# Mark Consuelos Says There Is One Reason He Would Never Actually Divorce Kelly Ripa > On a recent episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, Mark Consuelos joked that even a loveless marriage would beat losing time with their rescue dog Lena, a bit that turned a segment on pet custody law into one of the show's funniest exchanges this year. - Source: Life Channel - Canonical URL: https://lifechannel.one/article/mark-consuelos-divorce-dealbreaker-dog-lena - Author: Sienna Blackwood - Section: Relationships - Published: 2026-08-20T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-20T11:00:00.000Z - Tags: Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Pets, Marriage, Celebrity News --- Mark Consuelos gave Kelly Ripa a hard time to her face on their own show, and the reason had nothing to do with her. During a recent taping of Live with Kelly and Mark, the two got to talking about proposed legislation in Pennsylvania that would treat pets more like family members than property in a divorce, and Consuelos did not hesitate to say where his priorities would land. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos joked about their dog Lena while discussing pet custody law on their show. Credit: Life Channel ## The dog wins, no contest "I would stay in a loveless marriage just to make sure I could be with Lena every day," Consuelos said on air, referring to the Maltese Shih Tzu mix he and Ripa adopted in 2021 after she appeared on one of the show's pet adoption segments. He went further, admitting he would lose sleep over the thought of losing regular time with her if a split ever happened. Ripa, never one to let a line like that go unanswered, shot back that arranging a loveless marriage could probably be done without much trouble, adding that she would spend her days wondering whether another man was the one petting Lena instead of him. ## A joke that landed because the marriage clearly is not loveless The exchange only worked because of what everyone watching already knew: Ripa and Consuelos are nowhere close to a loveless marriage. The couple marked their 30th wedding anniversary earlier this year, and Lena has become something of a recurring cast member on their show since she joined the family. The Pennsylvania proposal that sparked the bit is a real one, aimed at giving pets more legal standing in divorce proceedings rather than treating them as property to be divided. For Consuelos, the policy debate was really just an opening to make a point he has apparently been sitting on for a while: in this house, the dog is not up for negotiation. --- Originally published by Life Channel. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://lifechannel.one/article/mark-consuelos-divorce-dealbreaker-dog-lena.