Kelly Ripa astonishingly tells husband Mark Consuelos what she would do if he ever left her
The showbiz power couple, who are both 54, eloped in 1996 while they were acting together on the hit soap opera All My Children.
Their careers intertwined again two years ago when he joined her at her longtime daytime perch, compering what is now Live! with Kelly and Mark.
Now Kelly - who shares three children with Mark called Michael, 28, Lola, 24, and Joaquin, 22 - has shared how she would react if they split.
'Let's just say you were to leave me. I can say with 100% certainty that dating is out of the question,' she said on Tuesday's episode of their show, via People.
'I've had three kids, there's too much to explain,' she joked - before dropping a bombshell on what her post-divorce sex life would look like.
'I'm not ever getting naked again - and I resent having to get naked in front of you sometimes,' Kelly joked to her laughing husband.
'I'm like: "No, no, no. Light out. You can wait until dark. Also, turn off that light, and also turn off your cell phone light. I want it pitch-black in here. And no unexpected touching!"' the New Jersey-born blonde candidly confessed.
A couple of months ago, Mark revealed that he would react somewhat different to Kelly in the event that their marriage ever fell apart.
Kelly observed that he would 'absolutely fall apart, completely' if they divorced, and while he said: 'That's true,' he slyly added: 'But I do feel like someone would be there on the other end just to pick me up and make sure I'm okay. I'd have to get used to their college schedule and all that stuff.'
Taking the teasing in stride, Kelly laughed and retorted: 'Oh my God. Oh, dear God, I hope I live to see your second wife!'
Mark once revealed that he and Kelly briefly broke up just before their marriage, in an interview he gave Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live.
During the split, they 'had to meet' to promote All My Children on Live With Regis And Kathie Lee - the show Kelly would eventually co-host with Regis Philbin.
'We were pushing like furniture on for a Queen For A Day, for the Mother's Day special, seriously, and we were together,' said Mark.
'She wouldn't talk to me and that made me go crazy,' he remembered, confessing that he 'followed her into - in Central Park, I stalked her, and then I - we went back to my place and then we got married the next day.'
Kelly and Mark were first introduced in 1994 when he auditioned for All My Children, which already featured her in its principal cast.
All My Children launched both of Kelly and Mark's careers, as well as bringing them together personally and setting the stage for their marriage.
They eloped in Las Vegas on May Day 1966 but did not tell even their colleagues about their romance until three months after the wedding.
Kelly has explained that they were so secretive 'because we worked together and we didn't want it to be perceived that somehow we couldn't work together.'
Their coworkers and fans only found out they were an item when Wendy Williams - who was then a radio shock jock - broke the news of their wedding on the air.
Over the decades, their work took them in separate directions, as she became one of the biggest morning hosts in America and he acted on such series as Riverdale.
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The Sun
20 minutes ago
- The Sun
How $10m case against Diddy collapsed after prosecutors got greedy in botched attempt to treat ‘freak' like a mob boss
SEAN "Diddy" Combs spent 10 months behind bars as he waited to hear his fate inside a Manhattan courtroom on Wednesday. Many believed the disgraced music mogul was set to get life in prison over racketeering and sex trafficking charges but when the verdicts were read out Combs fell to his knees in glee. 8 8 8 He managed to escape the most serious charges as he was acquitted on the worst cases after the $10million case against him proved unsuccessful. The New York jury did find the Bad Boy rapper, 55, guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. But with each count carrying just a maximum 10-year prison sentence and no minimum, Combs' legal team sighed a breath of relief in the courtroom. His final sentence is yet to be announced but he is likely to spend a minimal number of years locked up giving his first time offender status. As arguably the trial of the century kicked off earlier this year many had thought Combs had next to no chance of getting off so lightly. The majority of federal cases end in a conviction and with "freak off" revelations, baby oil hauls and disturbing claims all being made public at trial the case seemed simple to most. But as the final judgments were made and Combs mouthed to his family he'll be "home soon", questions emerged around how he escaped a severe punishment. Many now believe the fault lies with the prosecution for aiming too high with their charges. They lobbied for a complicated racketeering case that is typically reserved for the most high profile mob bosses. The burden of proof needed to convict a criminal on such charges will always be tough to reach due to the repercussions of life behind bars. Diddy's $61.5m mansion where feds seized 1,000 bottles of baby oil during raid lies silent in new pics as trial starts- And as the prosecution scrambled to keep the music producer locked up with a myriad of witnesses and claims, the defence simply played down the seriousness of Combs' crimes. Combs' defence had always remained firm in their admission of some form of guilt from the very start of the trial. His lawyer Teny Geragos made an extraordinary admission in her opening statement in court. She described Combs as a domestic abuser with a vicious temper. One of the most shocking pieces of evidence was presented right at the start of the trial. Combs' assault on ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at the InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles presented a damning case. He was seen kicking her on the ground in vile CCTV footage which even Geragos labelled 'indefensible, horrible, dehumanising and violent'. But it did little to help the prosecution prove Combs was the ringleader of a sex trafficking operation. 