“Maybe he’d be happier with someone who actually listens” – Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ SHOCK on-air spat leaves fans reeling as a divorce joke sparks real tension and questions whether the couple’s picture-perfect love is quietly falling apart

Viewers of Live with Kelly and Mark were stunned when playful banter between the longtime couple took a sharp and uncomfortable turn. What began as harmless teasing suddenly shifted when Ripa dropped a pointed remark that sounded less like humor and more like frustration. Cameras caught Consuelos’ frozen expression as the audience nervously laughed, unsure whether they were witnessing an awkward moment or a well-rehearsed act. Insiders now claim the tension between the couple has been building for months, spilling over into the spotlight in ways that no script could hide.

Catch the full story to see what really unfolded off-camera, and decide for yourself whether this was a joke gone wrong—or the start of something far more serious.

They’ve been married for nearly 30 years and have been more than candid about their active sex lives with fans.

And Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos were particularly feisty on Wednesday’s episode of their chat show, Live with Kelly and Mark – just not for any amorous reasons.

The duo joked multiple times about getting an ‘airport divorce’ and openly vented about their specific annoyances with one another – including travelling gripes and Ripa’s tendency of apparently leaving toeprints on their car’s windshield window.

It began with Ripa, 55, revealing how couples have begun doing ‘airport divorces’, a concept she explained as when pairings ‘intentionally part ways until we meet up on our flight.’

But before Ripa could fully explain the concept, their frustrations with one another simmered to the surface.

‘Couples are doing something unique and I want to run this by you,’ she began. ‘I think we could do well with this – an airport divorce. You and I have different traveling philosophies, different traveling styles.’

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Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos joked about getting an ‘airport divorce’ multiple times on the latest episode of their chat show, Live with Kelly and Mark

‘What do you mean? Like, I walk fast in the airport?’ he asked.

‘I just feel like you need to get there before 4 to 16 hours before a flight takes off,’ she said, prompting her husband to insist that wasn’t the case.

Ripa claimed her husband would get ‘irritated’ once they were recognized at the airport: ‘But then you get irritated when people are like, oh, my gosh, I love you on the show, you are like, everybody is noticing us,’ she said.

However her husband denied this: ‘Don’t put that out there, I am very nice to people!

‘You are nice to people but you get irritated with me,’ Ripa retorted.

‘I don’t get irritated with you. I’m irritated with you right now for trying to throw me under the bus,’ he said, prompting laughter from his wife.

‘I’m not!’ she pushed back.

‘I do find a difference in the way you walk, I have to say that. And maybe I’d like to hear more about this airport divorce,’ he said.

‘Well we’re definitely getting one now!’ she joked.

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Ripa and Consuelos got specific about the annoyances they have with one another

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The actress said her husband prefers getting to the airport many hours in advance – which he denied

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She also claimed her husband gets annoyed with her when they are recognized at the airport

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Ripa explained that an airport divorce is when couples ‘intentionally part ways until we meet up on our flight’

Mark proceeded to share his gripes about their walking styles. ‘If we’re walking through Central Park, it’s “hey, do you want to take a walk?” It is just a race around the park.’

‘Yeah. It’s called exercise,’ she replied.

‘But when we’re walking through the airport it’s like,’ Mark said, before suggesting it was a leisurely stroll.

‘Untrue,’ Kelly said.

‘So what is the airport divorce?’ he asked again.

‘The airport divorce is what we are getting technically,’ Kelly replied before explaining the concept.

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The Riverdale actor also said his wife would ‘race’ for a walk but would stroll at a leisurely pace at the airport

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The couple are ordinarily open about their sex lives but Consuelos admitted they were ‘having a day’ as they bickered about car washes

Their frustrations with one another surfaced soon after as the topic changed to car washed, with Consuelos suggesting Ripa clean the interior of their vehicle due to the toe prints she apparently leaves on their dashboard window.

‘Maybe you’ll get some Windex and wipe off the feet prints on the windshield because the first thing you do is you put your bare feet on the dash, and I’m staring at your toe prints when you’re not there and I see toe prints on the windshield. You can start there.’

‘I’ve got to stretch,’ she insisted.

‘We’re having a day today,’ Mark said.

‘Oh, you are going down,’ Kelly replied. ‘You are going down!’

Later, when a viewer complimented the couple’s show, Consuelos joked: ‘Just watching married people quarrel on TV… It’s fun! Mom and dad, fighting again!’

Consuelos and Ripa tied the knot in Las Vegas in 1996 and share three children together – sons Michael, 28, Joaquin, 22, and daughter Lola, 24.

The Riverdale actor recently revealed he broke up with Ripa a week before they got married – and they only reunited a day before their nuptials.

Getting hitched was a spontaneous plan when they reconciled.

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The Riverdale actor recently revealed he broke up with Ripa a week before they got married – and they only reunited a day before their nuptials

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The couple share three children together – sons Michael, 28, Joaquin, 22, and daughter Lola, 24

Speaking on the Skinny Confidential podcast, Mark said: ‘I broke up with her, because I was dumb, and it was the most agonizing week of my life, and I just knew that I never wanted to feel like that. I’ve never felt like that in my life.’

Mark broke with Kelly because she ‘didn’t return any of [his] calls’ but they then had an awkward run-in on the set of Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, a show they would go on to present together in the future.

He recalled: ‘We were meant to do a bit of PR together. We were both on a soap, and ironically, we were both going to be presenting a winner, it was ‘Queen for a Day,’ a segment they did on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee.

‘Her dream was to have her favourite soap stars roll out this sofa. She wanted a La-Z-Boy sofa. We were meant to roll that out and surprise her. We both tried to get out of it. I called the PR person, like, “I can’t,” and she tried to get out of it as well.’

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Ripa and Consuelos met on the set of All My Children

While the pair were desperate to avoid ‘seeing each other’, as soon as he caught sight of Kelly on set, Mark regretted his break-up decision even more.

He said: ‘She looked amazing. I can still see this little Chanel, beautiful jacket, with a kerchief, like she’s French all of a sudden.

‘I was like, oh man, she looks so good. Boy did I screw up. We do the segment, we barely speak to each other. I’m trying to speak to her, and we both smoked cigarettes back then.

‘She went out for a smoke break, I was like, ‘Do you mind if I go with you?’ She was like, ‘If you want.”

Mark ‘begged her to take a walk’ with him through Central Park and he and Kelly eventually ended up at his apartment, where he popped the question.