joined the Miami Heat team. He was welcomed by the officials, and the team’s fans, with open arms.

Many Cleveland Cavalier fans made their voice heard when it was announced that LeBron was making a move. This was made public on the TV special, The Decision, and was accepted with mixed emotions.

He signed a six-year deal with Miami Heat and brought a lot of talent and experience. In his own words: “To have the best opportunity to win now and to win into the future.”

LeBron and Savannah had been an item for many years now, and with two children already, they needed to make their arrangement permanent. So, LeBron popped the question in 2011, and they were engaged for two years.

On September 14th, 2014, they celebrated their years together and got married. Their wedding took place in San Diego and lasted for three days to make it extra special while everyone enjoyed it.

Just over a month after they got married, their daughter was born on October 22nd, 2014. This was a happy day for the father, LeBron James, who admitted a great change in his life.

According to LeBron, it changed him in many ways, especially the responsibility he felt for the women in his life. He also said that being Zhuri Nova’s father made him a better, stronger, and more dedicated man.

At a young age, she already knew how to use the family name to become a little star on her own. With a YouTube channel of her own, All Things Zhuri,  she has more than 200,000 followers.

Regular videos about her own daily life and parents are posted for the subscribers to view. Her family, friends, and loving parents are featured in these videos.

To the delight of his many fans back home, Lebron announced in 2014 that he was returning to his home team. This was indeed a happy day for his fans and those who supported the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It was also great for both LeBron and Savannah to return home to where they first met. Now, they could settle there and let their children grow up in the same place they fell in love.

When Lebron James returned to his home team, he made them a promise that he’d give them another win. This promise to grant the city another championship was what he planned to do.

In 2016, the man made his promise come true, and the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA finals. This was all to the delight of his home team fans and the LeBron James fans.

All the while, his wife, Savannah, kept a low profile and stayed home with the kids, playing mom and housewife. Every now and then, she’d appear in public with her husband on occasions, but she didn’t like the limelight.

It’s not that she didn’t have the personality and looks to become a star herself. According to her, it wasn’t her scene, so she wasn’t available for many interviews.

Just like her parents, Savannah decided to give back to the community and started a mentorship program for teenage girls. This local mentorship was for girls in her hometown and community called, Akron: Woman of Our Future.

The whole family got involved in her charity undertakings, and even her husband, LeBron, became involved. She also started the LeBron James Family Foundation to do good deeds in the world.

This foundation helps youth in the community with problems and keeps them in school. Helping youth overcome difficulties and giving them a better education will give them a better and more secure future.

The foundation led by this couple also started the I Promise School, a public elementary school in Akron, Ohio. This will help to lay a sturdy foundation for those children with troubled backgrounds to have more stability.

Savannah threw her heart into these foundations and started another one called the I PROMise Makeover. This is an organization that provides prom dresses for underprivileged teens in the community.

This made an impact on the community in which they grew up and met each other. A lot of money has been donated by the LeBron James Family Foundation towards scholarships at Akron university.

The James household is one happy family and is just what LeBron and Savannah wanted for their home and children. Because LeBron grew up without a father, he wanted to be there for his children so they could have what he did not.

This is a great achievement for someone who didn’t have dual-parent role models when growing up. Now, both LeBron and Savannah James are happy to be called Mom and Dad.

Even though Gloria struggled to give her son the best she could, she achieved a lot with little to spare. It’s clear that LeBron has a great appreciation for the woman who raised him into the man he’s become.

Nowadays, he’s able to provide for his wife and family and give his mother everything she didn’t have. This is a great way of saying ‘thank you, mom!’

Just like her parents, Savannah made the James home a place of hospitality and enjoys having friends and family over. The same values she was taught by her parents are now part of their huge home in Los Angeles.

Every visitor to their home is made to feel welcome and stay for dinner or just have coffee. It’s great to see that these people didn’t forget their roots.

Even though they’re very popular and have millions of fans, the James couple didn’t change. They’re still the down-to-earth people they were when they just started out with much less at their disposal.

