Kelly Ripa Says Her Son Michael Is Experiencing 'Extreme Poverty' For The First Time
When it comes to encouraging her children to leave the nest, Kelly Ripa knows how to hit them where it hurts.
During an appearance on Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (Oct. 22), Ripa spoke on how difficult it's been to get her two oldest kids Michael, 22, and Lola, 18 out of the house and on their own.
Michael recently graduated from New York University, and has made home for himself in Brooklyn. However, it doesn't sound as though he's completely satisfied living on his own. To be honest, it's probably a massive step down from the lap of luxury he had while living with his parents Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
"I think he loves the freedom," Ripa said of her adult son's newfound independence. "He hates paying his own rent and he's chronically poor. I don't think he ever really experienced extreme poverty like now," she joked.
It's a change, Ripa noted, and one that's been hard for Michael to deal with. For instance, his grandparents send him money every year for Halloween and have for some time, and he never used to put that much stock in it.
"Now that he's living on his own, he's called three times, 'Halloween envelope arrived?' Just so he can have electricity," Ripa said. "He's experiencing being an adult." Of course, the unspoken truth here is that an apartment in Brooklyn isn't the cheapest living situation ever, either – which is likely where most of Michael's funds go now that he's no longer in the NYU dorms.
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Leaving Michael in the same city he lived in for college was a "concern" for Kelly. She explained how she and Mark would look back on the times they dropped him off at college, only for him to come back immediately after.
"We drop him off at his dorm. We have lunch together. We look at each other. We say, 'We did it. We have a child in college. We did it! Oh my gosh,'" she explained. "We come home. It's about 10 minutes away. We walk through the front door and he is standing in the hallway."
Ripa isn't looking to go through that again with her youngest son, 16-year-old Joaquin, as he's "not allowed to apply to NYU" or "the Tri-State area."
They've got to fly the coop sometime – Kelly's kids are just too attached to mom!
