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The Daily Dish Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

Why Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Broke up a Week Before They Eloped

Here's how the devoted couple got back together just in time way back in 1996.

By Tamara Palmer
Mark Consuelos & Kelly Ripa’s Pre-Marriage Breakup

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have been happily married since 1996, but the power couple had a close call that threatened their marriage before it even began, as viewers found out when Consuelos appeared in the Bravo Clubhouse for Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Wednesday night.

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Ripa and Consuelos met on All My Children and dated in real life before their characters coupled up on the show — Mark knew she was "the one" very early.

"We would go out with groups of people from work and slowly each date it happened that the group started getting smaller and smaller until it was just us two," he recalled. "I was shy, I wasn't very aggressive that way."

A caller told Consuelos that she had heard that he and Ripa broke up a week before they eloped. He admitted it was true.

"And then we both had to do an appearance on LIVE with Regis and Kathie Lee," he recalled, to Andy Cohen's amazement.

"I need to see that clip!" Andy exclaimed.

"We were together and she wouldn't talk to me," Consuelos continued. "And that made me crazy so I followed her into Central Park. I stalked her and we went back to my place and we got married the next day — it wasn't a big breakup!"

When Did Mark Consuelos Know Kelly Ripa Was ‘The One’?
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