We definitely didn't expect Kelly Ripa's story to unfold like this.
On Wednesday morning, the Live With Kelly and Ryan co-host shared a unique story about running into her famous longtime husband, Mark Consuelos. Except, at first, it seemed like a mugging was about to unfold.
As Ripa explained, the Riverdale star had flown to the Big Apple to do work for a show and then was supposed to fly straight back to Vancouver, but instead, he finished early and had a couple hours to spare. Meanwhile, the TV personality was leaving the gym with her headphones in and in the process of picking a playlist when she suddenly heard someone speaking outside.
"I hear, 'Hey sexy,' and it's so funny—it never occurs to me that this person is talking to me," she explained to co-host Ryan Seacrest. "It sounds too close and I was like, 'I'm about to be mugged by somebody flirting with somebody who doesn't even have the thoughtfulness to pay attention to me while they're mugging me.'"
While she didn't have her glasses on, Ripa could make out that the man talking was actually her husband and not a thief. Fortunately, the story gets sweeter from here.
When she asked what he was doing there, flowers in hand, Consuelos told her that he had figured out it was the day they met 26 years ago at a screen test for All My Children. The two co-stars eloped in 1996 and have welcomed three children—18-year-old daughter Lola, 22-year-old son Michael and 16-year-old son Joaquin—since.
"He brought me five roses," she noted of her husband. "I'm really not sure the significance of the five roses. I didn't want to split hairs. I thought it was very sweet."