Mark Consuelos proposed after secret split from Kelly Ripa
Mark Consuelos proposed to Kelly Ripa the day before they got married - and a week after they had split.
Mark Consuelos broke up with Kelly Ripa a week before they got married.
The All My Children co-stars tied the knot in Las Vegas in 1996, but the 54-year-old actor has revealed they only reunited a day before their nuptials, and getting hitched was a spontaneous plan when they reconciled.
Speaking on the Skinny Confidential podcast, Mark said: "I broke up with her, because I was dumb, and it was the most agonising week of my life, and I just knew that I never wanted to feel like that. I've never felt like that in my life."
Mark broke with Kelly because she "didn't return any of [his] calls" but they then had an awkward run-in on the set of Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, a show they would go on to present together in the future.
He recalled: "We were meant to do a bit of PR together. We were both on a soap, and ironically, we were both going to be presenting a winner, it was 'Queen for a Day,' a segment they did on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee.
"Her dream was to have her favourite soap stars roll out this sofa. She wanted a La-Z-Boy sofa. We were meant to roll that out and surprise her. We both tried to get out of it. I called the PR person, like, 'I can't,' and she tried to get out of it as well."
While the pair were desperate to avoid "seeing each other", as soon as he caught sight of Kelly on set, Mark regretted his break-up decision even more.
He said: "She looked amazing. I can still see this little Chanel, beautiful jacket, with a kerchief, like she's French all of a sudden.
"I was like, oh man, she looks so good. Boy did I screw up. We do the segment, we barely speak to each other. I'm trying to speak to her, and we both smoked cigarettes back then.
"She went out for a smoke break, I was like, 'Do you mind if I go with you?' She was like, 'If you want.'"
Mark "begged her to take a walk" with him through Central Park and he and Kelly eventually ended up at his apartment, where he popped the question.
He recalled: "I asked her to marry me. She said, 'Ask me when you're serious,' and I said, 'I'm dead serious.' I said, 'We have a day off work tomorrow, let's fly to Vegas and get married.'"