8 8 8 As Geragos put it on the first day: "It is evidence of domestic violence. "But it is not evidence of sex trafficking." As the trial continued, the defence remained adamant that all the pieces of evidence were simply painting a picture of a disturbed individual rather than a calculated criminal. Marc Agnifilo, the mogul's attorney, even said in his eyes Combs was simply living a "swinger's lifestyle". They even managed to twist some of the trial's key pieces of information to benefit their main argument. When images of the countless bottles of baby oil and sexual lubricant were shown in court after a raid on Comb's home Agnifilo remarked that there is nothing illegal about owning such a stash. Another key defensive point was around consent. In order to get a guilty verdict over sex trafficking under US law, a person must have used force, fraud, or coercion in order to traffic a victim for sexual explosion purposes. So for Combs to be found guilty on both charges, the prosecution had to prove both Cassie and second victim known as "Jane" did not give their consent. They had attempted to say Combs compelled both women to take part in orgies through the threats of violence and financial manipulation. Will Diddy go to prison and how much time could he get? By Senior News Reporter, Forrest McFarland SEAN "Diddy" Combs' future still hangs in the balance as the court continues to argue whether he should walk free after dodging his most serious federal charges. After seven weeks of emotional testimony, a jury found the rapper guilty of two lesser charges but acquitted him of the three counts that each could have landed him a life sentence. Combs was found guilty of two counts of transportation for purposes of prostitution, and each charge has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. However, legal experts have warned that he shouldn't celebrate too soon, as they speculate that the rapper will likely have to spend some time behind bars. "He's looking at 15 plus years under the sentencing guideline on each count, and he gets a multiplier for multiple victims," former federal prosecutor David Weinstein told NewsNation. 'The judge can run them consecutive, and he might, with an additional multiplying factor, find himself bumping up against 10 on each count. 'So, for people to say or think that he's going to get credit time served and walk out of here, I think that's a pipe dream for the defense.' In a submission made after the verdict was announced, Diddy's defense argued that a prison term of 21 to 27 months would be reasonable, and pointed out that he's already served 10 months. But prosecutors believe that he should be punished with a minimum of 51 to 63 months behind bars because of aggravating circumstances, like claims that Diddy was physically abusive. But Mr Agnifilo said the women always had the chance to leave. Speaking on Cassie after she bravely took to the stand while pregnant, the attorney stated: "No one's forcing her to do this. "She's a woman who actually likes sex – good for her." For a racketeering conspiracy charge to stick, prosecutors needed to show Combs had knowing co-conspirators. It was argued that he co-opted his loyal employees - including chief of staff, Kristina Khorram. Several names of alleged accomplices cropped up across the trial but the prosecution never subpoenaed them. Due to them not being called as a witness or ever being questioned, this may have confused the jury and contributed to them finding Combs not guilty. Michael Bachner, a New York-based criminal defence lawyer and former District Attorney, told The Telegraph racketeering is notoriously hard to prove. He said: "There was evidence of people helping him, but I think it was still a stretch for them to prove that this was part of some concerted conspiracy to do it as opposed to just telling people what to do. "It just didn't smell like a RICO case to a lot of people, so that's what I think the government's problem was with it." Mr Agnifilo repeated his bashing of the prosecution as he labelled the case as a "badly, badly exaggerated story" during closing arguments. Another major issue was due to Cassie and Jane both being long term partners of Combs. Tony Buzbee, a US lawyer familiar with Combs' case, said the nature of the relationships may have been a major issue for the jury. He said: "I think the jury struggled with the difficult issue of consent and more broadly whether Mr Combs's conduct appropriately fit within the racketeering statute." 8 8
Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Diddy took hip-hop excess mainstream. Now he's killed it off
