Kelly Ripa with her family.Photo: kelly ripa/ instagram
WhenKelly RipaandMark Consuelos' youngest son,Joaquin, left home for college, in the footsteps of older siblingsMichaelandLola, the empty-nesters were admittedly, if briefly, bereft.
“It was deep,” Mark tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “It was like a loss.”
“When Joaquin left [for the University of Michigan], it was hard, the two of us and the dogs staring at each other, like ‘Well, now what?’ " says Kelly, who had been spoiled up to that point as Michael, now 25, and Lola, 21, enrolled close to home at N.Y.U. “The first dinner I cooked, I’m not kidding, was for 12 people, and it was just the two of us. We sat there with this inordinate amount of food, neither one of us hungry at all.”
Among her first thoughts, she recalls, was: “We’re empty nesters, oh no, what are we going to discuss?!”
Plenty, as it turned out.
“The first 48 hours we were leaning into the despair and then we really leaned into the positive side,” says Kelly. “We got over it!”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Miller Mobley
The power duo, who will share co-hosting duties of the newly titledLive with Kelly and Markwhen Mark takes the coveted seat next to his wife on Monday, found themselves enjoying newfound freedom.
“We went to the beach and we saw the sunset and we were like, ‘Oh my god, this is amazing’,” says Mark.
Their wallowing quickly turned to a conscious embracing of the new chapter of their lives.
On a couple’s vacation last June, Kelly says, “We ate when we wanted to eat, not when the kids wanted to. We went on hikes, we went rock-climbing – which was scary, but we did it.”
“Two weeks before Joaquin left, Lola and Michael moved back home and they would all sleep in the same room,” Kelly says. “They had me recreate things from when they were little, like I used to tuck them in bed, give them kisses and say, ‘Ok, that’s it, now goodnight,’ and then I would come back in the room and they’d scream and laugh.”
Adds Mark: “They would come into our room and get old DVDs of home movies and we watched as a family.”
“To have Mark join me at that desk every day, it’s a dream come true,” says Kelly, who has helped makeLivethe No. 1-rated daytime talk show over her 22-year tenure. “We’ve been so uniquely blessed.”
Watch the full episode of People Cover Story:Kelly Ripa& Mark Consuelos below
For more of the exclusive cover interview withKelly Ripaand Mark Consuelos, pick up an issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com
