Kelly Ripa told husband and co-host Mark Consuelos on air exactly how she wants her funeral handled, and made clear he is not allowed to dress her for it.
On the Oct. 7 episode of “Live With Kelly and Mark,” the longtime morning hosts turned a segment about a woman who planned her own arrangements into a blunt rundown of Ripa’s future wishes, USA TODAY reported.
Ripa, 56, did not leave the big decisions vague. She wanted roles assigned the same way the show already runs.
Ripa said the service would not be a standard hometown affair.
“It's going to be a destination [funeral],” she told Consuelos.
Longtime producer Michael Gelman, she said, would throw it. Her stylist would handle the clothes. Consuelos would show up and deliver the eulogy.
“Put everybody in charge of what they’re typically in charge of. Everybody has their typical jobs. You be there, you eulogize, say nice things,” Ripa said.
The “Riverdale” actor, 55 and her husband of three decades, wanted one point settled on the spot.
“Just to be clear, I'm not in charge of getting you ready for the funeral? I'm not in charge of that?” Consuelos asked.
“No! If Gelman is throwing my funeral, my stylist is getting me dressed,” Ripa shot back.
She had a reason. In a prior incident, Ripa passed out and Consuelos dressed her for the hospital. She arrived in a green leotard, soccer pants, and high-heeled shoes.
“Let me just say, I sailed in right past the gunshot victims because I looked so bad,” she said.
The funeral banter came about a week after Consuelos returned from foot surgery.
On the Sept. 25 show, he told viewers he was headed straight to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City to remove a bone spur from his toe. He had put the procedure off about a year after years of soccer wear, and he had a similar operation on the other foot roughly 15 years earlier.
He rolled back onto the set Sept. 28 on a knee scooter.
“I thought for sure there was a 90% chance I wouldn't be here,” Consuelos said. He was able to stop pain medication within about 24 hours.
Ripa’s list was less about morbidity than control: who plans, who dresses her, and who speaks. On a morning show built on chemistry, she still drew a hard line at the closet.
Even happy marriages run better with clear job descriptions, especially when one spouse already failed the hospital outfit test.
