Good news: After the success of “All My Children”, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos will return to Soaps
Talk show hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos both got their start in soap operas- but are they returning to their old stomping grounds?
Sort of.
The married couple who co-host “Live with Kelly and Mark” are starring together in a very soapy Audible series called “Summer Breeze.”
And the drama is a family affair. The couple’s 27-year-old son Michael Consuelos also plays a role in “Summer Breeze.”
‘Summer Breeze’ is Set In the Same World Where Kelly & Mark Met
The couple, who just celebrated their 29th anniversary, met on the set of “All My Children” in 1995. They eloped to Las Vegas a year later.
“Summer Breeze” takes the couple right back to that time in their lives. “Summer Breeze” is set in the “high-stakes world of 1990’s daytime soaps.”
Audible describes it like this: “When a young, struggling screenwriter’s greatest dream turns into a nightmare after her script is stolen by an uber-powerful male producer, she forms a surprising alliance with a former soap opera star harboring secrets of her own. Together, these two devise a daring, twisted plan to seek justice against the producer through the long-running soap opera Summer Breeze. They will turn the producer’s monstrosity into their art. As they navigate the cutthroat politics and general lunacy of the daytime TV industrial-complex, their scheme takes on a life of its own, blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Deception, forbidden romance, and jaw-dropping revelations unfold with each episode, building to an explosive climax worthy of the daytime soap that provides our setting.”
Kelly & Mark Say Revisiting a Genre They Love Is a ‘Full Circle Experience’
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos say their new side hustle is a great fit for them.
“It’s a fresh take on the genre we love,” Ripa and Consuelos told PEOPLE. “Our relationship started on “All My Children,” so revisiting the world of soap operas through this new medium was a full-circle experience.”
Fans of “All My Children” will tell you that Kelly played Hayley Vaughan Santos, the rebellious daughter of tycoon Adam Chandler. Husband Mark played Mateo Santos, the only son of a Mexican American clan in Pine Valley.
During a February episode of SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa,” Consuelos said when he first met Kelly, he thought she was “hilarious” and “adorable.”
But the feelings started to build when the pair began rehearsing lines together.
“She told me to come to her apartment. I’m like, okay. And she answered the door in a robe. I was like, ‘Okay,’” he said as Ripa interjected to clarify that she “wasn’t making a play.” She was in the process of getting ready and didn’t expect him to be on time.
They were both in different relationships at the time. But Mark admitted that he was mesmerized by her beauty.
“I was like, ‘Wow, she’s got really beautiful eyes.’ Her cheekbones are very specific, her hair is amazing. But her eyes and lips were, I was like, ‘Wow, she’s got great lips,”” he recalled.
The pair got married on May 1, 1996, at the Chapel of the Bells.
How to Listen to ‘Summer Breeze’
“Summer Breeze” is streaming now on Audible.
