Kelly Ripa is a doting mom to three grown-up children, who she shares with husband and Live co-host, Mark Consuelos.
However, the couple have had to navigate through a new chapter in their lives in the past few years, after they became empty nesters when their youngest son Joaquin, 20, left home.
Joaquin enrolled at the University of Michigan in 2021, and Kelly and Mark recently opened up the bittersweet change while chatting to People.
"It was deep, it was like a loss," Mark told the publication. Kelly added: "When Joaquin left, it was hard, the two of us and the dogs staring at each other, like 'Well, now what?'"
"The first dinner I cooked, I'm not kidding, was for 12 people, and it was just the two of us. We sat there with this inordinate amount of food, neither one of us hungry at all."
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Luckily, Kelly and Mark are able to regularly go and visit their youngest son in his new home - where he is thriving.
© Photo: InstagramAs well as studying drama, Joaquin is also on the University of Michigan wrestling team, and his famous parents often go to watch home games.
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Mark also told People that out of all their children, Joaquin is "a little reserved" and when it comes to watching his famous parents on Live, he likely wouldn't.
"Joaquin's a little reserved. But he would turn it on. He's a drama student and he could turn it on for that hour, but I think he probably wouldn't want to do that," he explained.
The couple are also parents to 25-year-old Michael, who is an aspiring actor living in Bushwick, and 21-year-old daughter Lola, who is in her final year at NYU, and currently living back at home.
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Lola was there for her parents' new work chapter earlier this month, on the very first episode of Live with Kelly and Mark. Mark has taken over from Kelly's former co-host, Ryan Seacrest, who left the program in the middle of April after six years of co-hosting.
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