Kelly Ripa talks about having discussion with Mark Consuelos about getting a ‘grey divorce’
Kelly Ripa seemed to shock husband Mark Consuelos over a joke over their marriage.
The couple, who has been married for almost thirty years now, discussed a not so common topic of grey marriages on Live With Kelly and Mark.
“I was reading this article, and I started talking to Mark about it, and Mark got very defensive,” Kelly raised the topic on the show’s Oct. 11 episode, adding that it immediately made Mark question her, “Why are you reading that article?”
The 54-year-old further elaborated on how she got to read on grey divorces; she was sitting at the airport and got herself immersed in a “fascinating article” on the increase in the number of grey divorces.
“Grey Divorce” is a term used for divorces between couples who are usually over the age of 50 and have been married for a long period of time.
The daytime host also shared some stats, and said that according to research, “back in 1990, only 8.7 percent of marriages among people over 50 ended in divorce. And by 2019, that number had jumped to 36 percent.”
But during the conversation, Mark seemed relaxed about a grey divorce, as he pressed that Kelly would always “change [his] diapers”, while she noted several causes that can lead to a grey divorce, including, empty nest syndrome, lack of common interests, infidelity and health problems.
“Of course I will,” Kelly agreed to taking care of her husband, even after 50. “I do it all the time.”
The actress also revealed that she listened to the article instead of reading it, and being convinced for a divorce after fifty was just an effect of the narrator’s “soothing” voice.
“Like it sounds like something amazing,” she continued, “and then you realise, oh, this is very dark subject matter. But the voice of the narrator is so soothing.”