Anderson Cooper And Kelly Ripa's Families Have An Adorable Bond
Over the years, TV personalities Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa have made no secret of their close friendship. The two have worked together on more than one occasion, with Cooper filling in various times on Ripa's "Live!" over the years — and it turns out these two go as far back as the '90s. In 2018, Anderson shared a throwback snap of the two hugging on Instagram in celebration of Ripa's birthday. "How many nights dancing? How many early mornings? How many laughs and giggles? How many silly stories told and memories made? How many rooftop dinners and concerts and trips? How many confidences shared? More than I can ever thank you for. There is no one else like you, and I am so lucky to have you in my life. I love you," the CNN star captioned his sweet post.
And it sounds like these two really do have plenty of memories together. Heck, they even attended a Madonna concert together in 2015, which the pair recounted during an August 2023 episode of Ripa's podcast, "Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa." Does it get any more bestie territory than that? But it turns out that it's not just Cooper and Ripa who share a deep love for one another because their families do, too. That's especially true for Cooper's son, Wyatt, and Ripa's daughter, Lola Consuelos.
Anderson Cooper's son has a major crush on Kelly Ripa's daughter
File this under adorable. Clearly, Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa's families spend a good amount of time together, as one of Cooper's sons, Wyatt, developed quite the crush on Ripa's daughter, Lola Consuelos. Cooper made the admission while co-hosting "Live with Kelly and Ryan" (now known as "Live with Kelly and Mark") in February 2022, sharing, "My son Wyatt is so deeply in love with Lola Consuelos that it's, like, the love that burns of 1,000 suns." He then showed a photo of Consuelos, who was 20 at the time, holding Sebastian, who was then almost 2 years old. "He is just so besotted. He could not take his eyes off Lola," Cooper shared. Ripa then added that the love and affection is mutual between the cute pair.
But it's not just Lola that Cooper's kids love. We're guessing Wyatt is also a fan of Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, as Cooper revealed the impressive gift the two bought his son that he can't get enough of. On "Live! with Kelly and Mark" in December 2023, Cooper shared that they'd bought Wyatt a John Deere bulldozer bike (via Hello!). "[It's] the greatest gift," the news anchor gushed, describing Ripa and Mark as amazing gift-givers for him and his family. That was around the same time Cooper and Mark used "Live!" to try to find a replacement teddy bear for Wyatt after his own went missing.
The family love is very much mutual
It seems like Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa really do have a mutual love for one another's families, and it clearly isn't one way. Back in February 2023, Ripa showed how close she was to the Cooper clan when she took to social media to celebrate Wyatt's brother, Sebastian. The star shared a photo of herself on Instagram holding Sebastian to honor his first birthday, writing in the caption while tagging Cooper and his former partner, Benjamin Maisani, "Joyeux anniversaire Sebastian[.] i love you (that was a fast year @andersoncooper @benjaminmaisani)." The star had previously done the same for Wyatt a few months earlier. Ripa shared two photos in April 2022 on Instagram that showed her playing with Wyatt on the floor. She captioned that upload, "Happy 2nd birthday Wyatt! I love you soooooo much!"
As for how these two, and their families as a result, have grown so close? Well, according to Ripa, it may well have been her doing. That's because Ripa told Vanity Fair in 2014 that she has a major crush on her friend (so it only makes sense why Wyatt has eyes for Lola Consuelos). "I'm in love with him. I've had a 20-year unrequited love affair with him," Ripa quipped of Cooper. As for what Mark made of his wife's love for Cooper? She joked, "He understands that Anderson doesn't share my enthusiasm."