Kelly Ripa Thought She And Mark Consuelos Might ‘Get Divorced’ As Empty Nesters

In a People cover story published on Monday (September 26th), Kelly Ripa shared that she was worried about her marriage with Mark Consuelos after their kids went away to college.

“It’s scary, thrilling, liberating, shocking … and quiet,” she said about the children being gone. “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.'”

The Live with Kelly and Ryan host went on to say that the pair were “too young” when they got married in 1996 at 25 years old.

“On paper, it should not have worked, and when it didn’t work, we really worked at it,” she said. Ripa added, “We fought for our marriage when it would have been easier to quit and throw in the towel.”