Kelly Ripa Tells ‘Live’ She Never Compares Mark Consuelos To Others: “I’m Always Like, ‘Thank God You’re Not Like So-And-So’”

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos successfully navigated rocky territory on this morning’s Live with Kelly and Mark.

“Things you should never say to your partner, according to therapists,” Consuelos read aloud, as Ripa raised an eyebrow the audience “oohed” in response. “Should we even do this?”

Ripa told Consuelos, “Yes,” as he kicked off the list with “generalizations.”

“‘You always’ and ‘you never,'” he added.

Ripa replied, “Yeah, but ‘you always’ and ‘you never,” as Consuelos conceded, “Sometimes I do say that, so I am sorry.”

“Deflections,” he continued. “‘Yes, but.’ I think you do that.”

Ripa proved him right, as she responded, “Yeah, but because you always generalize.”

After Consuelos teased, “Yeah, and you never,” he moved on to “comparisons,” highlighting that you should avoid saying, “You should be more like so-and-so.” However, the co-host couple agreed that they are not guilty of this faux pas, and in fact, Ripa claimed she does the opposite.

“I’m always like, ‘Thank God you’re not like so-and-so,'” she quipped. “You know when you go out with your friends and one of your girlfriends has married someone dreadful, and you keep hoping that one day she’ll wake up from our collective nightmare? You know what I mean? And then we’re driving home and I’m like, ‘Thank God you’re not like so-and-so.'”

While Consuelos reiterated that “you should keep other people out of it” and “concentrate on talking about your needs,” the next tip about “dismissals” got a chuckle out of him.

“‘You’re overreacting,'” he said with a laugh. “‘Calm down.’ ‘Relax.’ ‘You’re crazy.'”

Ripa chimed in, “If I had a nickel for every time I heard any one of those phrases, I wouldn’t be working here because I’d be off somewhere counting my nickels.”

Despite the diss, Consuelos admitted, “It took me about 20 some odd years to realize that saying ‘calm down’ or ‘relax’ has the opposite effect. But now I know.”

Ripa joked, “What did it? Today? This article?”

However, Consuelos noted that he’s “28 years in now” to his marriage to Ripa, ultimately concluding that “it took [him] 25 to figure it out.”

The last comment he brought up: “it’s not that big of a deal.”

“When you say that to one of your partner’s concerns, it’s not serious, it’s belittling, and it’s inaccurate,” he shared. “You can’t measure how something feels to someone else.”

As Consuelos went to place the paper on the ground, Ripa urged him not to.

“Don’t put that away. Take that home and re-read it,” she quipped.

Consuelos teased that he’ll “put it underneath [his] pillow,” and Ripa offered to “record it” for him.

“You can listen to it in your AirPods at night,” she said.

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.