The Transformation Of Kelly Ripa And Mark Consuelos' Son Joaquin

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Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos may be most well known for their acting skills and their joint talk show, "Live with Kelly and Mark," but their role as parents is just as notable. The couple share three children together: Michael Joseph Consuelos, Lola Grace Consuelos, and Joaquin Antonio Consuelos. While all three of Ripa's kids are loved by their parents, it is rumored that her youngest, Joaquin, is her favorite. "There's no such thing as an uber-mom. I think children are like pancakes. You sort of ruin the first one, and you get better at it the second time around," the talk show host once joked (via WebMD). When Joaquin was a bit older, Ripa reflected on her parenting again and told People, "As you get older and you learn more, that youngest kid hopefully benefits from a little bit more wisdom ... and hopefully fewer nerves." Ripa's youngest child agreed with his mother's sentiments and said that his parents slowly softened their parenting approach. 

Born on February 24, 2003, the celebrity couple's youngest child, whom Ripa still refers to as her "newborn," has remained a dedicated wrestler throughout the years with the support of his parents. Part of Ripa's transformation was becoming a mom, and her youngest son has now gone through a transformation of his own, from a child struggling to read and occasionally appeared on his mom's talk show to becoming a college graduate and a Broadway star.

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos may have first met one another on the set of a soap opera, but off-screen, the couple created a life together that is far less dramatic than the lives of their characters on "All My Children." The actors raised their own children in New York City where all of their kids, including their youngest child, Joaquin Consuelos, spent their childhood. Joaquin grew up close with his two siblings in their tight-knit but highly organized family unit. According to Ripa, consistency in their family's schedule helped a great deal when Joaquin was young. "My children and myself, we know what to expect every day," the mom of three told Yahoo! in 2011. "And I think that they [the kids] benefit from knowing what to expect when they get home."

While Joaquin mostly lived a structured, private life while growing up, he would sometimes appear with his parents at red carpet events that were often geared toward children, such as the grand opening of The World of Disney Flagship Store when he was only 1 year old, the Pokemon 10th anniversary celebration in 2006, and various Broadway shows. In 2015, the same year that the entire Consuelos family attended the annual GLAAD Awards, Joaquin and his siblings were also in attendance to support their mom when she was awarded her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Although Joaquin Consuelos grew up in an organized household, things were not so easy for him at school. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' youngest son was diagnosed with two different learning disabilities as a child that initially hindered his academic progress: dyslexia and dysgraphia, a neurological condition where a person has a difficult time turning their thoughts into words on paper. Ripa wrote about her youngest son's struggles with dyslexia in her book "Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories" and recalled how when he was a child, she noticed he had a challenging time when it came to reading and writing. After she gained awareness of his learning struggles, she enrolled him in a specialized school, Churchill School and Center, where the young student thrived academically, and with proper accommodations, reading actually became one of his favorite hobbies outside of the classroom as well. 

On an episode of "Live With Kelly and Ryan" in 2021, the proud mom revealed that while she and her husband were initially worried that their youngest son would never pursue higher education because of his learning disabilities, Joaquin actually had several options when it came to college. She went on to note some of the beneficial skills that those with dyslexia may sometimes develop. "It can be quite a blessing," she said. "Kids with dyslexia learn how to read the room. They pick up on social cues" (via ET Online). 

Joaquin Consuelos eventually excelled in his studies growing up, but he also made time for sports. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' youngest son took up wrestling as a child and continued the sport  throughout both high school and college. Although Joaquin was eager to join a wrestling team, his school did not actually have one until his junior year of high school, so the young wrestler went elsewhere until then. In an interview with Michigan Go Blue, the talk show hosts' son reflected on how he had to travel out of state on weekends and after school on some weekdays to train at Edge Wrestling in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

When the time finally came to join his high school's newly-created wrestling team, Joaquin already had years of experience. "When I started wrestling New York-level competition, it was so funny, because I thought that these guys were so much worse," he said. "New York City is not on the same level wrestling-wise as New Jersey in any way." According to Joaquin, the fact that he trained as a wrestler from a young age actually made him a stronger person, both physically and mentally, and it helps him outside of the ring as well. "One thing I did notice is that I'm able to mitigate any feelings of nervousness," he said. "When you're about to compete, it's a similar feeling, so you're just desensitized to it."

In June 2021, after balancing his studies with wrestling for years, Joaquin Consuelos graduated from high school at Churchill School and Center as a member of the National Honors Society. As part of his transformation, Joaquin Consuelos went from struggling to read to graduating from high school with high honors in both English and math. Joaquin's mom shared moments from her youngest son's big day on Instagram; she jokingly posted a photo on her Story of her wearing a bathrobe and standing next to her son, who was already decked out in his graduation gown. "In our robes ... " the former actor captioned the Story (via People). The proud mom later shared a picture of her high school graduate engaged in an animated conversation with the commencement speaker for that year, Gayle King.

Joaquin leaving to go to college in another state at the University of Michigan meant that Ripa and her Mark Consuelos became empty nesters, as Joaquin's older two siblings had already moved out of their parents house by that point. Initially, his parents felt despair about having all three of their adult children out of their house. "It was deep. It was like a loss," Joaquin's dad told People. Ripa chimed in and told the news outlet, "The first 48 hours we were leaning into the despair, and then we really leaned into the positive side."

Many teenagers in the United States take their driving test as soon as they turn 16 years old in order to gain some independence and distance from their parents. However, for teenagers living in major cities like New York City, with easily accessible public transit and pricey parking garages, there is not really a need to get a drivers' license at all, let alone get one as soon as they become eligible.

