Kelly Ripa doesn’t think Mark Consuelos needs to know about everything she buys.
The controversial topic came up on the Friday, August 21, episode of Live With Kelly and Mark when the married co-hosts were discussing the pros and cons of having separate bank accounts.
‘Financial infidelity’
Consuelos saw some potential downsides to keeping finances separate.
He worried that bills could slip through the cracks and that it could even lead to “financial infidelity.”
The Riverdale star then read the definition of the term aloud. “When one partner is not forthcoming about where the money is going,” he said.
Ripa joked, “I’m never forthcoming about that.”
“Right. I just assume it’s going,” Consuelos replied.
Story prepared
“I always make up a story (about where the money is going) that I think you will find palatable,” the mother of three continued. “I know you assume that it’s going, but I always fudge where it’s going and how it’s going. You know, you don’t need to know.”
Consuelos wasn’t too concerned. “I don’t ask any questions,” she said.
“No, you don’t. But if you were, I have a story ready,” Ripa said as the audience laughed.
Consuelos didn’t seem bothered by the confession. “Alright, you don’t need it,” he replied with a shrug.
However, Ripa wasn’t letting it go. “In case you ever asked a question, I have a full story totally prepared,” she continued. “So, you won’t even know it’s a story. It’s gonna fly off my tongue seamlessly. Go ahead, ask me something.”
$179 Las Vegas wedding
Ripa’s money confession comes after she and Consuelos previously revealed just how little they spent on their wedding.
The couple eloped in Las Vegas in 1996 and skipped many of the traditional wedding expenses.
“The money spent on these parties and flowers and rings and dresses, it just doesn’t make sense to me,” Consuelos said during a previous episode of Live. “It never made sense to me.”
Ripa shared that their nuptials cost less than $200. “Our wedding was great. $179, including airfare, thank you!” she said. “We should start a wedding service.”
Making marriage work
Nearly 30 years after tying the knot, Ripa and Consuelos have figured out what works for their marriage. They’ve also been open about some of the choices that can look different from couple to couple.
One of those choices is whether spouses should sleep in separate beds. During the August 14 episode of Live, guest host Steve Patterson shared his reservations about the idea.
“I have feelings about the bed thing,” he said. “It just feels too separate. I don’t know. There’s something like, ‘Let’s get a bigger bed,’ or something, but I feel like we should be sleeping on the same surface. Even if we aren’t cuddling.”
Ripa agreed, but admitted that Consuelos’ snoring has tested her patience over the years.
“I am married to someone who took up snoring. Truly, truly, I’m not kidding. He hit 45 and took to snoring,” she shared. “And I was like, ‘What is this? What is happening here?’ But even that has not driven us to separate beds … That just seems like an extreme form of … I don’t know, punishment.”