Kelly Ripa admits that she has a favorite child but it’s a secret who it is

Siblings will often tease each other about who is the favorite, but you usually don’t figure out who it is until you see who’s getting the most stuff in the will. And if you ask the parents, they will always say, “I have no favorites, I love each of you equally.” That is, except for Kelly Ripa who admitted that she not only has a favorite dog but a favorite child.

The 51-year-olds confession came while hosting Live with Kelly and Ryan alongside her longtime husband Mark Consuelos who filled in for Ryan Seacrest. The couple has three kids who are in the running for mom’s favorite child: Michael, 24, Lola, 20, and Joaquin,18. “I have a favorite child and I have a favorite dog but they don’t know who they are,” she admitted.

Ripa must be doing a good job at keeping it a secret because she explained, “As a matter of fact, each one of my kids accuses the other child of being my favorite. Constantly. ‘Well, you‘re mom’s favorite.‘ ’No, you are.‘ ’No, you are!’” She said mimicking her kids. And while it may not be all fun and games when they really do come to the reading of the will, it‘s “the best game to play” in Ripa’s eyes, “And that’s the best game to play, isn‘t it? You never know who is going to benefit at the reading of the will,” she added.

Consuelos denied having a favorite child but Ripa isn’t buying it, “Mark can not indicate who his favorite is,” she said. But “The dogs know who Mark‘s favorite is and the kids know who Mark’s favorite is,” according to the host. The actor tried to deny it and said, “I don‘t have a favorite child. I don’t!”

He did however admit to having a favorite dog. The couple has had a rescue named Chewie, and in March they adopted Lena, a Maltese-Shih Tzu mix. “But I do have a favorite dog, I do,” he said under pressure. “Now that Chewie‘s not listening to the show right now, I can say I love Chewie but I really, really love Lena.”

The couple‘s youngest son Joaquin went off to college in August so they are currently empty nesters. When they adopted Consuelo’s new favorite dog Lena one of the reasons they were hesitant was because they didn’t want Chewie to feel replaced. “My whole fear was that I didn’t want Chewie to feel replaced in any way,” Ripa said at the time.

Good thing dogs can’t read.