Kelly Ripa's Son Michael Consuelos Has Had Quite The Transformation
When Michael Consuelos was a tiny tot, Kelly Ripa's daytime audience began watching him grow a little more each time he appeared on her talk show, "Live with Regis and Kelly." Michael would eventually stop joining his mom at work and spend years shunning the spotlight before wholeheartedly embracing the camera — just like both of his parents.
Kelly and her hubby, Mark Consuelos, celebrated the arrival of their oldest child in 1997. The actors were both working on the soap opera "All My Children" at the time and found an unexpected babysitter when they brought Michael to the set with them: their costar, Josh Duhamel. "He would sit and play with Michael, who was a toddler, for hours," Ripa recalled on "Live with Kelly and Ryan." She revealed that Michael nicknamed Duhamel "The Iron Giant" after the titular character from the 1999 animated movie. Ripa explained that this was because Duhamel towered over both her and Mark.
Michael was three years old when he moved from being behind the camera to hamming it up in front of it on "Live." He showed off his Halloween costumes each year, and when his baby bro Joaquin was about to join the family, he shared his thoughts about that development. "What's so exciting about it?" he asked before changing the subject to the fancy watch he was wearing. As he got older, Michael became less interested in appearing on the show — and his mom is partly to blame.
Michael Consuelos' mom embarrassed and inspired him growing up
Kelly Ripa is the recipe for an embarrassing parent: a proud mom with a tendency to overshare who has a daytime talk show. During a 2018 appearance on "Live with Kelly and Ryan," Michael Consuelos explained that joining his mom on-air became unappealing when kids at school started mentioning things their parents heard Ripa say about him on "Live." He eventually gained an ally who works tirelessly to minimize the parental mortification that he must suffer. Now, he can thank his younger sister Lola Consuelos for calling Ripa out whenever she does something cringe-worthy.
While Michael didn't appreciate his mother's desire to update millions of strangers on his life when he was going through the awkward stages of puberty, he also gave both her and his dad some credit for inspiring him to be the best that he could be as a teenager. "I wasn't much of a sports guy growing up, [but] when I was at a cross country meet and my parents were around I'm like, 'I have to really bring it, because they're watching,'" he told ET.
By 2014, Michael was allowing his mother to post about him on social media. "Look at all the fun HE and I are having during today's driving lesson," Ripa captioned an Instagram photo of her stony-faced son behind the wheel. He was wearing glasses and smartly keeping his eyes on the road while his mom snapped a selfie.
He decided to pursue the creative arts in college
When it came time for Michael Consuelos to start making plans to leave the nest, he took his weaknesses into consideration. "I'm like, 'I'm not really an academic, I better do something creative,'" he recalled to People. But he still decided to pursue a higher education. After he graduated from high school in 2016, Michael enrolled in NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he majored in film. He also competed on his high school's cross country team and ended his senior year on a high note by making first-team All-Ivy.
On "Live with Kelly and Ryan," Kelly Ripa revealed that one reason Michael chose NYU is because they ran into an old coworker of hers while touring the campus, "All My Children" director Christopher Goutman. He'd become a professor at the school, and he successfully wooed Michael by pointing out that his direction had brought Michael's parents together. "He goes, 'You have to come here because I am literally the reason you exist!'" Ripa recalled. During a 2019 appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," Ripa said that Michael had a tough time adjusting to college life, in part because his parents weren't sending him a large allowance. "He is chronically poor. ... I don't think he ever experienced extreme poverty like now," she quipped. But the plus side of attending college in NYC was being so close to home that Michael could pop by his parents' house whenever he needed something.
He joined his dad on Riverdale
By 2018, Michael Consuelos had become his dad Mark Consuelos' twin. So, when The CW series "Riverdale" was in need of an actor to play Mark's character Hiram Lodge in a flashback episode, Michael had to be a shoo-in for the part, right? Well, not exactly — he had to prove that he really was the right man for the job. "I was so nervous because I had never auditioned for anything before," Michael said on "Live with Kelly and Ryan." Any hopes that his looks would give him an edge were dashed when he realized that all the other actors auditioning for the part also bore an uncanny resemblance to his father. After Michael got the gig, Mark said in an "Access" interview, "This is such an honor for me. It's a bucket list, absolutely, as a father."
When Kelly Ripa asked her son if acting had always interested him on "Live," he said that he didn't get bitten by the bug until the "Riverdale" opportunity came along. "I think 'Riverdale' was a really refreshing experience; everyone was really cool," he said. Upon learning that his co-host's offspring might pursue more acting roles in the future, Ryan Seacrest offered up his pad in Hollywood as a place for Michael to crash while he looked for work. But Ripa wasn't having it. "That's too nice. You need to struggle," she told her son.
The grad was recognized as one of Hollywood's nepo hotties
Michael Consuelos completed his college education in 2020 but didn't get a graduation ceremony until 2022 because of the pandemic. The wait was well worth it, as Taylor Swift delivered the commencement speech. He wasn't a star of her caliber quite yet, but a year later, there was a sign that his profile was rising considerably.
During a 2022 episode of "Live with Kelly and Ryan," Kelly Ripa had a hilarious reaction to her son being named one of the sexiest men alive by People magazine. He was included in the publication's "Gen Next" section, which was reserved for everyone who is a sexy nepo baby, as Swift might call them. Other honorees included David Beckham and Victoria Beckham's son Brooklyn Beckham and Sean Penn and Robin Wright's son Hopper Penn. Ripa revealed that Michael Consuelos hadn't said a peep to her about the honor. "You would think he would tell us so we'd pick up a few extra copies for the grandparents," she joked. While she seemed proud of her son, she couldn't help but grimace over him being described as "sexy."
Seacrest noted that Michael was being a chip off the ol' block by posing shirtless, and Michael has confessed to being a fan of his father's style. He told People that he takes advantage of having access to Mark Consuelos' closet, saying, "I steal his clothes sometimes."
Michael Consuelos and Andy Cohen became coworkers
In 2022, Michael Consuelos landed another acting gig in the Lifetime movie "Let's Get Physical," which his parents produced through their Milojo Productions company. Kelly Ripa told "Access" that Michael was concerned about taking advantage of nepotism when she and Mark Consuelos offered him the part, but who knows better how to assuage a child's fears about something than their mama? After discovering that mother really knows best, Michael told People, "I'm starting out, you know. I was grateful for the opportunity." He even revealed that the experience left him eager to work with his parents again.
Michael has also done some production work. Ripa wasn't even hosting "Live with Kelly and Mark" in 2023 when her son's name came up. "Watch What Happens Live" host Andy Cohen was filling in for her, and he spilled some intel about Michael's career. "He worked on Jersey Housewives, he worked on this new season of ['The Real Housewives of] New York,'" said the Bravo EP. Michael was a field associate producer for the latter, and he's also worked on "Summer House." Cohen wouldn't reveal which Bravolebrities Michael likes best, but from the looks of the mustache in some of his 2024 Instagram photos, it might be Tom Sandoval.
During a December 2023 appearance on "Live with Kelly and Mark," Michael shared an update on how he was doing after working on the "Real Housewives" franchise for two years. "I'm still sane," he quipped.