There are a lot of different ways to be in a marriage, and each couple will have to decide for themselves how they want it to be. Sometimes, like for Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, the answer will lie in following a more old-fashioned way of living, but for others, progressive is definitely the way to go.
Kelly and Mark opened up about their “traditional” marriage in a new interview.
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Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos opened up about what makes their almost 25-year marriage successful.
“She makes the home a home,” Mark said while the couple appeared on the Double Date podcast.
“What’s funny is I think of us as such a progressive as a couple. I always think of us as politically progressive,” Kelly added.
“We’re progressive people.”
“And yet, when it comes to our own family and our marriage and our roles, I think of us as very traditional and almost old-fashioned in our roles,” Kelly went on.
“I wanted to raise my kids. I didn’t want to have them and never get to see them,” Kelly explained of how they split child care.
“I’ve been able to raise my kids here in this city, in the nest, and he’s always been willing to travel and go to a set and go off here and sometimes he’s had to go live in another country to work on a set over there,” Kelly explained of how she’s never had to leave the home or her children to work.
“Traveling is hard and being away from home is hard and sometimes he would miss milestones for the kids, and I know that was hard for him.”
“I wanted to raise my kids. I didn’t want to have them and never get to see them. And the talk show afforded me this opportunity where I would work in the morning, early in the morning, and then I would have the rest of the day to take them to their activities or be there and watch the ballet recital, be there and do all of those things,” Kelly said.
“In that way, we’re very traditional,” she said.
“He made those sacrifices, but I think he wouldn’t know how to find a ballet class. He wouldn’t know how to go about signing the kids up for religion classes,” she went on.
Mark was quick to point out he wasn’t theo nly one who made a sacrifice.
“Some would say you made the sacrifice,” Mark told her.
It’s nice to see Mark acknowledge that Kelly may have given up more acting roles to stay home!
Mark added that he’s “a traditional guy. I feel like there are certain roles — it’s hard to explain exactly what those roles are.”
“We had a conversation where I said, ‘Hey listen, there’s really only room for one man in this relationship and it’s going to be me,'” Mark went on.
When it comes to their daughter, Lola, the couple is less traditional.
Kelly explained they raised Lola “to never take a backseat position to any person or any man that she dates.”
“As overprotective as I thought I would be when she was born and I was holding her in my arms, I’ve mellowed a bit,” Mark said.
What do you think?
Would that kind of relationship work for you? Or do you prefer more equal footing in your relationships? Let us know in the comments below!
