Kelly Ripa shared a look at her “empty nest” on Instagram. The LIVE with Kelly and Ryan star and her husband, actor Mark Consuelos, posted a selfie of themselves looking rather forlorn at home on the couch after sending off their youngest child, Joaquin, 18, to college. “So far we are crushing this empty nest thing,” Ripa wrote. Ripa and Consuelos are also parents to Michael, 24, and Lola, 20. Joaquin is attending the University of Michigan and will be joining the wrestling team.
Ripa marked Joaquin’s graduation in June with a sweet snap on Instagram. In the photo, Ripa and Consuelos are all smiles with their youngest while he’s decked out in a blue gown wrapped in a yellow tassel. She captioned the photo with “The Graduate! #2021” The sweet pair have always been pro-family photos and share their sweet moments with fans regularly. From birthday celebrations to family reunions, the morning show host and her husband are all about sharing their personal moments with their followers.
Ripa has been open about the boundaries that her kids have set for her with what she can share about them online. Michael, the oldest, asked for his privacy very early on. “I was not allowed to discuss anything,” Ripa told Glamour. “I could not talk about his life, his grades, even though they were great. I couldn’t talk about school. I wasn’t allowed to show his prom picture on TV, even though I may have, as long as I got the girl’s permission from her parents.”
“It would be very unfair to use my bullhorn to discuss somebody that did not want to be discussed,” Ripa continued. “I’m always very mindful of that being the boundary.” In that interview, Ripa admitted that while she doesn’t have the passwords to her Twitter and Facebook, she does run her own Instagram account, and relatably admitted that the tendency to overshare during the pandemic has become worse. “I keep saying that Instagram, during the pandemic, has made everyone 300% more of whatever it is we think they are. If you believe this person is great, you believe this person is 300% greater right now,” she said. “And if you don’t like me, or any person, you now believe I’m 300% worse.”
Ripa also revealed that she has been approached about doing a reality TV show about their family in the past, but that that was never of interest to their family. “Back when all of the reality shows were starting, I cannot tell you how many companies approached us to do a reality show. Mark and I would say, ‘No, no. I don’t really think you understand. There’s nothing to shoot here,'” she concluded. “There’s nothing exciting that happens. It truly would be like television’s version of paint drying.”