On a glittering night in November 1997, Sean 'Puffy' Combs was celebrating his 29th birthday amid the Corinthian columns of Cipriani's at 55 Wall Street. Guests included movie stars Kevin Costner and Denzel Washington; director Francis Ford Coppola; the Duchess of York, fashion designer Donna Karan, entrepreneur Martha Stewart and the real-estate mogul, Donald Trump. 'I just think he's a good guy,' the now president told a reporter from the New York Observer. Combs, or Puff Daddy, or P Diddy, or just Diddy as he would later be known, appeared in an immaculate three-piece suit, pumping his hands in the air. He was the man everyone wanted to know, offering an irresistible combination of street cred and conspicuous success. 'I go from Harlem to the Hamptons,' was how he put it. 'Have I read The Great Gatsby?' he would say later. 'I am the Great Gatsby.' Fast forward 26 years, to November 2023 and Combs in a soft brown velvet suit on Graham Norton's sofa promoting his record, The Love Album, on which he had collaborated with The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and John Legend, explaining how his name changes matched different eras of his life and that he was entering a new one, 'I have become Love.' Days later, his former partner Cassie Ventura filed a law suit accusing him of rape and years of violent abuse. Diddy settled quickly and privately, but it had opened the floodgates. Allegations began to pour out, from other women, other men, that Diddy was a sexual predator on a monstrous scale, that those glittering parties and the infamous 'Freak Offs' that occurred behind closed doors were a byword for depravity. Cut to a federal court in New York of May and June this year, where Combs was being tried on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and a different figure appears in the court sketches – bearded, greying, watching on as the government called 34 witnesses against him to the stand. Now he stands convicted on the transportation counts, while being cleared of sex trafficking and racketeering. Can the career of one of pop's great movers and shakers, the man who made hip-hop socially acceptable to those who had recoiled at the radical politics of Public Enemy and the thuggery of gangsta rap actually survive this verdict? And what a career it has been. The title of a track from his 1997 debut album, No Way Out, told the story. It's All About the Benjamins was a slang reference to the Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, who sits proudly on the US currency's highest denomination note – the hundred dollar bill. Combs's ambition and acumen would enable him to accrue a fortune once estimated at close to a billion dollars. But his cultural impact would be deeper still. By the time the album came out, Combs was already a star on both sides of the Atlantic. I'll Be Missing You by Faith Evans and Puff Daddy had spent six weeks at number one in the UK that summer. It was Combs's response to the murder of rapper Biggie Smalls, the Notorious B.I.G., in a drive-by shooting in March of that year. Biggie (known to his mother as Christopher Wallce) had been Combs's first signing to the label Bad Boy Records, which he'd founded in 1993, after he'd been fired from André Harrell's Uptown Records. The clash of style, and egos, had become too glaring, despite Diddy's obvious talent, hustle and ear for a sound that would sell. On I'll Be Missing You, the song's central use of a sample from The Police's Every Breath You Take showcased Combs's gifts as a producer and commercial maestro. Combs had already created the genre of hip-hop soul at Uptown, producing Mary J Blige's debut album What's the 411?, fusing soul vocals with harder-edged hip-hop beats – a new direction that would be followed by R Kelly and TLC, and later find its way into the sound of Lauryn Hill, All Saints, John Legend and others. It was present in I'll Be Missing You, too. In time, Combs would redefine what it meant to be a showbiz multi-hyphenate: label boss, executive producer, marketing visionary and artist-as-brand; self-directed and absolutely driven. His influence has been huge. Jay-Z learnt vital lessons about how to be a rapper-mogul from him; Kanye West combined fashion with music like Diddy did; 50 Cent copied his branding moves all the way to the bank; and all caught a blast of the power of a classic pop sample, which Combs understood so well. He had talked Biggie into including Juicy – with its sample of the R&B number one Juicy Fruit by Mtume – on his Ready to Die album in 1994, and it proved to be the rapper's breakthrough hit. Combs would later persuade Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page to add live guitar parts to the sample of Led Zep's Kashmir on the song Come with Me, which he had added to the Godzilla soundtrack in 1998. The song reached the top five at home and abroad. Diddy's cross-over cut-through was total. Combs was a trailblazer in all sorts of unusual ways. By the time of that debut album and the party at Cipriani's, he was investing in magazine publishing, in the restaurant business, he was exploring film producing for Harvey Weinstein, he was even toying with writing a book in the style of Trump's The Art of the Deal. His Sean John fashion line, which he launched in 1998, brought hip-hop street style to the luxury end of the clothing market. When he won the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2004, Combs was following in the footsteps of Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang