Mark Consuelos is opening up about how he is dealing with grief nearly two months afer his father’s death.
On the April 6 episode of Live With Kelly and Mark, Mark announced that his father, Saul Consuelos, had passed away “peacefully” two weeks prior. “He came here from Mexico in his early teens. He immigrated here from Mexico. He served his country for 30 years, ended up at Special Operations Command in Tampa,” Mark said of his dad. “This young kid from Mexico just got his education through the Navy, was always going to school, brilliant, got his master’s [degree], while I was a kid.”
Mark continued, “He loved this country so much. He loved this country so much. He really is, I would say, an example. If you put a face to an immigrant, he would be the prime example of what this country promises people here in this country. And he raised three pretty good kids.”
Mark shared more details about his father’s death in a sneak peek of his episode of iHeartRadio’s I’ve Never Said This Before with Tommy DiDariopodcast, which drops on Tuesday, May 12, shared by People.
“I lost my father five weeks ago, and it was kind of a brutal five-month saga leading up to him passing. I knew it was happening. When I saw him, we all knew, this is going to happen. Whether it takes a year or two years, this is happening,” he explained. “So, I prepared myself for the eventuality that this was going to happen. And when it did happen, I prayed for — my father’s a mythical character to me. He’s, like, the best man I’ve ever met. He’s just everything good that I’ve kind of glommed on to, of how I carry myself, comes from him. And I’m praying for a merciful exit for him, because this is not going to be good. And it happened that way. Thankfully, it happened that way. [It was] very quickly and painlessly, and it was so merciful.”
When asked by host Tommy DiDario to share something he’s never said before, Mark admitted that he’s never said that he misses his father. “I have never said, ‘I miss my Dad,’ because he’s always been in my life. He’s always been available to me,” he stated. “And even the past five weeks, there’s a lot of stuff to deal with.”
The TV personality noted that he was in tech rehearsals for Fallen Angels on Broadway at the time of his father’s passing, so he had to “compartmentalize that part of what was going on in my life and just carry on with the show.” Luckily, the play served as a “welcome distraction” for him.
“We just had a memorial for him this past Monday. The family all got together, and the reality of him being gone hit, of him actually being gone,” he shared. “And although I feel his presence so much on me — not just around me, I feel him on me — I am starting to, like, I’m gonna miss just giving him a hug or holding his hand or laughing with him. So, I think that’s probably something I’ve never in my life, that I’m gonna miss my Dad.”
DiDario thanked Mark for opening up, adding, “I think it’s super helpful for anyone kind of going through their own grief right now, as well. And he’s certainly proud of you. Look at everything you’re doing. Broadway star!”
The sneak peek clip ended with Mark sharing how he honors his father during his Broadway show. “I do look up in the house every now and then. You can’t really see, because of the lights, and I kind of picture [him],” he said. “I think about him before I go on stage.”
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