“Go Blue!” Kelly Ripa captioned the Instagram post she published on Saturday (Sept. 25). In the picture, Kelly, 50, smiles from ear to ear – and there’s a good reason for that. To her left stands husband Mark Consuelos and their eighteen-year-old son, Joaquin. The Live host and Riverdale star traveled to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to visit Joaquin and see the Michigan Wolverines hand the Rutgers Scarlet Knights their first loss of the season, 20-13.
“Go Blue!! So jealous,” added Lizzie Tisch in the comments, while comic book artist (and Deadpool creator) Rob Liefeld added a “Raising Both Hands In Celebration” emoji. Monica Magnin, the lifestyle correspondent for Live, added, “The cutest!!! Hope it was so fun!!” Holly Robison Peete commented, “Omgggg, how exciting! [football emoji] [blue heart emoji].” Ayyyyye. My fam getting it in,” commented Dondré T. Whitfield. “Love it. Waiting for my Michigan Wrestling hoodie to arrive.”
This joyous reunion at Michigan Stadium – aka “The Big House” – comes weeks after Kelly shared how hard it was for her to drop her son off at school. “We became empty nesters. We took our youngest son to college. We dropped him off,” she said during the Sept. 7 episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan. The two also have a son Michael, 24, and a 20-year-old daughter Lola, so Joaquin’s departure meant that all Kelly’s children had grown up. Saying goodbye was “actually brutally painful,” said Kelly. “I gave him a hug, and I said, ‘I did not realize that 18 years would go so fast.’ And he didn’t say anything. He was just giving me a hug.”
“He turned to walk away, and I said, ‘Wait, Joaquin, one more!’ And he kept walking. And I knew that it was happening to him too, the emotion,” she said. It’s one of those things where, you can never be ready. But it’s funny. It seemed like it would be forever from the time Michael left to Joaquin.”
Though, Kelly has shared that things haven’t been all bad since the kids have moved out. During the Sept. 20 episode of Live, Kelly revealed that Mark, 50, likes to settle their difficulties with some “sexy time.” Kelly said that Mark likes to “nip things in the bud” by asking, “Oh, you’re upset? I know how to take care of that. Oh, you don’t feel good about something? I’ll take care of that. Oh, you’re feeling like maybe you’re overworked? I got you. I know what you need.” So, there are some benefits to having the house all to yourself.