It’s important to LeBron and Savannah that their children stay humble, which is why they provide that example. As LeBron has said, his family keeps him grounded.

Since that day in 2002 when they first met, LeBron and Savannah have been together and kept it that way. They went from high school sweethearts to the mom and dad of three children and they became famous.

They’ve made it far and will keep going for the sake of their family and true love. It’s nice to know that they’re committed to each other, their children, and their fans.

Who would’ve thought that an audition for a daytime soap opera would result in one of Hollywood’s most enduring love stories? A quarter of a century into their marriage, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are as close and raunchy as the day they met. But is their relationship as healthy as they make it out to be? Today, we discover the good, the bad, and the ugly from Kelly and Mark’s relationship — including Mark’s insane jealousy and how he and Kelly once broke up.

From the fateful day they met in 1995 right up to hosting their new morning talk show, Ripa and Consuelos are often seen as the perfect Hollywood couple. They met and fell in love young, married, had three children, and took their careers and relationship to dizzying new heights by co-presenting Live With Kelly and Mark.

But is there more to their marriage than meets the eye? Before we find out, let’s quickly get to know Kelly and Mark and the bizarre circumstances under which they got together.

Kelly Maria Ripa was born in Berlin, New Jersey, on October 2nd, 1970. She graduated from Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, where she was a cheerleader, and her drama teacher encouraged her to pursue acting.

Kelly wanted to be a newscaster, but in 1986, she appeared as a regular dancer on Dancin’ on Air, which became Dance Party USA. Ripa was cast in her first major acting role in 1990 as Hayley Vaughan, a troubled party girl, on ABC’s daytime soap opera All My Children.

Mark Andrew Consuelos was born in Zaragoza, Spain, on March 30th, 1971, to an Italian mother, Camilla, and a Mexican father, Saul. He grew up in Italy, Illinois, and Florida. Mark attended the University of Notre Dame but then switched to the University of South Florida, graduating with a degree in marketing in 1994.

The following year, Consuelos landed an audition to play Mateo Santos, Hayley Vaughan’s love interest. But first, he had to win the heart of the casting director, which was going to be tricky, seeing as he had no acting experience.

By the time Mark auditioned for All My Children, Kelly had been playing troubled Hayley Vaughan for five years. Before he even landed in New York, the casting director showed her Mark’s headshot, at which point she fell head over heels in love with him.

Kelly explained, “At that point, I was not a hopeless romantic. I never thought about getting married. It never occurred to me that I would grow old with someone; when I saw him… the photograph of him, I saw my entire future with him flash… I saw it.”

While Kelly fell for a photograph of Mark, it wasn’t quite love at first sight for him. He was more focused on bagging the role. Opening up some years later, he admitted, “My main focus was getting the job, and I couldn’t believe my luck, having been in New York for five minutes.”

Regarding his new onscreen colleague, Mark said, “She was obviously extremely beautiful — but she was really funny, really intelligent, really quick. I realized that if I was ever to get into an argument with her, I would lose every single time.”

And so it came to pass that in February 1995, Mark Consuelos undertook a screen test with Kelly Ripa for a chance to play her love interest on All My Children. But Mark wasn’t the only actor going for the role; nine other actors were also vying for the part of Mateo.

The two actors’ chemistry was instant and lit up the room. The producers had found their man, and Kelly had found her future husband. He just took a while to warm up to the idea.

The night of Mark’s audition, Kelly had a prophetic and portentous dream about her new colleague. She spilled the beans, explaining, “We were on a plane together, flying to Rome, and we had a baby. We had a baby girl… she had red footie pajamas. I am not kidding.”

Kelly told Mark about her dream in front of the nine other actors vying for the role. He replied, “Have you ever been to Rome?” When Kelly said no, he said, “’We used to live in Italy.”

Mark’s answer sent Kelly’s mind into a maelstrom, asking herself, ‘Wait… who’s we?’ She felt this short, dark, and handsome man had some kind of power over her. She’d fallen for him after only seeing his photograph, and now he was visiting her in her dreams.

