Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Explain How Jay-Z Earned Them Cool Parent Status.
Knowing Jay-Z isn't one of the 99 issues that come with becoming a parent. Because of this, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos boasted about their relationship with the "Empire State of Mind" rapper when their three children, Joaquin, 23, Lola, 25, and Michael, 29, criticized them for being out of touch while they were teenagers.
"We're not cool," in an episode of Live with Kelly and Mark on October 21, Ripa summed up the thinking of her three at the time, recounting an incident that "they were mercilessly making fun of us in front of their friends."
"We never dropped it on them that we were in a Jay-Z video" prior to that, Consuelos said. "We did it in front of their friends."
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However, their children didn't believe their parents' legend until years later, even after the couple—who had been together since 1995 after meeting on the set of All My Children—spilled the beans about their participation in the 2003 "Change Clothes" music video opposite Pharrell Williams.
"Joaquin and I went to a Knicks game, one of the championship games last year," Consuelos added. "I thought it'd be like a good father-son hangout thing. He always wants to be like eight feet away from me."
Although Consuelos ran into the "99 Problems" singer, the 55-year-old said he could see the youngest child was "embarrassed of his dad" when they entered the stadium's VIP entrance for the game.
"He turns around, and he sees me, and he goes, 'Hey, man!'" before presenting them, the Riverdale star acted out his son's shocked expression as Jay-Z welcomed him. "He gives me a hug, and a handshake, and then I look back at Joaquin."
Ripa recalled that it was only at that point that the Broadway star acknowledged his parents' links to the audience.
"They come home from the game. I'm asleep, the door bursts open, Joaquin flies in," she chuckled. "'Did you know Dad knows Jay-Z?!' I go, 'I told you we were in a Jay-Z video.' He goes, 'I thought you were lying.'"
The 56-year-old joked, "The internet exists, guys. Google."