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Kelly Ripa broke down in tears live on air as she revealed that she and her husband, Mark Consuelos, are mourning the death of their 17-year-old dog, Chewie.
The 54-year-old TV host shared the heartbreaking news alongside her husband during Wednesday’s (February 5) episode of Live with Kelly and Mark.
“We had a rough day yesterday. We had to say goodbye to Chewie yesterday,” Consuelos said, noting that the Shih Tzu was put down at their home in New York City. He went on to describe how sick Chewie was before they made the heartbreaking decision.
“Chewie had stopped eating for a couple of days and had been eating less and less for the past few weeks. She was extremely dehydrated and had some neurological stuff going down. And you think, ‘Okay, I’m doing the right thing, this is going to be not easy but,’” he said. “It’s probably one of the toughest things we’ve had to do as a married couple.”
The Riverdale alum said that he knew fellow pet owners would understand “this kind of loss” and the “grief” that they were feeling.
“But knowing that we did the right thing because it was just going to be really, really, really bad over the next few days for her,” he added, before noting that if it wasn’t for Live, they “wouldn’t know Chewie,” since they met her during a previous adoption segment on the show in 2020.
As her husband made these remarks, Ripa proceeded to wipe tears and later buried her head into her hands. Consuelos stepped in to comfort her, explaining that he knew she was taking the news “hard,” so he was fine with doing “the heavy lifting.”
However, Ripa was able to apologize for getting so emotional during the segment.
“I thought I got it all out, guys. I really thought I got it all out and I apologize because this is not how I wanted this to go down,” she explained.
After reflecting on some of her favorite memories with her dog, which included her and Consuelos’s three children — Michale, 27, Lola, 23, and Joaquin, 21 — she acknowledged how “lucky” and “fortunate” her family has been.
“I feel very bad crying in front of you when people have, there are much bigger problems in the world, and I understand that,” she said. “But you have to understand that this dog was so special, and she was such a great girl.”
During the segment, Ripa also revealed the sweet way she paid tribute to Chewie after her death.
“She never let us kiss her face, she was very precious about her face. She was not that dog,” she explained. “And after she passed away last night, I kissed her 1,000 times on her face. I kissed her nose, I’d never kissed her nose before.”
Ripa quipped about Chewie’s reaction to the kisses, adding: “I know that she was like somewhere in dog heaven, pissed off. But I didn’t care because it just was so nice to have that.”
Ripa and Consuelos also share a four-year-old dog named Lena.
