Kelly Ripa and Daughter Lola Consuelos Recall the Unique Way They Handled Paparazzi When She Was a Kid

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos used a novel idea to explain to their children why they were almost always surrounded by a horde of photographers chronicling their every move — except that one of the kids didn’t buy it!

In the latest episode of Ripa’s SiriusXM podcast, Let’s Talk Off Camera, the couple’s daughter, Lola Consuelos, joined the show and the mother-daughter duo talked about how they handled the paparazzi when Lola and her siblings were younger. The Live! hosts share three children — Michael, 26, Lola 22, and Joaquin, 20.

On the podcast, Lola showered her parents with praise for making them aware that they were always under the spotlight. For instance, Lola recalled photographers taking photos of her and her mom when she’d pick her up from school. 

“I was aware of it [the paparazzi], and I always tell this to people because I say I think you and Dad did the best job of raising us with that type of stuff, because we knew what was going on,” Lola said. “But you always told us that it was something else.”

That something else?

“When you would pick us up,” Lola continued, “when we’d walk home from school I’d be like, ‘There’s people taking photos of us,’ and you’re like, ‘They’re taking photos of the birds.'”

“I used the old bird watchers,” Ripa confirmed.

But Lola wasn’t buying it.

“‘Mom, they’re really not, they’re not taking photos of the birds. I promise you. They’re taking photos of us,'” Lola recalled telling her mom at the time. “And you were like, ‘They’re just taking photos of the birds. It’s not a big deal.'”

And Lola said there was a reason why Ripa never made a big deal of the fact that paps snapped away when she was around her children.

“I think if you had made it a big deal and would’ve reacted to it — obviously, we would’ve reacted to it as well — but because you literally did not care — and still don’t — we do not care and we didn’t care and we still don’t care,” Lola explained. “Which is why if someone comes up to you — if you’re having dinner and a fan comes up to you and asks for a picture — it doesn’t even register. It’s just time passes and we continue. Let’s just say I’m talking to you and a fan comes up and asks for a picture. I’ll wait for five seconds and continue my story.”

For Ripa, being photographed by paparazzi was never really an issue. In fact, she and her husband developed a friendly relationship with the photographers over the years, and if they requested paps to back off they’d oblige because the couple established a two-way street with them. For Ripa, the issue came after the photos were snapped, and how tabloids would use them.

“Photographers were not the issue,” Ripa said. “It was what would happen after those pictures, the negative take that was always certainly in the New York City tabloids. And you and me, we and Dad, we were relentlessly pursued. And it was a different time than it is now.”

That Lola grasped at an early age the nuances of the celebrity life is just a small reason why Ripa is so enthralled — and extremely proud — of her young daughter. Back in April, Ripa gushed to ET about her daughter’s moxie.

“I am the most impressed with her ability to really speak about what she needs when she needs it,” Ripa told ET. “She unapologetically does that. …I still am learning how to not apologize for everything all the time. And you shouldn’t have to apologize for asking for what you need or what you think might make your work environment better or what may make your life easier.” 

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