Kelly Ripa Explains Why She and Mark Consuelos Are No Longer Empty Nesters

The pair sent their youngest son, Joaquin, off to college in 2021.

Well, that was short-lived! Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos might have celebrated their status as "empty nesters" after their youngest son, Joaquin Consuelos, went to college in 2021, but they've already lost the title. 

The pair had been vocal about adjusting to their life post-kids, but on Wednesday's Late Night With Seth Meyers, Ripa revealed that they're no longer the only ones in their home. 

"We were kind of empty nesters and then my mom had heart surgery," Ripa, 52, explained. "So now we're living with my parents. And Mark's like, 'That didn't take long.' The nest is full again but with older people." 

She joked that her and Consuelos' parents have all needed their help at some point. 

"We love collectively all of our parents, and we appreciate that they fall apart in different stages," she quipped. "So it's not like they're all with us all at once. It's like, first my mother-in-law will have surgery, then my father-in-law will have surgery, then my dad has surgery. They stagger the surgeries. They're thoughtful elderly people."

Back in 2021, Ripa opened up to ET's Rachel Smith about the best and worst parts of being an empty nester. 

"I will say the best part is there's no laundry in our house," joked the mom of three at the time. "There's no dishes. There's like, nothing! Nothing! There's nothing."  

As for the worst part, it's the loss of her three kids -- Michael, 25, Lola, 21, and Joaquin, 19. 

"The worst part is... people would say to us, 'Oh, don't blink because they grow up before you know it, and they'll be out of the house.' And when you're in it, you're so tired, you're so like, bone-tired in your bones that you can't believe that's true," she described. "But we did. We blinked, unfortunately, and now they are grown adults."

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