When TV host Kelly Ripa‘s daughter, Lola, moved to London, she likely expected that any trip made back to her family home in New York would result in an open-armed welcome from her parents—until, that is, she visited her mom and dad during a particularly tense NFL game.
Kelly, 55, opened up about her child’s latest visit to their sprawling New York City townhouse during a recent episode of her talk show, “Live With Kelly and Mark,” which she hosts alongside her husband, Mark Consuelos.
According to the mother of three, while she was overjoyed to have Lola, 24, back in the family nest, Mark, 54, wasn’t quite as thrilled with her untimely appearance.
“Our daughter is home visiting us. We’re so happy. There’s so much life in the house when she’s in the house,” Kelly said of Lola’s return to their $27 million townhouse.
Things went awry, however, when Kelly and Lola—who relocated to the U.K. in fall 2023—made the mistake of walking into the room where Mark was watching his favorite football team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, going up against the San Francisco 49ers.
“Lola and I walked in while Mark was watching the game, and something bad happened,” Kelly revealed, before confessing that she wasn’t exactly sure what that bad thing was because she “wasn’t paying attention.”
According to Kelly, Mark determined that their entry into the room at the exact moment his team slipped up meant that they were “bad luck,” despite the family patriarch furiously denying ever making such a comment.
“Somebody said it! That we were bad luck, when we walked into the room,” Kelly insisted, before admitting that she was actually thrilled to be handed an excuse to do something other than watch a football game.
“So, then we took our exit cue, and I was like, ‘Don’t tempt me with a good time. I don’t mind leaving and not watching this game.'”
Ultimately, Mark’s team came out victorious, winning the game 30-19, and he joked to viewers that “everything was great” as soon as his wife and daughter left the room.
“So basically, I controlled the game,” Kelly teased, to which Mark responded, “That’s right. I appreciate that.”
Despite Kelly and (perhaps?) Mark appearing delighted to have Lola back at home, they have previously admitted that they love being empty nesters and having their dwelling all to themselves.
Kelly went as far as to admit that being nude in her house “wherever you want” is her favorite thing about being an empty nester, as she opened up about how her life changed after her children moved out of the family’s $27 million New York townhouse.
During a previous episode of “Live With Kelly and Mark,” Kelly held nothing back while detailing the “freak show” aspects of her life with Mark, admitting that the couple have relished the freedom they gained when their three kids—Michael, 27, Lola, and Joaquin, 22—left the nest.
Kelly and Mark became empty nesters this year, when their younger son graduated from the University of Michigan and moved out of the couple’s townhouse, a milestone that the mother of three opened up about while reassuring actress Amanda Peet that sending kids off to college isn’t all bad.
Peet, 53, who shares children Frances, 18, Molly, 14, and Henry, 10, with her husband, David Benioff, admitted to suffering from extreme nerves over the idea of sending her oldest off to college in the fall, telling Kelly: “I don’t want to cry.”
Kelly was quick to reassure her guest, insisting that—while waving goodbye to your first child can be something of a “shock”—she soon learned to enjoy the upsides that come with living in a home with no kids.
“Let me just say this,” Kelly said. “The first one is, like, a bit of a shock. Each one, like the second one, is like ‘no big deal.’ Third one, for 24 to 48 hours, you’re going to be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what have we done now? Now it’s just us.’
“And then your entire life becomes nudity in the household wherever you want,” Kelly joked as her hubby smiled beside her.
Jaw-dropped, Peet responded, “Wow, good to know!”
“Total freak show all the time,” Kelly admitted.
The couple previously revealed that they were “done” when their younger son graduated from college.
“Anyway, we just returned from Ann Arbor, MI, where our newborn baby graduated university. That’s right, we’re done!” Kelly said in an episode that aired earlier in May.
The married “Live With Kelly and Mark” hosts moved into the Upper East Side home 13 years ago—after purchasing the palatial pad for a jaw-dropping $27 million and offloading their former dwelling in SoHo for an impressive $20 million.
Kelly previously told Architectural Digest that she knew immediately that the townhouse was meant for them.
“I was like, ‘It’s perfect, just hand me my toothbrush,'” Kelly said. “We’ve moved several times in our lives, but no matter where we go, for me, this is my forever home. When I walked in here, I was like, ‘This is the final place where I will live.’ I love this house so much.”
However, Mark wanted to add some personal touches to the home to suit their very specific tastes. The couple tapped designers William Sofield and Emma O’Neill, of Studio Sofield, to bring their vision of 1920s and 1930s French glamour to life.
The result is a mix of art deco and modern style, with the duo breathing new life into vintage pieces, like using dual armoires as storage for sports equipment and hiding their shoes in a custom-designed cabinet.
The couple noted that they have done little to change the townhouse since that initial transformation in 2013.
Kelly, the longtime host of a syndicated daytime talk show, has cycled through numerous co-hosts during her time in the home. She first appeared on the show with Regis Philbin in 2001, then spent a year anchoring the series solo. In 2012, she welcomed Michael Strahan as her sidekick. Ryan Seacrest took over as co-host in 2017. Finally, in 2023, Mark was announced as the show’s co-host to his wife.
The couple first met on the set of the soap opera “All My Children” in the 1990s.