Did he mean himself and Kelly? She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Mark insisted he meant he and his parents used to live in Italy when he was a child, which is true. But was he enchanting Kelly to fall further under his spell?

While Consuelos did live in Italy as a child, Ripa was certain his use of the word ‘we’ meant she and Mark and was subconsciously suggesting they had been soulmates and lived together in Italy in a previous life. Was he a master manipulator who was love-bombing Kelly to create a bond?

One surefire way to find out would be if he played hard to get, ran hot and cold, then made a massive declaration of love by proposing marriage far too quickly. Once married, would he reveal his true colors by changing from beauty to beast?

As we know, Mark successfully landed the role of Hayley Vaughan’s love interest, Mateo Santos. He played the role for six years until 2001. But even after bagging the role, he wasn’t swept off his feet with the idea of him and Kelly being together in real life.

He later explained to HuffPost Live, “I thought she was adorable, hot […] and all that stuff, but I was very focused — I didn’t really think I had a chance with her, so I wasn’t really focused on that.”

Eventually, Mark and Kelly grew closer and started dating. In 1996, while they were filming in Jamaica, paparazzi spotted them together, leading to a media blitz saying their island escape meant they must be in a relationship. The couple finally stepped out as a couple on the red carpet at the Soap Opera Digest Awards.

In April 1996, less than a year into their relationship, Kelly and Mark planned to get married. But before they could, they split up! What happened next should have set off many red flags, but it didn’t.

Spilling the beans on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Mark explained what happened not long after they split. “We both had to meet and do an appearance on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee…”

He explained, “When we were together, she wouldn’t talk to me and that made me go crazy.” Mark continued, “So I followed her in Central Park, and then we went back to my place.” Whatever Mark said to Kelly that night in the park clearly worked.

Within 24 hours of their chat show appearance and Mark following Kelly in Central Park, they were husband and wife. It turns out that Mark had followed her into Central Park to romantically get back together with her.

In one of the world’s most famous places, Mark again asked for Kelly’s hand in marriage. And this time, it worked. They flew to Las Vegas the next day. Using a phone book to find a chapel, Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa got married on May 1st, 1996.

Kelly explained how they had split up a week beforehand. “Right before we got married, we broke up. We broke up, and we got back together the day before we went off and eloped. Yeah, we eloped. We went to Vegas and got married.”

She continued, “He popped the question the day before we got married.” Now that they were truly joined in marriage, would Mark be the perfect husband, or would he reveal a darker side of himself?

Naturally, they honeymooned in Rome, making Kelly’s premonition kinda come true. They also stayed on the island of Capri, off the coast of Naples. Mark told Soap Opera Digest, “She deserved a beautiful place to go, and I couldn’t think of a more beautiful place than Italy.”

Consuelos said they decided to elope rather than have a big wedding since “marriage has nothing to do with anybody but me and my wife.” Shortly after their Las Vegas wedding, they had a second ceremony at a church with both of their families.

Nowadays, multicultural couples are an everyday occurrence. But when their characters, Hayley and Mateo, and the real-life Kelly and Mark got together in the mid-’90s, interracial marriages were still frowned upon by some. Mark’s dark good looks come from his half-Mexican, half-Italian heritage.

And when he got together with Kelly Ripa, the handsome couple became one of Hollywood’s first interracial couples. But Kelly and Mark were so in love they didn’t realize it was supposed to be the big deal that some in the media proclaimed it to be.

Years later, Kelly opened up on their interracial marriage, explaining to E! magazine, “It was just two people that fell in love and really had the hots for each other. Now, people reference it quite a bit. And at the time, we didn’t even think about it.”

She continued, “We were just like, ‘What do you mean? We’re in love? Why wouldn’t we be together?’ It’s funnier now. Because when you look back in history, you go, ‘Oh, I guess that was a big deal.’”

Kelly and Mark seemingly had the perfect Hollywood relationship. But dreamy, dishy Mark seemed to change after they were married. His jealous streak soon became a significant hurdle in their relationship.

