Kelly Ripa is opening up about a stressful situation involving her dog Lena that led to an unexpected 911 call. During the May 26 episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” the daytime host revealed she accidentally locked Lena, along with her keys, phone and wallet, inside a running car while visiting Palm Springs over the weekend.
According to Ripa, she had spent the day at a local street festival with Lena, who she joked had transformed into “Palm Springs Lena” after happily socializing with crowds and other dogs. After buying dates for her family, Ripa returned to the car, buckled Lena into the passenger seat and turned the air conditioning on to keep her cool while she walked around to the driver’s side.
That’s when she realized the doors had locked.
“Door is locked,” Ripa recalled. “Car is on.”
With no access to her phone or keys, Ripa said she panicked and flagged down what she described as “a man in a van” in a nearby casino parking garage for help. Trying to explain how serious the situation felt, she hilariously referred to Lena as her “human dog.”
“I said, ‘My human dog,’ because they need to understand this is more than a dog, this is a person,” she joked.
The stranger suggested calling AAA, but Ripa admitted she didn’t even know what AAA was and couldn’t look up any information anyway because her phone was trapped inside the vehicle. She eventually borrowed the man’s phone and called 911, asking if someone could come break into the car for her.
However, according to Hello! magazine, Ripa was informed that police officers do not unlock cars and was instead directed toward a tow company. While waiting for help, the man, later identified as Leo, arranged for casino security to stay with her until assistance arrived.
Kelly Ripa Said the Situation Felt ‘So Scary’
Although the entire ordeal reportedly lasted only about 20 minutes, Ripa admitted it felt much longer.
“It felt like three years,” she joked.
A tow truck driver eventually arrived and unlocked the car in “three seconds.” Once Ripa got back inside, she said Lena reacted like she had just survived a major dramatic event.
“I sit down in the car, I fasten my seatbelt, and Lena’s head pops up,” Ripa recalled. “And she was like, ‘You have no idea!’”
Mark Consuelos also laughed about the situation on-air, joking that Lena was probably thinking, “Girl!” while also pointing out how lucky it was that the air conditioning had been left running.
Still, Ripa admitted the situation genuinely scared her.
“All I could think of was, ‘Forget the dog, Mark is going to kill me,’” she joked.
She later discovered multiple missed calls from Consuelos once she got her phone back and joked that Lena had somehow “telepathically” communicated with him.
Lena Has Been a Big Source of Comfort for the Couple
The story comes more than a year after Ripa and Consuelos opened up about the passing of their longtime dog Chewie in February 2025. As previously reported by People, the couple later revealed they were considering adopting another dog to give Lena a companion, though Ripa admitted they were still grieving the loss of Chewie after 17 years together.
Later in September 2025, the couple nearly adopted a small poodle puppy named Copper during the show’s “Raise the Woof” adoption week. However, they ultimately decided against it after noticing Lena became anxious around other dogs and hid behind Consuelos during the interaction.
Ripa explained at the time that they had been trying to slowly socialize Lena again following Chewie’s passing, but the adjustment process had been difficult.
For now, though, Lena still appears to be thriving right by Ripa and Consuelos’ side — even after one very stressful trip to Palm Springs.
