Susan Lucci Recalls Watching Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’All My ChildrenAudition Scenes: ‘We Were All Like, "Get a Room!" ’

Mar. 15, 2025

Susan Lucci; KELLY RIPA and MARK CONSUELOS.Photo:Stephanie Augello/Getty; Andrew Eccles/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Stephanie Augello/Getty; Andrew Eccles/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Susan Lucciwas there whenKelly RipaandMark Consuelosfirst met — and it was steamy!

Speaking before an audience for Susan Lucci in Conversation withAndy Cohen:All My Childrenat 55at 92NY in New York City on Tuesday, Jan. 14, the 78-year-old actress, who starred as Erica Kane in the ABC daytime soap opera, shared fond — and juicy — memories of her former costars.

“I just have to say something about Mark and Kelly,” Lucci cut in to tell host Cohen during the event.

Susan Lucci and Andy Cohen — January 14, 2025.Stephanie Augello/Getty

Stephanie Augello/Getty

“I was happy to be in the hair and makeup room watching their audition scenes, and we were all like, ‘Oh, get a room!’ ” she said of the real-life couple who played the roles of lovers Hayley Vaughan and Mateo Santos.

The audition she was referring to happened in 1995.

Lucci added, “The chemistry between you two was coming right through the screen.”

Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa — All My Children, November 1996.Ann Limongello/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Ann Limongello/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

He later said theykept their impromptu Las Vegas weddingunder wraps because “people tend to think there’ll be problems when you’re dating your costar.”

Since exiting the soap in 2002, the couple — who still work together as the hosts ofLive! with Kelly and Mark— have becomeparentsto sonsMichaelandJoaquin, and daughterLola.

During theAll My Childrenat 55 event, casting director Judy Blye Wilson said it wasn’t easy convincing execs that Consuelos was perfect for the role of Mateo.

“They couldn’t make a decision about Mark, and I was so behind him and I brought Kelly into my office, and I showed her a black and white picture of him and his headshot, and shereallyliked him,really,” Wilson recalled.

Live! with Kelly and Mark.John Argueta/ABC

John Argueta/ABC

“And I don’t know why they were dragging their heels on it, but they actually had him play the role, so he started playing the role, and I had to continue to search for another person. So we screen-tested Mark several times,” she continued. “Finally, I begged the producer, and she relinquished, and it turned out to be the best, one of the best parts I ever cast.”

And Ripa would agree.

In a 2019 interview withBruce Bozzi on his SiriusXM radio show, the soap opera alum saidshe knew Consuelos was “the one"the second she saw a picture of the futureRiverdaleactor.

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“They had been looking for this character for some time. They were looking really for a Latino actor,” Ripa said. “And so I had auditioned every Latino actor in the city and around the city and then California. And then all of a sudden, Judy Blye Wilson, who was the casting director atAll My Children, said, ‘I found him.'”

source: people.com