‘Live’: Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos Honor His Late Father on First Birthday Since Death
What To Know
- Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos honored Mark’s late father, Saul, on what would have been his 88th birthday.
- Back in April, Mark announced on Live With Kelly and Mark that his father died at the age of 87 after a long illness.
- Mark shared an update about how his mother has been doing in the months since Saul’s death.
The Thursday, October 29, episode of Live With Kelly and Mark began on a bittersweet note.
“It’s a hard day today. It would have been Mark’s dad’s birthday today, so we’re thinking about him today,” Kelly Ripa announced on the show. Mark Consuelos added, “It would have been his 88th birthday. Great, great, great man, and I’ll definitely be calling my mom. I spoke to her last night, so she brought it up. She [said], ‘You know, it’s your dad’s birthday tomorrow.’ I go, ‘Yeah.’ So, I guess the first ones are tough.”
Mark’s father, Saul Consuelos, died in March at the age of 87. He went on to share an update on his mother, Camilla Consuelos, telling Live viewers, “She’s doing great. She’s not leaving that house.”
Mark used the show to publicly plead with his mother to visit the Big Apple. “Mom, come to New York! Come to us! We’ll take care of you,” he said while looking into the camera. “You can see Broadway shows. You can do all the things that you love to do. But she’s gonna say, ‘Nope. I like it right here.’”
Kelly agreed, joking, “I know she is. But now that we’ve got America, America can pressure her, put pressure on her at the grocery store.” Mark wrapped up the conversation by noting that his mom “really loves her independence.”
Courtesy of Mark Consuelos/Instagram
Back in April, Ripa and Mark returned to Live after two weeks of prerecorded shows. During their first episode back, Mark announced that Saul had passed away two weeks prior “after a long bout with an illness.”
Ripa shared several kind words about her father-in-law, stating, “Let me just say that we have been blessed. You have been blessed more because you knew him your whole life. I only got to know my father-in-law for 31 years, but they were the best 31 years of my life. I can honestly say that I will miss him every day for the rest of my life, as I know you will, as our children will. He was the greatest person I’ve ever known, and he really is so symbolic of everything you are.”
Mark recalled how his father moved to the U.S. from Mexico as a teenager and served in the U.S. Navy for 30 years. “This young kid from Mexico just got his education through the Navy, was always going to school, brilliant, got his master’s [degree], while I was a kid,” the host said. “He loved this country so much. He loved this country so much. He really is, I would say, an example. If you put a face to an immigrant, he would be the prime example of what this country promises people here in this country. And he raised three pretty good kids.”
Back in June, Ripa paid tribute to Saul on the first Father’s Day since his death. “Let’s hear it for the DADS today!” she wrote alongside an Instagram montage of photos of Mark, Saul, and her father, Joseph Ripa. “These three have impacted our lives so greatly, and especially dad Consuelos who lives on in our memories and in our hearts.”
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