and Calvin Klein. And the launch of his own fragrance – Unforgiveable – in December 2005 leveraged his couture image to launch the P Diddy brand into a new arena. It wasn't the first branded men's perfume – another notable 'hustler artist' had launched Andy Warhol pour Homme in 1999. But would there have been a Jay-Z's Gold, David Beckham's Beyond or Donald Trump's Empire without it? Probably not. Similarly, his 50-50 deal with vodka brand Cîroc, which made millions for both parties, paved the way for the sort of celebrity brand deal that is all around us today. So where had this combination of acuity and street smarts been nurtured? Combs was born in Harlem and grew up in poverty after his father – who had served in the US air force – was shot and killed in his car when his son was just two years old. Combs has said that his father was involved in selling drugs and running his own crew when it happened. He'd heard that his mother had worn a full-length chinchilla coat to the funeral, while he had been dressed in a mink coat. 'That was the story of the glamour and the decadence of our family, and how he was the kingpin of Harlem and how he'd got assassinated,' he said in a TV interview, explaining that he was not interested in following in his father's footsteps. Instead, he had been a Catholic altar boy in Mount Vernon, north of the Bronx, where his mother had moved after the murder, working multiple jobs to support Combs and his elder sister, Keisha. He had gone on to study business at the prestigious Howard University in Washington DC, whose alumni include Kamala Harris, Toni Morrison and Chadwick Boseman, although he left after two years, without graduating. Allegations of abusive behaviour towards women date all the way back to this time. In a wide-ranging investigation published last May, Rolling Stone reported several sources claiming to have witnessed Combs attack a girlfriend with what appeared to be a belt during his time at the college. He left in 1989, the same year that he appeared as a backing dancer on a single by Motown Records' Stacy Lattisaw, who'd had a top three hit in the UK back in 1980 with the disco classic Jump to the Beat. At this point, it appears, Combs, who in high school had dreamed of being an NFL star, just wanted to get as close to the music scene as he could, in any way he could. He would soon join Uptown Records as an intern, then become an A&R executive, but to say that the path to fame and fortune opened up before him at this point would be to misjudge how many times Combs moved beyond the expected outlines of that path and forged his own. The marketing wiz made it to the role of producer and helped turn hip-hop into the dominant pop culture, but he still wasn't satisfied. Though never a natural rapper, Combs would make himself one of the best-known hip-hop stars on the planet, then turn his public persona into product – selling an aspirational lifestyle by living it, becoming the king of bling, arriving at the Met Gala in a crystal-studded tux, partying on yachts, quaffing champagne and Cîroc, throwing his famous White Party every year, hanging with everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Prince Harry. The baller, the shot caller. And on and on. Moving into media and television, generating reality show formats, founding his own MTV-like cable music channel, Revolt TV, focused on black music. He turned to philanthropy, sponsoring a scholarship programme at Howard (which the university ended after the lawsuits began to emerge). He has been a committed activist, who has championed political engagement, especially in black communities, through initiatives, such as 'Vote or Die!', and who set up a political party, Our Black Party, in 2020 to try to counter the influence of Trump's Maga movement. But there were always rumours that away from the limelight, Diddy was a creep. A 2009 book written by former Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry, Dancing with the Devil, alleged that Diddy exploited his artists, billed them for 'special appearances' on their records, inserted himself into songwriting and production credits, and that at his parties, drinks for women were sometimes separated, suggesting they had been spiked with drugs, and that he was controlling and violent, especially towards his then girlfriend Kim Porter. A series of pay-offs and out-of-court settlements hinted at a very dark side. And there were brushes with the law dating back years. In 1999, for instance, while dating Jennifer Lopez, Combs was involved in an altercation with a drug dealer in a New York nightclub, during which shots were fired and three bystanders wounded. After fleeing the scene in an SUV, which was stopped by police, Combs was arrested in connection with the incident. Lopez was released without charge; Combs was later acquitted of weapons' charges. One victim gave sworn testimony that she saw Combs pull out a gun before the shot was fired that hit her in the face; despite the rapper's acquittal, she continues to maintain her side of the story. It's impossible now to separate Diddy from the welter of allegations against him. And almost no one among his high-profile friends and associates, and those who enjoyed his largesse at his famous White parties has stuck by him. High-profile figures such as Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Naomi Campbell, Lopez and Justin Bieber have kept their views to themselves ('Although