Kelly Ripa’s Urge to Retire Is ‘a Real Thing,’ Says Mark Consuelos: ‘No One’s Earned It More’

Whenever Kelly Ripa decides to step down from her duties at Live, she will certainly have the support of her husband and co-host Mark Consuelos — but he’s not anticipating lazy days with his wife of 27 years just yet.

“I think it’s a real thing,” Consuelos, 52, told Entertainment Tonight regarding comments from Ripa, 52, last month that she has a “great interest” in retiring.

“She’s been at that for 23 years,” he continued. “When she does decide to walk away, no one’s earned it more than her.”

He noted, “She’s been working her butt off since she was like 12 or 13 years old, and she got into the business at 18, and so it’s been a long ride. [But] she’s having a blast now.”

Ripa spoke to The Purist in August about possibly retiring from Live, saying that she has a “risk-averse” quality that explains why she had stayed on with the show since 2001.

“Other offers come along,” Ripa said, “but I like to stick with what I know. I am very steadfast in everything I do, and so when you have me, you have me for life. Having said that, I don’t intend to work at this job for the rest of my life. I do talk about retirement with great interest, but right now I’m very happy, especially working with Mark.”

Consuelos feels similarly about working with his wife.

“I love the show because I know it’s always going to be fun,” he told ET. “I know that she’s not going to let me fail. She has chemistry with everybody, and I feel supported — and I think she feels the same way with me next to her.”

The couple first met in 1995 when the former All My Children actress was filming a screen test with Consuelos for the daytime soap. The two eloped to Las Vegas about a year later and have since shared three children together: Michael, Lola and Joaquin.

Consuelos couldn’t resist gushing to ET about his affection for his wife: “I’m the luckiest guy, I found her and I’m like ‘I’m hanging on for dear life. Hopefully she feels the same way!”

The couple’s palpable chemistry often pops on Live. During one August episode, they bantered about the cleanliness of the kitchen at the home Consuelos rented in Canada while filming Riverdale.

“When I lived in Vancouver by myself, my kitchen was pristine!” Consuelos told Ripa on the show.

“You had a housekeeper! You had three housekeepers! I met them — I met the housekeepers,” Ripa replied.

That led to Ripa revealing her awkward encounter with a male housekeeper from Consuelos’s cleaning crew. “You want to know how I learned about the housekeepers? I walked out of the bedroom, naked. That’s right, I said it, naked! And that’s when I met the housekeepers, one of which was a guy. So I think he learned his lesson — to announce himself when that happens.”