Even in the earliest days of their marriage, Kelly described her husband as “insanely jealous” and admitted Mark’s green-eyed monster got in the way of their marriage. In Kelly’s words, her brand new husband “used to be insanely jealous, and that was a hard pill to swallow.”

Within a week of getting married, Mark’s jealousy had reared its ugly head in Boston, Massachusetts. Kelly explained, “We went to this Italian restaurant, and the waiter was like a very cute old man; he’s definitely in his 70s if not 80s. He leaned down, and he said, ‘And for the Principessa?’”

She continued, “I thought it was so cute that this little old man called me a princess, and I looked at him, and I gave him my order in a very smiley way. And he walked away, and you picked a horrible fight.”

Mark admitted he became very upset during that dinner, saying, “I was 25. I was pretty insane, but that jealousy thing definitely followed me for a while. I’m not jealous anymore. It’s ugly. As ugly as it feels to the person who has to be on the receiving end of it, it’s such an ugly feeling inside.”

He continued, “If this is any consolation, you know you’re being crazy. The jealous person knows that this is wrong and it’s ugly, but they can’t help it.” Things got so bad that Mark eventually went to therapy.

One year, one month, and one day after they married, on June 2nd, 1997, the couple welcomed their first child, Michael Joseph Consuelos. Fast forward to today, Michael has graduated from New York University with a degree in film. He was originally interested in screenwriting and directing, but the acting bug eventually bit him.

Following in his famous parents’ footsteps, Michael became an actor and appeared in The Bensonhurst Spelling Bee with his mom and dad, The Goldbergs, and Let’s Get Physical (2022). He’s even played a younger version of his father’s character on Riverdale.

On the subject of their elopement, Mark later explained, “I think she might get a little nostalgic or maybe regret the fact that she didn’t get to have that big wedding, but I quickly point out to her that we had a number of weddings.”

Kelly and Mark’s All My Children characters didn’t rush into marriage and elope to Las Vegas, probably because truth is stranger than fiction, and the viewers wouldn’t have believed such a perfect love story. Hayley Vaughan and Mateo Santos eventually walked down the aisle in June 2000.

In February 2001, Kelly Ripa joined America’s most popular morning show, Live With Regis and Kelly. Her new career path saw her take over Kathie Lee Gifford’s co-hosting gig alongside Regis Philbin for the daytime talk show.

Kelly was initially hesitant to accept the job, but Mark persuaded her. She said, “I wanted to raise my kids. I didn’t want to have them and never get to see them.” She added that Mark made sacrifices in his career so she could join the Live team.

Kelly and Mark welcomed their daughter Lola Consuelos on June 16th, 2001. Fast forward to the present day, and Lola has graduated from New York University’s prestigious Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU Tisch. Before that, she had spent a semester studying in London.

At the time of writing, Lola lives with her mom and dad in their $27 million New York townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in the Big Apple. We’re expecting Lola to have a career in music.

Kelly recently explained how she and Mark decided on their daughter’s name. During an episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan, Kelly divulged that while she was in labor and hurtling across New York in a cab on her way to the hospital, the song “Copacabana” came on the radio.

The opening line of Barry Manilow’s hit 1970s song opens with, “Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl.” So Kelly told Mark, “Lola Consuelos would be a really cool name.” Mark agreed, and the rest, as they say, is history.

On February 24th, 2003, the couple welcomed their third child, another boy. They named him Joaquin because, this time, the NYC yellow cab driver was watching Gladiator starring Joaquin Pheonix on a tiny TV. Just kidding! It’s just a nice name is all.

Growing up, Kelly noticed that Joaquin struggled with reading and writing, and he was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Nevertheless, Joaquin Consuelos graduated from school and was the first kid to go to university out of state.

After Mom and Dad dropped Joaquin off at the University of Michigan, Kelly opened up on her TV show, “We dropped him off at school, and we gave him a hug — it was actually brutally painful. And he didn’t say anything; he was just giving me a hug.”

Kelly continued, “But he turned to walk away, and I said, ‘Wait, Joaquin, one more!’ And he kept walking, and I knew that it was happening to him too — the emotion.” At the time of writing, Joaquin is currently a member of the University of Michigan’s renowned wrestling team. Mark and Kelly recently moved to Michigan to support Joaquin.

