Kelly Ripa’s children won’t hug her during the coronavirus pandemic.
The 49-year-old presenter has had to hold off on giving her own mother a hug during the global health crisis, and has said her children – Michael, 22, Lola, 18, and Joaquin, 17 – have followed suit and are now refusing to give her any physical contact, despite living in the same house.
Kelly explained: "Look, I’m not going to lie, OK? I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I’m currently not speaking to two of my three kids right now, OK? I’m not talking to two of them because … just because, we’re all in the same boat together, right? Like, I haven’t gotten to hug my parents … I want to hug my parents. I miss hugging my parents. And my kids, like, won’t hug me. And I’m like, ‘Guys we’ve all been in lockdown together. We’re fine. You can give me a hug. It’s fine.’ "
The blonde beauty – who has her children with husband Mark Conseulos – began to tear up as she spoke about her situation, but blamed the waterworks on her "period".
She added: "Anyway, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying. Maybe I’m just going to get my period, who knows? Sorry … Sorry, did I shout that? Did my inner monologue come out? Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that."
Kelly also spoke about her youngest son Joaquin having his 2020 Regents Exams cancelled due to the virus outbreak, and said that whilst her other children would have been "so excited" to not have to sit any exams, Joaquin feels "anxious".
Speaking during an episode of ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’ alongside her co-host Ryan Seacrest, she said: "It’s so funny because my youngest, Joaquin, is so – he’s so different than my other two kids, who would have been dancing, just dancing around the house. They would have been so excited. But he has this level of anxiety from it. He felt so prepared for his exams.
"[He is] not relieved. This whole thing [is] playing into every sense of anxiety that he has in his life. It’s the uncertainty of everything that’s making him very anxious."