See Kelly Ripa’s 3 Children Surprise Her at Work for Mother’s Day

“We dropped him off at school, and we gave him a hug,” she said at the time. “It was actually brutally painful. Anyway, I gave him a hug, and I said, ‘I did not realize that 18 years would go so fast.’ And he didn’t say anything. He was just giving me a hug.”

Kelly and Mark, 51, joked about having an empty nest on Instagram after the heartbreaking goodbye in a photo of the couple on the couch in lounge wear. She captioned the photo, “So far we are crushing this empty nest thing.” Their eldest, Michael, supported his parents’ new chapter, commenting, “I had almost no doubt.”

The married couple of 26 years just celebrated their wedding anniversary and continue to keep their relationship sweet and spicy. So much so that Michael says he’s had enough of their “nonsense.” He told E! News’ Daily Pop in August that it’s a “blessing and a curse to have young parents,” referencing their consistent thirst traps on social media. 

He joked, “I’m a pretty reserved and private guy, and I think that’s the very reason why is because I’ve seen this nonsense and I want no part of it, honestly.”