In 2007, the couple became business partners when they launched their own production company Milojo, made up of the first two letters of each of their children’s names, Michael, Lola, and Joaquin. Milojo’s first project was an Emmy-nominated documentary called The Streak, which tells the remarkable tale of Florida’s Brandon High School’s wrestling program.

They hold the longest winning streak in American sports history with a perfect record of 451-0, spanning 34 years. The documentary was surely the catalyst for Joaquin’s training to be a wrestler.

Their production company has gone from strength to strength. They produce documentaries for Disney+, Bravo, VH1, E!, Food Network, Discovery, and many more. They made Masters of Reception, Homemade Millionaire, Fire Island, and more.

Recently, Milojo produced Let’s Get Physical, starring Michael Consuelos, who looks just like his dad! In addition to their successful production company, Kelly earns $22 million a year with Live With Kelly... She’s worth $120 million, while Mark is worth $40 million.

In 2007, All My Children celebrated its 40th anniversary. In honor of the soap opera’s ruby anniversary, it was announced that Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos would reprise their roles as Hayley Vaughan and Mateo Santos for a two-episode arc.

Kelly left Regis Philbin’s side to return to acting while Mark continued his acting career in shows like Law and Order: Criminal Intent and Ugly Betty. Consuelos also learned the ropes of daytime talk shows by acting as a panelist for weekly discussions on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Kelly explained, “After many years, I’ve decided to go back to my roots – my acting roots.” Ripa announced, “That’s right; I am returning to my role as Hayley Vaughan Santos on All My Children. I’m not just going back. Mark Consuelos is coming with me. Hayley and Mateo are going back to their crazy love-making on All My Children.”

In January 2010, Kelly and Mark brought their characters, Hayley and Mateo, back to the small screen. It was the first time either actor had appeared on the soap opera since they left the show in 2002.

Kelly spent the next decade presenting Live with Regis Philbin and Michael Strahan. Soon, Mark started showing up behind the morning show’s desk. And when they were on screen together, things usually got hot and steamy.

Whenever Mark joined Kelly, the couple would lower the tone by bringing up tales of their wild bedroom antics. Insisting that love and private time were the secrets to a long-lasting marriage, Kelly and Mark embarrassed their co-hosts but intrigued their viewers.

Even though it was America’s most salacious morning show, Kelly often shared too many details about her and Mark’s love life. Once, she explained she prefers to stay in hotels rather than with friends. “When it comes to like, [friends saying] ‘stay with us.’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no. We’ll get a hotel.’”

Kelly elaborated by telling millions of viewers, “Because I know how freaky Mark and I like to get, so when given the stay-at-the-home option, I’m like, ‘No, you guys are not cut out for it!’” That’s too much information, Kelly!

In 2016, Michael Strahan suddenly left Live, leaving Kelly feeling “betrayed” as he left it to ABC execs to inform her. Kelly and Mark flew to Turks and Caicos for a pre-planned 20th wedding anniversary celebration. The trip was the perfect distraction after Strahan’s bombshell news. The couple even posted a photo of Kelly wearing her wedding gown, which she was surprised still fit her!

As Mark started working away a lot shooting Riverdale, he said, ​​”I’m crazy about her, she’s an extremely patient and tolerant woman, and I think that’s the true secret to our marriage.”

On January 30th, 2019, Kelly appeared on Riverdale as Mrs. Mulwray, Hiram Lodge’s mistress. She explained, “Mark said, ‘Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa, exec producer] wants to know if you would be interested in doing a role on the show.’ Michael had just played a young version of Mark, and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, honey, they’re going to be so sick of Consueloses on the set of Riverdale!'”

Kelly started naming actresses who could play Hiram’s mistress, and Mark was like, “No, Roberto wants you.” So, Kelly thought, “How can I turn down an offer like that?”

