Kelly Ripa Recalls How Josh Duhamel Would ‘Sit and Play’ With Son Michael on ‘All My Children’ Set
It seems Josh Duhamel used to fill in as the role of Kelly Ripa‘s babysitter on the set of All My Children! The Live With Kelly and Ryan host recalled how her former costar would “sit and play” with son Michael Consuelos while filming the hit soap opera series in the late 1990s.
“I’m going to tell you a story about Josh Duhamel,” Kelly, 49, explained before introducing the 47-year-old actor on the ABC morning show on Monday, June 8. “This morning, when we were setting up and [Josh] was doing his soundcheck, I had to grab Michael and I said, ‘I want you to see somebody.'”
The Emmy Award-winning host said around the time she and Josh “both worked” together on All My Children, she had just become a mom and was juggling her career by bringing Michael along to the set. “[Josh] was like a young kid, he was in his very early 20s when we had Michael,” she told cohost Ryan Seacrest.
Despite Josh’s young age, Kelly said he would keep Michael entertained “for hours” by playing with him in between scenes. The Hope and Faith alum — who shares Michael, 23, daughter Lola Consuelos, 18, and Joaquin Consuelos, 17, with husband Mark Consuelos — even dished her little man’s adorable nickname for the Life as We Know It actor.
“Michael used to call him the Iron Giant,” she revealed, noting her youngster used to be a huge fan of the 1999 animated film. “Josh compared to his parents looked like a giant. He was like, ‘Who knew that adults came in this size?’ He’s used to looking down on adults, but [compared to] Josh, [Michael] was like, ‘You’re the largest person I’ve ever seen.'”
After sharing the funny details of her sweet memory, the proud mom gushed it was “nice” to see Josh and Michael “reconnect” after all these years. “There’s a handful of people who were born to be parents that I’ve known in my life … Josh being one of them,” she marveled.
We bet Michael couldn’t be more grateful to have grown up on TV sets with his famous mom and dad. In fact, the iconic talk show host previously revealed Michael is following in her footsteps after she gave him a new gig on Live.
“I mean really, if I’m being honest, he’s been producing my end of this show,” Kelly revealed during an episode of Live in early May. “So he really is sort of working while he’s finishing because he’s set to ‘graduate’ from [New York University] … but I said to him, ‘Well, look at you. I mean, here you are. You’ve got a job before graduation. That’s got to make you feel good.’ He’s like, ‘Uh, yeah.’”
Now that Michael is officially a college graduate after receiving his diploma from New York University in late May, it looks like we’ll have to see if he sticks around to work with his mom!
