Kelly Ripa has confirmed reports that her husband Mark Consuelos was once a male stripper.
While Consuelos’ seedy past was revealed in a National Enquirer article, Ripa confirms the report was true in an interview in the new issue of Vanity Fair. The “Live! with Kelly” host tells the magazine that her husband, who she met on the set of “All My Children,” resorted to taking his clothes off for cash as he was trying to figure out how to make it as an actor.
“A lot of hot guys in Hollywood have done that,” Ripa says. “I even have an old calendar pinup of him.”
Ripa even revealed the details of how Consuelos got started in the adult entertainment industry.
“He was straight out of college — he went to Notre Dame but he finished his degree at the University of South Florida,” says Ripa. “So, there he was in South Florida, he’s gorgeous, looking to break into show business, so he started off as a roadie to a group of these guys, and then they talked him into stripping.”
When interviewer George Wayne asked her about the film “Magic Mike,” which is based on Channing Tatum’s experience as a male stripper, Ripa admitted that Consuelos would have been perfect for a part in the film.
“I heard about it—my husband knows the real guy,” said Ripa, before gushing about her husband’s good looks. “He is so unbelievably gorgeous, with a Mexican father and Italian mother born in Spain and raised in Italy, and I will never give him up.”