Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos talk about jealousy in their relationship

On the March 22 premiere episode of Kelly Ripa’s new SiriusXM podcast ‘Let’s Talk Off Camera’, the actress was joined by her husband Mark Consuelos, and the couple spoke candidly about their relationship.

Ripa opened up about the jealousy Consuelos once experienced at the beginning of their relationship, as well as the other ups and downs the two faced and that, thanks to communication, they have put behind them.

Moments of jealousy early in their relationship

“My biggest complaint about you over the course of our marriage — and this is not recent, ‘cause it definitely changed, and I don’t know if I changed or if you changed or if it was some combination of change — but you used to be insanely jealous,” Ripa told her husband.

“And that was a hard pill to swallow. It’s very hard being married to somebody who is jealous. ... It’s unattractive.”

Ripa then said that Consuelos used to have a “perception of a scenario” that was unrealistic. She went on to describe a situation that happened just one week into their marriage in 1996.

“It was our first week of marriage because we didn’t take our honeymoon until later. You were working and I went to visit you in Boston,” she began.

“We went to this Italian restaurant and the waiter was like a very cute old man, he’s definitely in his 70s, if not 80s. He leaned down and he said, ‘And for the principessa?’

She continued, “I thought it was so cute that this little old man called me a princess, and I looked at him and I gave him my order in a very smiley way,” Ripa says. “And he walked away and you picked a horrible fight.”

Consuelos learned how to change

Consuelos confirmed that the situation angered him at the time, but looks back at the situation with humor.

“I remember that. Look at age 25, I was pretty insane,” Consuelos said of his reaction at the time.

“But that jealousy thing definitely followed me for a while. I’m not jealous anymore.

He continued, “It’s a character flaw. It’s ugly. And as ugly as it feels to the person who is on the receiving end of it, it’s such an ugly feeling inside. If this is any consolation, you know you’re being crazy. The jealous person knows that this is wrong and it’s ugly but they can’t help it.”

Consuelos says that he went through a process of self-growth to change his jealous attitude.

“I wanted to do some work on myself,” he said. “That was one of the major things that I needed to work on because it was getting in the way.”

Throughout the episode, the couple spoke about how communication helped them face a lot of the issues in their relationship, and they even met with a counselor to openly discuss habits and behaviors that hindered their relationship.

‘Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa’ can be streamed on Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.