In 2019, Kelly and Mark told Live viewers about the embarrassing time Lola walked in on them in the bedroom. “We started her day off pretty bad yesterday; it happened again… she knocked on our door — our bedroom door.”

To make matters worse, the incident took place on Lola’s 18th birthday. Ripa told the audience, “She shuts the door, and you hear, ‘You just ruined my birthday! And my life! And I used to see in color, and now everything is gray!’”

In 2019, for his wife’s 49th birthday, Mark posted a photo of Kelly as a child. Accompanied was a message, signing off with birthday wishes as an afterthought. “Happy Birthday to my fave. I’m really glad you were born.”

The post continued, “Because let’s face it, if you weren’t, I would’ve been married three or four times by now. Which would’ve been really expensive, not to mention the super tense parent-teacher conferences and all the awkward blended family holidays/vacations. Anyway, happy birthday sweetie.” Gee, thanks!

In 2020, ABC mooted developing a primetime revival of All My Children. The exec producers would be Mark Consuelos, Kelly Ripa, and British soap opera EastEnders exec Leo Richardson.

The latest iteration would tell the tale of a young journalist with a secret agenda who comes to expose the dark and mysterious history of a town named Pine Valley. The reboot is still in the works, and Consuelos and Ripa are slated to appear.

The couple’s oversharing didn’t end at the Live desk. In 2022, Kelly released her memoir, Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories. The book became an instant New York Times bestseller and was described as “a sharp, funny, and honest collection of real-life stories showing the many dimensions and crackling wit of the beloved daytime talk show host.”

In one chapter, she wrote about how she passed out after a bedroom encounter with Mark. She explained that she’d been suffering from health issues at the time. Please stop oversharing, Kelly!

Kelly and Mark recently opened up about their marriage on Kelly’s new podcast, Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa. On the podcast, they discussed how they’re still very active in their private lives and how they navigated long periods of separation during Mark’s time filming Riverdale in 2020.

Mark even dropped his guard to reveal a “potential deal-breaker” in their marriage would be if Kelly “cut [him] off,” unless it was due to a medical condition. Maybe this perfect marriage isn’t as rosy as it seems.

In the same podcast, Ripa and Consuelos also touched on Kelly going through menopause and how it affected their intimacy. Mark admitted he “didn’t give Kelly a break” during that time. Make of that what you will.

He also emphasized he’d never experienced months without private time with his wife, “unless I was in another country.” Mark also revealed he’d only recently learned the distinction between physical and emotional intimacy around the time he turned 50.

In 2022, just before Kelly turned 50, she revealed her husband’s superpower. She says it’s his ability to treat her like the only person in the world. “We’ve been together a long time, but all Mark has to do is look at me [and I] feel so special, so pretty, and so young,” she told Entertainment Tonight Canada.

Then she added, “He’s got the best smile I’ve ever seen, so when he smiles, it’s like the sun’s shining on you.”

That same year, Kelly admitted she and Mark Consuelos were too young to get married at 25. She told People magazine, “On paper, it should not have worked, and when it didn’t work, we really worked at it.”

She explained, “We fought for our marriage when it would have been easier to quit and throw in the towel.” But through all the ups and downs of marriage, Kelly confessed their love life “has always been very good.” She added that “even when we’re arguing, it’s good.”

In the same interview, Kelly confessed that wasn’t the only time she nearly walked away. “There were moments when I was like, ‘We’re going to be that couple: Our third child goes to college, and we get divorced because this is it.’”

She continued, “But there was this other moment where we went to the beach alone for the first time since our honeymoon with cheese and a baguette … I realized I had never noticed the sunset because I was making sure our kids didn’t run into the water.”

In April 2023, Mark took over Ryan Seacrest’s duties. Kelly told People, “To have Mark join me at that desk every day, it’s a dream come true. We’ve been so uniquely blessed. It’s going to be off the rails!” Mark added, “I had filled in so many times and had a blast every single time. I can’t think of anybody that I feel more safe with and protected by than Kelly.”

Finally, Ripa confessed how she and Mark make their tumultuous marriage work––date nights, giving each other lots of space, and not giving up just because they have a fight or argument.