Mark Consuelos revealed that he and Kelly Ripa briefly split just one week before their wedding day. The 54-year-old opened up about his marriage during an appearance on the Skinny Confidential podcast. "We eloped," he said. "It's pretty famously eloped and we told no one for a month. But, if you would've asked me a week before I got married and said, 'When do you think you're going to get married?,' I would be like 'I don't know, maybe never, or 10 years or 15 years from now. And I was 25 years old."
The LIVE host explained that, due to his immaturity at the time, he ended their relationship – a decision he instantly regretted. "It's kind of a funny story as we broke up the week before. I broke up with her because I was dumb, and it was the most agonizing week of my life and I just knew I never wanted to feel like that. I've never felt like that in my life," he admitted.
"What did she do to you during that week?" asked Lauryn Bosstick. "She didn't return any of my calls," replied Mark. The star went on to recall how the two were brought back together by circumstance – having to reunite on set while working on the same soap opera. "And then we were meant to do a bit of PR together. We were on a soap and ironically, we were both going to be presenting a winner, it was Queen for the day, and we both tried to get out of it," he said.
Mark continued: "We get there that day, and you asked me what did she do? She looked amazing. And I was like, 'Oh man, she looks so good. Boy did I screw up.' And so we do the segment. We barely speak to each other. I'm trying to speak to her. We both smoked cigarettes back then. And so she went out for a smoke break. I said, 'Do you mind if I come out with you?' She said, "Yeah, if you want.' And so that happened."
The TV host then shared how he won Kelly back with an unexpected grand gesture – one that proved his commitment once and for all. "And then after the segment was done, she lived on the west side. I followed her and begged her to take a walk with me through Central Park," he recalled.
"And she really didn't want to but I was convincing and so she did. And then we ended up back at my place, I lived downtown and I asked her to marry me." Visibly stunned, host Michael Bosstick asked, "Like after the walk? That same day?"
"Yeah, and she said, 'Ask me when you're serious.' And I said, 'I am dead serious. We have a day off work tomorrow. Let's fly to Vegas and get married,'" added Mark.