Kelly Ripa Gushes Over Husband Mark Consuelos On 51st Birthday: ‘My Forever Heart & Soul’

Still smitten after all this time! The chat show hostess raved about her husband of 25 years in a birthday tribute.

Love letters. Kelly Ripa, 51, celebrated her longtime love Mark Consuelos‘ 51st birthday with a sweet Instagram post on Wed., Mar 30th. The Live With Kelly And Ryan hostess paired some sweet words with a handsome, sepia-tone portrait of the Riverdale star for her tribute, which you can see here.

“Happy birthday, @instasuelos,” she wrote, calling her husband of 25 years, “My forever heart and soul.” Kelly continued to gush about her Spain-born hunk, adding, “I’m so grateful we found each other. I love you more every day.”

The former soap star’s birthday wishes didn’t stop there. She also shared some flirty birthday greetings on her Instagram Story, posting a photo of the couple kissing along with the message, “Happy Birthday Sexy.”

Kelly also made time to poke fun at her love during the Wed. episode of Live. Getting a bit cheeky, the blonde beauty told the audience, “Appropriately, it is hump day on my immortal beloved Mark Consuelos’ birthday! Love of my life.”

She made light of their months-wide age gap, telling Ryan, “You know, the exciting part about him turning 51 is that now when I read articles about us it’s no longer going to be, ‘The 51-year-old TV presenter and her 50-year-old husband, actor Mark Consuelos… Now it will be like, ‘The pair, a combined 102…'”

Kelly and Mark are one of Hollywood’s rare examples of an enduring relationship. The couple met all the way back in 1995 while working on All My Children together. Their connection was almost instant and they eloped on May 1, 1996.

Mark and Kelly started a family not long after that. Son Michael, 24, came a year later and daughter Lola, 20, and youngest, Joaquin, 19, were born in 2001 and 2003, respectively.

Though they’ve made things go the distance, Kelly admitted no partnership is always perfect. Sharing some sage relationship advice on her show Live With Kelly And Ryan in Jan. 2020, she said, “You’re going to fight, you’re going to have disagreements.”

“Relationships, marriages are not sprints; it’s a marathon,” Kelly went on. “There’s going to be like, mile 24, when you’re like, ‘I quit.’ But you just got to push through. Just push through.”