Mark Consuelos Joining ‘Live’ Feels ‘Full Circle’

New chapter! Kelly Ripa couldn’t be happier to have a husband Mark Consuelos join in Alive team.

“Mark and I owe everything we have in our professional lives to ABC. We met there at the beginning of our careers and got married and had children while we were there,” said the host of the morning show, 52 years old, exclusively told. Us Weeklyshares sons Michael, 25, and Joaquin, 19, and daughter Lola, 21, whom she shares with Consuelos, 51.

The Daytime Emmy winner added: “So many great moments happened while we were at ABC, so we’re excited to come back and work together again for a show that has brought us so much joy and memories for so many years.”

Ripa met with Riverdale actor in 1995 when they both appeared on the ABC soap opera All My Children. They married a year later – and their love for each other only grew stronger over the decades.

“I’m crazy about him,” Consuelos said us in 2019. “She is a very patient and patient woman, and I think that is the true secret of our marriage.”

us confirmed earlier this month that Ryan Seacrest stepping down as Ripa’s cohost after nearly six years Live With Kelly and Ryan. The radio personality, 48, directed the Thursday, February 16, episode of the syndicated talk show.

“Working alongside Kelly for the past six years has been a dream job and one of the highlights of my career. She has been an amazing partner, friend, and confidant, and although we will be part of each other’s lives, I will miss our mornings together, ” American Idol the host noted in the statement. “I also want to thank you Michael Gelman and all staff and crew. … It was an unforgettable trip and now I’m happy to pass the baton to Kelly’s husband, Mark.

Ripa, for her part, said in a statement of her own that she will “miss starting [her] day” with Seacrest. “Ryan’s energy, passion and love for entertainment is one-of-a-kind,” he added.

At Live Wire author has been a staple of the morning show since 2001. He first appeared alongside the late Regis Philbin, replacing longtime cohost, Kathie Lee Gifford.

Consuelos, meanwhile, joined his wife and Seacrest during the Friday, February 17 episode. Alive to further discuss the future of the event. “I think this is a safe place. Honestly, sometimes I’m waiting for that little thing that I want to get off my chest, like, ‘Well, this is what I want to talk about,'” she teased. “I’m done here. [when I’ve been a guest host] because I’m safe, what can happen?”

Seacrest went on to praise the incoming host, saying: “I just want to say, you’re a brother to me. You’re family to me. I’ve become very close to you and … I couldn’t be happier to see you come in and be next to your wife every day, who we both know is the most amazing human being on the planet.

At Pitch alum echoed Seacrest’s words. “You are a true friend. You are generous to my wife, to my whole family,” said Jum’at. “I have to meet your family through [this], who does not love his parents, nieces and sisters and brothers-in-law. And that chair, listen, the chair you’re sitting on, that’s a good chair. It was a great honor for me to sit there. It’s a great show, and I think it’s going to be a blast.

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For more on Alive‘s transition, watch the video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weeklyon newsstands now.