{"id":130779,"date":"2025-10-18T20:20:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T20:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/130779\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T20:20:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T20:20:12","slug":"kelly-ripa-fell-in-love-immediately-with-mark-consuelos-inside-their-cosmic-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/130779\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Ripa ‘Fell in Love Immediately’ With Mark Consuelos: Inside Their ‘Cosmic’ Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelly Ripa<\/strong> and Mark Consuelos<\/strong>‘ marriage has lasted the test of time, and All My Children casting director Judy Blye Wilson<\/strong> recently revealed it was love at first sight for Ripa.<\/p>\n

While speaking to TV Insider<\/a> in an interview published on Friday, October 17, Wilson explained that the soap opera was undergoing a major transformation when Ripa, 55, was cast as Hayley Vaughan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I can\u2019t really take credit for it because she was cast by Joan D\u2019Incecco<\/strong> [the previous casting director] and by that group prior to my getting there. But I definitely had a lot to do with Mark Consuelos [getting hired as Mateo Santos] and that\u2019s an understatement<\/a>,” she said.<\/p>\n

In 1994, Wilson was tasked to find the perfect man to star opposite Ripa as her love interest. \u201cThey wanted it to be a Latino or Hispanic young man,\u201d Wilson recalled. \u201cHe needed to be young and drop-dead gorgeous. So, I started a big search, because it wasn\u2019t very easy at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the audition process, Consuelos, 54, quickly caught Wilson’s eye. \u201cHe was out of Florida, not local,\u201d she said. \u201cI noticed that he had gone to Notre Dame and graduated fairly recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Wilson considered Consuelos for the role, Ripa stopped by the casting director’s office and spotted a photo of her future husband on her desk. \u201cThe picture was on the desk of Mark, and she picked it up and fell in love for the rest of her life<\/a>,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cIt happened right there. She flipped out over his picture. And it was just an 8-by-10 headshot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consuelos was later brought in to read for Mateo, though Wilson said he didn’t immediately get the job. \u201cThe network wasn\u2019t sure,\u201d she shared. \u201cThey were a little shaky. So, we tested him again with other people, and then it just got to be out of control. Nobody was sure, and everybody was unsure, and then they said, \u2018We can\u2019t push it back any further. We have to start this role.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Riverdale actor did ultimately start filming<\/a>, though it wasn’t guaranteed that the part would remain his. \u201cHe started playing the role of Mateo, and he had to screen test while he was playing the role with other guys, which was unheard of and phenomenal,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cFinally, they gave him the role, and he and Kelly fell in love immediately. The rest, I think, is history. So, that was a unique story because I don\u2019t know of anyone that ever played a role while they were still screen-testing with other candidates trying to get the role.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple is still going strong today. After they eloped in 1996, they welcomed their children Michael<\/strong>, 28, Lola<\/strong>, 24, and Joaquin<\/strong>, 22.<\/p>\n

While they stopped appearing on the soap opera in 2002, they now work together co-hosting Live With Kelly and Mark.<\/p>\n

Wilson went on to call Ripa and Consuelos’ love a “phenomenal story.” She added, \u201cNot only were they truly attracted to each other, there was something rather cosmic that went on. She was drawn to his picture, and they were drawn to each other physically, spiritually, and every other way. You can say that it was just meant to be, and it\u2019s worked out very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Parade<\/a> on Oct 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos‘ marriage has lasted the test of time, and All My Children casting director…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[78547,18,117,19,17,78545,21485,21486,78546,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-130779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-casting-director","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-judy-blye-wilson","14":"tag-kelly-ripa","15":"tag-mark-consuelos","16":"tag-mateo-santos","17":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}