Kelly Ripa’s Son Joaquin Gave Her ‘Parameters’ For Broadway After-Party

“When your child says, ‘I’m gonna go to drama school,’ you think to yourself, ‘Oh my god, we have failed as parents,’” she quipped. “And so to get any job was like inconceivable to us… and then he books a Broadway show. It was just remarkable for us to watch.”

Kelly emphasized how meaningful the moment was by teasing her husband about the decades he’s worked in the entertainment industry.

“You’ve been in this game a long time — 30-plus years — and after all those years, you’re finally doing a Broadway show,” she said to her co-host. “I was trying to explain it to him, like, ‘Do you understand how remarkable it is?’”

“It’s not lost on me,” Mark replied.

While the proud parents were thrilled to celebrate Joaquin’s big night, Kelly admitted her son made it clear she needed to keep things low-key at the after-party.

“It was very funny because he gave us kind of like strict parameters,” she explained, though Mark wasn’t on the same page.

“Did he? He didn’t give me any parameters,” the Riverdale actor confessed.

“He gave me parameters,” Kelly clarified with an eye roll. “He’s like, ‘You’re going to the party?’ I go, ‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Why are you going?’”

After explaining that attending the after-party is part of the opening night experience, Joaquin ultimately gave his mom simple instructions: “Alright, well when you get there… just be cool.”

“And we were cool,” Mark insisted.

“We were so cool!” Kelly agreed, but noted she couldn’t resist a quick mom moment. “We left him mostly alone. I mean, I did hug him and I was like, ‘I’m so proud of you, congratulations.’ And he’s like, ‘Alright, OK.’”

Meanwhile, Kelly noticed other guests didn’t face the same restrictions.

“Everyone else was allowed to hug him and tell him how proud they were all night,” Kelly complained, though Mark assured her, “That’s normal.”

“Is that normal?” she playfully questioned.