The ratings for LIVE with Kelly and Mark dipped earlier this year when Kelly Ripa was absent. Her husband and co-host, Mark Consuelos, missed a few shows earlier this month for an unexplained reason. Now that he’s back, he opened up about acting “inappropriately” during his health issues that kept him off the show. Keep reading to find out what he did.
Mark Consuelos Returns To LIVE After Unexpected Absence
ABC has had a shortage of hosts for their talk shows this month due to health issues. Joy Behar missed nearly a week of The View after an injury. Kelly Ripa welcomed guest hosts to LIVE amid her husband’s unexplained absence. Her husband of nearly thirty years, Mark Consuelos, became her official co-host in 2023 after Ryan Seacrest left.
But he was back on the air on Monday’s episode. Kelly Ripa started a discussion about a new acronym sweeping the internet. She described “FOFO” as the “fear of finding out” and related it to medical issues.
“There are things you can nip in the bud, and instead, you let it get to the place where it’s [beyond repair],” Kelly Ripa warned. In response, her husband confessed to finally having his first colonoscopy recently at the age of 54. According to the American Cancer Society, men should start having the procedures done around the age of 45.
The colonoscopy seemingly was done around the time Mark Consuelos missed several episodes of LIVE, though he didn’t confirm that was the reason for his absence. I’m 54 and I hadn’t had one yet, so that’s late,” the talk show host admitted.
He shared details about the routine health test. Mark Consuelos said that he tried to fight the anesthesia to stay awake longer but couldn’t. “Afterwards, I remember sitting there, and I remember I didn’t want to say anything silly. I didn’t want to say anything silly in the recovery room, but [I] felt very rested,” he said.
But that was tough after he noticed a pretty nurse. That’s when things went sideways.
He Opens Up About Acting ‘Inappropriately’ Amid Health Issues
“I see my nurse is this young girl, and she was adorable. She was really, really cute, and I thought, ‘She’d be amazing for my son Joaquin.’ But I shut my mouth,” Mark Consuelos said.
He added, “I kept it shut. I was gonna ask her if she was single. I didn’t do it. I was gonna ask her how old she was. I didn’t do it. I didn’t say anything.”
Kelly Ripa revealed that he told her all about it when he came home after the procedure. “You came home, and you were like, ‘There was a nurse. I tried to set her up with Joaquin, but then I thought I shouldn’t say anything. So, I kept my mouth shut. Aren’t you proud of me?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, lord. He’s still high.’”
She told the audience that it would have been “inappropriate” for her husband to try to set up their son with his nurse. The couple shares three children: Michael, 28, Lola, 24, and Joaquin, 22. Their youngest son graduated from the University of Michigan earlier this year and moved back to Manhattan, New York, while figuring out his next move.
Tell us in the comments if you agree it would have been “inappropriate” for Mark Consuelos to try to set his nurse up with his son.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger
