Kelly Ripa's Son Is Growing Up To Be A Handsome Young Man

Apr 02, 2021 by apost team

Kelly Ripa and her family have had pretty successful lives. She and her husband both made careers for themselves in the entertainment industry, while their children have excelled in their academic studies. The family’s most recent success story comes from youngest son Joaquin Consuelos who was accepted into the University of Michigan, a feat that might have seemed impossible due to Consuelos' learning disabilities.

Ripa is known for being an actress, dancer, talk show host and television producer. She currently owns a New York-based production company called Milojo with her husband. She has also made a name for herself as a philanthropist.

Born in Berlin, New Jersey, on Oct. 2, 1970, Ripa grew up loving the arts. She played piano and started studying ballet at 3-years-old. Ripa found her calling for her future career while attending Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township, New Jersey. She was encouraged by her high school drama teacher to pursue acting and ended up doing just that. Ripa was the first in her family to enter the world of acting and was rewarded with plenty of success and accolades. 

After enjoying a career in acting and starting a family, Ripa ventured into another job in the entertainment industry. She created a great career for herself and raised her children to aspire to the same.

In fact, all three of her children have gone off to college, pursuing their dreams. Her youngest was able to conquer the odds of a learning disability and start an education while also doing something he really loved — wrestling.

Ripa landed herself a job as a talk show host on “Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee,” taking over for the latter. Kathie Lee Gifford starred alongside Regis Philbin before exiting the show in 2001. The show’s name was changed to “Live! with Regis and Kelly” once Ripa was announced as the replacement. She had great chemistry with Philbin and helped bring in a younger audience for the show.

In 2011, Ripa was announced as the consistent host, taking over the main spot Philbin previously had. The show was once again renamed and changed to “Live with Kelly” to represent Ripa being the star as she would take on multiple guest hosts throughout the show’s life. The talk show won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show in June 2012. Ripa was also named one of the Most Powerful People In Media by the Hollywood Reporter in 2014.

The show took on yet another name that has stuck since 2017 after Ryan Seacrest joined. Now the is called “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”

Seacrest is known for being a radio personality, producer and television host. He began his career in the entertainment industry in the 1990s and has created an incredibly successful career for himself. He became a household name with his hosting gig on the singing competition show "American Idol." Seacrest later landed himself the role of host and executive producer of "Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve."

Seacrest has also taken some time away from the entertainment industry to give back and donate to charities, as well as do some minor work in the fashion industry alongside Burberry’s Christopher Bailey.

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Mark Consuelos is an actor married to Ripa. He was born on March 30, 1971, in Zaragoza, Spain. His family raised him in Italy and the United States, moving around a bit in the latter country.

He is best known for his starring role in “All My Children,” which is how he met Ripa. The romance between their characters was loved by viewers and even blossomed into something real. The pair fell in love both on-screen and off, eventually fully committing to one another.

Ripa’s most credited acting role also comes from her time on the daytime soap opera “All My Children.” The pair whisked themselves away to Las Vegas, Nevada, for a secret wedding. They eloped in May 1996 and started their family shortly afterward. 

Another role that has kept Consuelos in the spotlight is his role as Hiram Lodge in “Riverdale.” His performance in the drama was so good that it won him a Teen’s Choice Award for Choice TV Villain in 2018. Consuelos has also won the American Latino Media Arts Award for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Soap Opera in both 1998 and 1999.

Ripa and Consuelos started a beautiful family together. Their eldest son Michael Consuelos was born June 2, 1997, just a year after their marriage. Daughter Lola Consuelos was born June 16, 2001, and the baby of the family, Joaquin Consuelos, was born Feb. 24, 2003. The family lived comfortably in Soho, Manhattan, for most of their lives, moving from one townhouse to another.

According to Hello Magazine, Mark had to spend some time away from his family when he was filming “Riverdale.” He lived apart from his family for four months. Luckily, Ripa and Mark were able to have virtual dates together and still have fun together with their children.

The family unfortunately had suffered a serious injury earlier in their lives. Kelly Ripa’s older sister, Linda Ripa, endured a number of injuries from an almost fatal car accident. According to Hello Magazine, Linda was struck by a drunk driver in 1999 when she was seven months pregnant. The crash resulted in Linda having multiple broken bones and crushed pelvis, which pushed into her unborn son’s head. The baby went into a coma in utero. Worried about the future health of her child, Linda endured painful surgeries without anesthesia. She needed it badly during a leg surgery but feared it would damage her baby.

Her son, Sergio Guiseppe, was born seven weeks early. He grew up to be fit and healthy and is even aspiring to become a musician. According to the New York Times, Linda considered her son a “miracle baby.”

