You probably already know Kelly Ripa from the early ABC talk show. She is a very hard to forget person with a very special personality.
Her humor is brilliant, but even so, she is considered one of the mightiest women in media.
Let’s find out how she became so special and what’s her secret recipe to success!
Kelly Maria Ripa
She was born in 1970 on October 2nd in New Jersey. She comes from a modest family and has one other sibling, a sister, Linda, who writes children’s books.
Her mother, Esther, is a housewife that dedicated her life to caring for her children. Kelly’s father, Joseph, was a trade union president and a bus driver for Rutgers University.
They didn’t have a life under the spotlight life, so Kelly is the first one in her family to go public. She started ballet at 3 years old, and she can carry a decent tune playing the piano.
Career
Kelly’s first national TV exposure was whens he was just 15 years old. In 1986, she appeared on Dancin’ On Air regularly. Back then, her goal was to present news, but her life turned around when she received her first big role in the 90’s, playing a party girl, Hayley Vaughan, in All My Children.
It is odd how life leads us so often in so many different directions, but Kelly turned out to have a part of her wish right after all.
She wasn’t going to present news, though, but a talk show host instead. In 2001, she was confirmed to be a co-host for the ABC’s early talk show, named Live with Regis and Kelly, which has lasted until the present day. We can add some films to her career list, too!
One of the best being her role in Marvin’s Room from 1996, where she acted alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep.
Charity
Kelly supports ovarian cancer causes and helps to raise funds for cancer research. She hosts Super Saturday every summer, which is a fundraising event that lasts an entire day. The reason behind all of this is because she had a good friend that lost the battle against ovarian cancer.
This shook her greatly, and supporting cancer causes has become a tribute for her friend. She also supports another cause, a non-profit organization that seeks to stop drunk driving.
This time her sister, Linda, was the one to motivate her because she was hit and almost killed by a car, the driver being drunk. Luckily, her sister is fine, but we can be sure she gave everyone quite a scare.
Awards
Ripa’s first award was back in 1999. She won Best Actress Award for her role in The Stand-In, many others followed, but she had some other type of prizes in her life.
For example, her humor seems to have led her into breaking a Guinness World Record for 24 banana cream pies thrown at her mouth. And all those pies were thrown in one minute!
Another record she brought down was for most grapes crushed with her feet. At least, we know who we can count on for picking grapes and making some good wine! She also received a tribute song, named Kelly Ripa, written by a rock band called Cowboy Mouth in 2008. Last but surely not least, she was put in the Hall of Fame.
Personal Life
She met her husband, Mark Consuelos, in 1995, and got married just one year later. Their first bundle of joy, came only one year later, in 1997, a beautiful son called Michael. Lola followed in 2001, and their third child was born in 2003, named Joaquin.
They are still happily married, and even if Ripa is considered to be one of the most hardworking persons in the television industry, she always makes plenty of time for her family.
She has more than once discussed the happy marriage subject on her ABC talk show, saying marriages are a marathon, not sprints. Her best advice and secret for a long, happy marriage is that it has to be built on compromise, respect, perseverance, and, more importantly, patience. And when you feel like you’re too tired to go on, as she said, all you need to do is push through!
