Kelly Ripa’s grandfather used to kill fireflies, put abdomens on her finger like ‘a diamond’ ring: ‘It was sweet’

Key Points

• Kelly Ripa returned for a series of pre-taped Live episodes following her week-long hiatus.

• The talk show host told the audience her late grandfather used to kill fireflies for her.

• Ripa said he “would take the light out of their bodies and put them on our fingers.”

Kelly Ripa’s Hollywood star still shines brightly each morning on Live — but nothing is as bright as the glimmering firefly carcasses that used to line her fingers following a sweet gesture from her late grandfather.

After returning to the talk show Monday for a series of pre-taped appearances following her annual week-long hiatus from her daytime post, Ripa shared a summertime memory that involved the extermination of the seasonal winged creatures at the hands of her grandfather.

Ripa’s husband and cohost, Mark Consuelos, introduced a discussion topic Tuesday about fireflies who spend the “bulk of their lives underground because their time above ground is right before dying, it’s brief,” he said.

The Live audience and Ripa sighed, before he joked, “and if you were in my neighborhood as a kid, it was brief!”

This triggered a memory in Ripa, who cautioned the audience before telling the crowd about her grandfather.

“Take it easy, it was the ’70s, and what I’m about to say is going to sound probably triggering, but it was the ’70s, it was a different time, okay? You could cross the highway to go to the convenience store to buy your aunt her filterless Pall Mall cigarettes as an eight-year-old and nobody batted an eyelash, okay?” Ripa joked.

“My grandfather would capture the firefly and he would take the light out of their bodies and put them on our fingers and say, ‘Look! A diamond!'” Ripa remembered.

When his wife called the memory “sweet,” Consuelos agreed, quipping, “Yeah, it was sweet.”

Ripa then turned to the audience to ask, “Look, he passed away. Are you happy? The fireflies got their revenge.”

Ahead of Ripa’s return to the Live table, Consuelos spent a week on air without his spouse, with a rotating roster of guest cohosts including Jenna Dewan, Elle Duncan, Rita Ora, and more.

Consuelos, who himself took a week-long hiatus the week before his wife did, told Ora during an episode last week that he once forgot his lines while filming a big scene on a set filled with 100 extras.

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“I couldn’t remember bits and pieces. It’s like an existential crisis,” he admitted at the time. “And if you’re the person that just comes in for a few days, you [already] feel like you’re not part of the team.”

Live With Kelly & Mark airs weekdays in syndication. Check your local listings for showtimes in your area.

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