Linda, on the other hand, struggled and was bedridden for over a year as she went through multiple surgeries. She received a payment of $15 million from a surgeon who severely messed up one of her surgeries. Linda is known for being an illustrator and author, specifically for children’s books. Ripa’s parents decided to take on the full-time position of caring for Linda, raising both their daughter and their grandson.

“I don’t suspect I will be without pain the rest of my life,” Linda said, “but when I look at my son, I know I won’t give up.”

This wasn’t the only injury the family endured during its course, albeit one of the more serious ones. Kelly and Mark’s son Joaquin got injured while at a wrestling tournament. While the severity of Joaquin’s injury was questionable at the time of the incident, the family has been able to laugh about it since.

Kelly and her family have had great times together, even when things get rough. During a segment of “Live with Kelly and Ryan” recorded over Skype, Kelly talked about how much fun she had cutting her family’s hair during quarantine in June 2020. She made a timelapse video of the haircut endeavor showing off her impressive skills as she mimicked what professional hairstylists do.

Seacrest mentioned that it looked like Kelly knew what she was doing. “I have enough narcissism to believe that if I see something on TV, I naturally have mastered it,” she told Seacrest.

Joaquin then appeared on camera to show off his new hairdo. “She did a really good job,” Joaquin said about his mother’s skills. “I’m really happy.”

It was then his mother’s turn to compliment him as she revealed what a great student her son is. Joaquin is a straight-A student and had a great parent-teacher conference the night before. Joaquin was so focused on his studies that he didn’t even want to be on camera that day to show off his haircut. He had a math exam to prepare for.

Kelly and Mark's kids have all been successful in their academia. Their son Michael graduated virtually from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and their daughter currently attends the same university. School hadn’t always come easily to Joaquin, however. According to People, he has dyslexia and dysgraphia, which makes it hard for him to read and write. That didn’t stop him from studying hard and getting good grades. Joaquin got accepted to the University of Michigan to further his education, as well as join the school’s wrestling team. Joaquin posted a photo on Instagram wearing the school’s official colors, blue and maize.

The family was recognized for being one of the most beautiful families in the celebrity world. All six interviewed with People for the magazine’s Beautiful Issue of 2019. The family talked about what makes them each so unique and what they’ve learned from one another.

Michael considered himself the quietest, which may seem weird since he is the oldest. He didn’t mind being labeled as this though since he was able to get away with more shenanigans growing up until he was eventually caught by his parents. Lola and Joaquin were classified as having big personalities by their older brother. They took over most of their parents’ attention growing up since they were usually the ones causing trouble.

Lola expressed being the most interested in changing her style and appreciating the beauty advice she received from her mother when she was younger. “Definitely less is more,” Lola explained of her beauty philosophy. Lola and her mother then shared a sweet glance of understanding.

Joaquin talked about how much he loved being the baby of the family. “My favorite thing about being the baby of the family is probably being able to learn from my brother and my sister because I’ve seen their high school experiences and I also get away with probably more than (them),” Joaquin said.

Their father said it was probably because he and Kelly were a little less uptight with their parenting with him than they were while raising Lola and Michael since he was the last child. “We’ve been worn down,” Mark joked about raising the three children.

The family never knew if Joaquin would be able to go to college because of his learning struggles, which Kelly referred to as a “misunderstood learning difference."

Kelly explained just how much her son overcame in order to get into such a great school. “Kids with dyslexia learn how to read the room, they pick up on social cues … their other skills become stronger,” Kelly told People magazine.

Raising a son interested in wrestling shaped up to be pretty scary. During a segment from “Live! with Kelly and Ryan,” Kelly revealed the time Joaquin broke his nose while wrestling. He was at a wrestling tournament and was in the ring with one of his friends. He got hit, but no one knew how badly. Joaquin’s parents thought he had just gotten poked in the eye and was even being a little dramatic about the whole ordeal. A handful of medics arrived at the scene, quickly assessing his injury and assisting him as blood poured out of his nose.

Ripa and Consuelos realized the injury was much more serious than they had anticipated. There was actually so much blood that Joaquin had to plug something up his nose to get it to stop bleeding out.

“Did you know that if you break your nose while you’re wrestling that they put tampons up there?” Kelly said exasperatedly.

Luckily, “Joaquin the infant,” as Seacrest jokingly calls Kelly's son, was back on his feet in no time. On an even brighter note, Joaquin won his wrestling match that day.

Kelly and Mark should be incredibly proud of their three children. They have all grown up to be well-rounded and show great interest in their studies. Joaquin being the baby of the family had a lot to live up to, and it looks like he definitely found his footing when he accepted a spot at the University of Michigan. Only time will tell what amazing things he'll do next.

How do you think Joaquin will do as a wrestler at the University of Michigan? Do you have any family stories like the one above? Has one of your family members ever overcome a disability? Let us know, and be sure to ask your family for any fun tales they would like to include.