When Kelly Ripa was honored as a Disney Legend, the one person she didn’t look at was her husband Mark Consuelos.
While hosting Live with Kelly & Mark on Tuesday, Sept. 3, Ripa, 53, recalled her experience of receiving the prestigious award from her former cohost Ryan Seacrest, who departed the talk show in 2023, in Anaheim, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 11.
“The one thing that we did that I thought was absolutely amazing was we went to Disneyland, and Kelly was presented with her Disney Legends award,” explained Consuelos, adding, “I was there watching your speech. I got teary-eyed.”
Ripa, for her part, acknowledged she’d seen Consuelos’ reaction in the audience that evening.
The Walt Disney Company
“I know, I looked away from you when you did. I was like, ‘Okay,’ so I just looked at [fellow Disney Legends recipient] Angela Bassett the whole time,” she mused, adding that she “didn’t want to be emotional” with him then; otherwise, she would have been overcome with emotion, too.
“So, I just looked at Angela,” Ripa continued, sharing that Consuelos’ eyes “are very big and very expressive.” “He looks like the emoji where the eyes are filled with tears,” Ripa said.
During her speech at the Disney Legends ceremony, Ripa thanked Disney CEO Bob Iger for “this truly magical experience.”
“I’ve known Bob for, incidentally, 35 years, and he has not aged a day,” she quipped. “So I just want to know what ride that is.”
The Walt Disney Company
Ripa also expressed gratitude to all the D23 attendees, before she poked fun at her own honor.
“I know what you’re thinking. Why her? What has she ever done? She doesn’t even go here,” Ripa said. “But to you, I say, you sound just like my family.”
The talk show host said later during her speech that she “owes everything” to the Walt Disney Company — both professionally and personally — given that she met her “smoking hot husband” Consuelos on the set of All My Children.
The mother of three then joked that the pair “made” their children — sons Michael and Joaquin, plus daughter Lola — “right backstage in the Disney labs.”
In addition to Ripa, other stars who were named Disney Legends included Miley Cyrus, Angela Bassett, Colleen Atwood, Martha Blanding, James L. Brooks, James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis, Steve Ditko, Harrison Ford, Mark Henn, Frank Oz, Joe Rohde and John Williams.
The Walt Disney Company
Ripa ended her speech by recalling a time her father took their family on a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida for the first time, before she sent some more thanks to those who bestowed her with the honor.
In a video announcing this year’s honorees, Seacrest said that it’s a chance to “celebrate people who define Disney and who have made an indelible mark on the company.”
Calling it the “highest honor the Walt Disney Company can bestow,” he added that the title is reserved for creatives who have “pushed the envelope of creativity, challenged conventional wisdom and broken the restraints of the status quo in search of new possibilities and excellence.”
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Live with Kelly and Mark airs weekdays (check local listings).