Justin is not among Sean Combs' victims, there are individuals who were genuinely harmed by him,' read a statement from Bieber's representative). Diddy's mother and his children (he has seven) have regularly been present in court, but only Kanye West of his celebrity friends has publicly backed Diddy, denouncing the charges and asking the US president to 'PLEASE FREE MY BROTHER PUFF'. Others, such as R&B crooner Usher, who lived with Diddy for a year when he was 13 years old, have remained silent. The singer previously said in a 2004 Rolling Stone interview that the man who made him a star introduced him to 'a totally different set of s--- – sex, specifically… There was always girls around. You'd open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen.' When asked later if he'd have let his own children spend time there, he said, 'Hell no.' The convicted felon and the man who set hip-hop on its way to becoming a global economic force are one and the same. His cultural impact (especially his influence on celebrity branding) will continue to have a life of its own, yet hip-hop has long since moved on from the bling style of ridiculous excess that Diddy popularised and made his own. It has a special kind of naffness that now seems more Jeff Bezos than Kendrick Lamar, the sort of studious superstar that the genre produces these days. The effortless chic of Pharrell Williams and the rage boiling up out of the likes of streaming giants Travis Scott and Playboi Carti make Diddy look like a dinosaur. Few listened to his most recent album – if this was the Love that Diddy had become, people sure as hell weren't buying it. He has a bit of time to think of a new direction, though. Just not as long as many of us thought.
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
50 Cent makes quip about Diddy verdict while Aubrey O'Day says she feels ‘sick' at bombshell ruling
Hollywood was left reeling after the bombshell verdict dropped on Wednesday in the federal trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs as he was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. The rapper, 55, was found not guilty despite harrowing testimony about alleged sexual abuse, forced drug binges, and so-called Freak Offs, but was convicted on two counts of transporting individuals to engage in prostitution after the jury deliberated for three days. Each count carries up to 10 years behind bars, and federal prosecutors have already confirmed they'll push for the full 20-year sentence. But as stars reacted to the news, Combs's rival 50 Cent was among the first to speak out, as he shared a photo of himself smiling, with the words: 'Diddy beat the Feds that boy a bad man beat the Rico....' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Reaction: 50 Cent wrote 'Diddy beat the Feds that boy a bad man beat the Rico....' 50 Cent has long made it clear how he feels about his rap nemesis, and he's never missed a chance to troll Diddy online. But lately, he's taken things to a whole new level, unleashing a wave of wild, AI-generated images mocking the rap mogul and the explosive allegations tied to his trial. Meanwhile, Diddy's former protegee Aubrey O'Day came forward with her own explosive reaction. In a video posted to her Instagram, the Danity Kane singer is seen watching the news unfold on TV, visibly shaken. 'This makes me physically ill,' she says in the clip. Danity Kane was a multi-platinum girl group formed by Diddy on MTV's Making the Band, originally consisting of Aubrey, Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex, Aundrea Fimbres, and D Woods. Aubrey then remarked: 'Oh my god, not guilty on Cassie!' Cassie Ventura, Diddy's ex girlfriend and the prosecution's star witness, went through weeks of gut-wrenching testimony as she alleged that she was coerced into marathon 'freak off' sexual performances during her relationship with Combs. In her testimony, Ventura - who was heavily pregnant as she took the stand - claimed that Combs often beat and abused her during their 11-year relationship. During cross-examination Diddy's defense attorneys brought up text messages from their relationship where Ventura wrote that she 'loved' the Freak Offs. Group: Danity Kane was a girl group formed by Diddy for MTV's Making The Band, and included Aubrey O'Day, Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex, Aundrea Fimbres, and D Woods But a jury on Wednesday was not swayed by her testimony, and rejected the prosecution's top charges and only convicted Combs of transportation to engage in prostitution of Ventura and another woman. Cassie has since given birth with her husband Alex Fine. She was not in attendance when the jury delivered the verdict on Wednesday, but her attorney was. Following the verdict on Wednesday, Ventura's attorney praised her for 'paving the way' for the bombshell trial against one of the music industry's most powerful men. 'This entire criminal process started when our client Cassie Ventura had the courage to file her civil complaint in November 2023,' they said. 'Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution.' Rosie O'Donnell also weighed in on the Diddy verdict. Taking to Instagram with a photo of the rapper, she wrote:' I guess a jury just never wants to believe that a woman stays because of power and coercion - wow - they just think women stay because what? Money - fame - 'they love the abuse' - what a f***ing joke - this decision got me angry #cassie.'