On a 2022 episode of "Live with Kelly and Ryan," Kelly Ripa discussed how when her son Joaquin Consuelos first moved to the Midwest for college, he was content with using his bike to get around the University of Michigan's campus and explore Ann Arbor. However, the talk show host revealed how the college freshman quickly discovered during his first Michigan winter that riding his bike as a means of transportation was not easy when ice and snow covered the ground, so the New York native decided to finally get his license at the age of 19. Although Consuelos was an adult by the time he got his driver's license, his mom still exclaimed over her youngest son's milestone. "It was one of those things where I was like, 'How can the newborn baby have a driver's license?'" Ripa said (via People).

Another part of Joaquin Consuelo's transformation involved a major national achievement in the world of college sports. According to Joaquin, part of the reason he chose to attend the University of Michigan in the first place was because his wrestling coach in middle school, Jeff Marsh, is an alum of the university and encouraged him to wrestle there. The youngest child of Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos wrestled throughout his college career, and in March 2022, Joaquin and the college's entire wrestling team won one of the biggest championships in college wrestling: the Big Ten Wrestling Championship.

In October of that same year, the university recognized the wrestling team's accomplishment at a football game and tailgate, and Joaquin's proud parents were there to show their support for their favorite Wolverine. Ripa shared a picture to Instagram from the celebratory day with her husband and son in which Joaquin showed off his giant wrestling championship ring. The college wrestler has expressed great affection for not only the sport but for the wrestling team itself. During his interview with Michigan Go Blue, he said, "Wrestling will always be in my life because of the team ... I'll always be brothers for life with the team and with the coaches. I think that being in it has given me a big mental edge."

During Joaquin Consuelos' four years at the University of Michigan, the wrestling champion studied theater, a perhaps unexpected major for the sports star and one that his parents were not initially keen about. When Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' youngest child first told his parents he wanted to attend drama school, they felt concerned. In a 2026 episode of "Live with Kelly and Mark," the couple jokingly revealed that they thought they "failed as parents" since acting is not an easy industry to succeed in (via Hello!).

Joaquin's parents came around and were there to celebrate his college graduation in May 2025 when he graduated from the university's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance with a degree in theater.  On an episode of "Live with Kelly and Mark" shortly after Joaquin's college graduation, Ripa said, "This one [graduation] hit differently because it's our last kid to graduate" (via People). It was a weekend full of graduation festivities that started with a theater showcase and involved multiple ceremonies, but Ripa revealed that Joaquin did not give his family much information about where they were supposed to go and when. The Consuelos family eventually found out the details of the various events and celebrated their son the whole weekend. "It was interesting because I felt like by the time the actual Big House graduation rolled out on Saturday, we had already done it several times," Ripa said.

Kelly Ripa's kids may have her blocked on social media because they want to stay out of the spotlight, but that has not stopped the mom of three and her husband, Mark Consuelos, from sharing photos of their children. From birthdays and vacations to special occasions like graduation, Ripa and Consuelos' youngest child is often seen in photographs with his tight-knit family of five. Joaquin and his two older siblings, Michael Consuelos and Lola Consuelos, shared that part of what brings the family together is their holiday traditions. 

In 2017, the trio were featured on "Live with Kelly and Mark" where they revealed some of their favorite Christmas memories (via Facebook). Joaquin fondly reminisced over building a snow fort followed by hot chocolate and sledding with his mom on Christmas mornings past. The family spends more than just Christmas vacation together; in 2019, the famous couple and their three children also took a vacation to France. Even after Joaquin moved away for college, the young adult remains close with his family, and in the summer of 2022, he spent a few weeks of his summer vacation with his entire family back under the same roof.

Although they grew up leading largely private lives, all three of Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' children have experience being in front of a camera since the trio was occasionally featured in segments on their mother's talk show. In 2025, the celebrity couple's youngest child, Joaquin Consuelos, was in front of the camera on a new television set for an entirely different reason. The University of Michigan graduate was cast in a pilot for the young adult television drama "Foster Dade," which is based off of the 2023 Young Adult novel "Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos" by Nash Jenkins. The show's official logline describes it as "edgy," and it follows a mystery while exploring themes of "privilege, scandal, sexuality and masculinity amid the rise of social media" at a boarding school (via IMDb).

In the scripted television show, Joaquin plays the character of Colby, a senior high school student and class prefect preoccupied with getting accepted to Brown University. While Hulu passed on the pilot, and as of May 2026, "Foster Dade" is being shopped around to see if different platforms are interested. Whether the show finds a home elsewhere or not, landing a role in a television show was a huge step in Joaquin's journey into the acting world.

Joaquin Consuelos' theater education from the University of Michigan quickly paid off; Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' youngest child followed in his parent's acting footsteps when he hit the stage shortly after his college graduation. Joaquin was cast as the character of young Biff Loman, the salesman's oldest son, in the revival production of Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" on Broadway. "I relate to my character a lot. He's this athlete who wants to use sports to get his father's approval. I can relate to that," the young star told The New York Times. Joaquin's Broadway debut on April 9, 2026 was extra special since his famous father also made his own Broadway debut that month when he performed in a revival of "Fallen Angels." 

In June 2026, the Consuelos father and son duo revealed that they leaned on each other for support as they both ventured into a new experience. Joaquin and Mark shared a dialect coach, swapped stories from set, and offered advice to one another. Joaquin told the news outlet, "It's definitely a father-son experience — it's something we both wanted to do." Joaquin admitted that shortly after the revival of "Death of a Salesman" debuted on Broadway, he was already mourning the fact that it would be over soon. For both of the Consuelos men, their 2026 Broadway debuts were just the beginning of their careers on the stage. "And now I want to do everything," added Joaquin. "I don't want to limit myself."