Kelly Ripa Teases ‘Live’ That She Was Nearly Convinced To Get A “Gray Divorce”: “I Was Like, ‘Ooh, I Want One!’”

Kelly Ripa knows the power of a good audio article narrator.

On Live with Kelly and Mark on Friday (Oct. 11), Ripa mentioned that she was reading an article that she brought up to Mark Consuelos , who, in turn “got very defensive.”

“‘Why are you reading that article?'” she recalled him asking her. “And I said, ‘Because I was in an airport for two hours and it just popped up on my news feed and I clicked on it. It was interesting to me. So it’s the rise of the gray divorce.”

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Consuelos chimed in, claiming that Ripa “came home from the trip” and told him she “read this amazing article.”

“I go, ‘Tell me about it,'” he added.

Ripa clarified, “I didn’t say ‘amazing.’ I said ‘fascinating.'”

After conceding that she had called the article “fascinating,” Consuelos continued, “And I go, ‘What’s it called?’ And she goes, ‘The Astonishing Rise of the Gray Divorce.’ I’m like, ‘Do tell!'”

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Ripa eventually defined a “gray divorce” as “people in a long-term marriage, usually above the age of 50” who choose to separate.

“Back in 1990, only 8.7% of marriages among people over 50 ended in divorce,” she read aloud, “and by 2019, that number had jumped to 36%.”

She pointed out “empty nest syndrome” as a contributing factor, noting that “sometimes relationships are so built upon the children, that once the children leave, the couple finds that they no longer have anything in common.” After highlighting that she and Consuelos “still have a lot in common,” she also cited factors as “infidelity” and “health problems.”

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“In sickness and in health, some people say no,” she said.

Consuelos insisted that Ripa “would take care of [him],” and would “change [his] diapers,” which she confirmed.

“Of course I will. I do it all the time,” she joked.

After rounding out the list with “growing apart” and “societal changes,” Ripa noted that she “listened” to the article on audio.

“You really have to hear it read to you,” she shared, “because there’s something about the narrator’s voice that I find very funny… They’re like, ‘The Astonishing Rise of the Gray Divorce.’ And I was like, ‘Ooh, I want one!’ It sounds like something amazing, and then you realize, ‘Oh, this is very dark subject matter.’ But the voice of the narrator is so soothing.”

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.

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