Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos reveal regrettable parenting moment involving youngest son Joaquin

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos often share stories about their family life on Live – both the good and the bad! 

The relatable couple got real this week after recalling an unfortunate incident involving their youngest son, Joaquin – now 22. 

Joaquin wasn’t a fan of tomatoes when he was younger, and during a chat about picking eaters, they admitted that when he was a child, Mark forced him to eat one after months of refusing to – but it didn’t end well! 

“The average American parent spends three full days bargaining with their children over food,” Kelly read. “We did not do that, we were kind of a dictatorship when it came to food. This is your offering, you eat it,” she continued. 

“I did make one mistake once,” Mark admitted. “Oh, yes…” Kelly replied. “Our youngest did not like tomatoes and it was a few months of this, and I finally said ‘No, you are going to eat the tomato. We are going to stay here until you eat the tomato’.” 

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“And we stayed there! It was like a scene from Mommy Dearest,” Kelly interjected. “I made him eat it and he regurgitated it. I apologized,” Mark admitted, as the audience reacted in sympathy towards Joaquin. 

Kelly and Mark are incredibly close to all three of their children, and very proud of them. 

They are all following in their parents’ footsteps in the creative industry, with Joaquin planning a career in theatre after graduating from the University of Michigan this year. 

Their oldest son Michael, 27, is an actor, while their only daughter Lola, 23, is a singer. 

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Kelly’s nephew Sergio is also a talented singer, and the proud aunt regularly shares footage from his concerts on social media – which she attends in New York City. 

Kelly previously opened up about her children’s work ethic during a chat with Daily Mail. She said: “We want to raise productive people who are thoughtful and selfless.” 

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The star added: “I wanted to raise good, caring, generous, thoughtful people who are professional, who are polite, who don’t expect the world handed to them.” 

The couple raised their children in New York City, and Joaquin was the only one out of his siblings to study away from the Big Apple. 

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Kelly and Mark regularly go to Michigan to visit him, most recently doing so to support him during the opening night of his latest college show, ‘A Few Good Men,’ which also happened to fall a few days before his birthday. 

During a previous episode of Live, the doting parents opened up about their son’s college life in Michigan, revealing that they had treated him to an e-bike to help him get around the campus faster. 

“Our youngest son, we got him an E-bike because Michigan is such a big campus. Just to get to practice and all that stuff and that thing went fast,” Mark revealed. 

Kelly confirmed that the E-bike went “super fast,” before Mark added that he got himself one that was “not so fast.” They have become part of the community there too, and Kelly has even taken part in fundraisers, including the Michigan Medicine Women’s Health Luncheon in 2023.