Maybe it was the chicken by the sea — but apparently it wasn’t the Lacheys who sent Jessica Simpson a gift.
Nick and Vanessa Lachey were having a totally normal “Today” Q&A on Monday when things took a turn for the weird when host Hoda Kotb brought up Nick Lachey’s ex-wife, Simpson.
Last week, Kotb interviewed Simpson when the “I Wanna Love You Forever” singer dropped by the studio to promote her upcoming memoir, “Open Book.” During the chat, Simpson spoke about her marriage to Nick Lachey, the subject of the MTV reality series “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica” that ran from 2003-2005. The couple divorced in 2006.
Simpson told Kotb that in the book she writes about her experiences of being abused as a child and developing issues with alcoholism as an adult.
Kotb, in turn, asked Nick Lachey about Simpson’s abuse and alcohol revelations. Kotb also causally mentioned to the Lacheys that Simpson told her that she and Nick Lachey were on good terms, and that he and Vanessa Lachey had even sent her “something beautiful” after one of her kid’s births.
“I honestly haven’t read the book, so I don’t know what she said or what she revealed,” Nick Lachey said in response to Kotb’s question. “[We were together] a long time ago and we’ve all moved on —”
“I feel bad, I’m sorry,” Vanessa Lachey suddenly said, cutting off Nick Lachey. “You said somebody sent her [something?]”
Then, Vanessa Lachey, clearly flustered by Simpson’s claim that they had sent her a gift, continued to express her confusion by stammering, “We — I …’cause now it’s like, did we? It wasn’t us, but thank you to whoever sent it from us!”
As Kotb tried to clarify what Simpson had told to her, the Lacheys were still clearly baffled.
“I don’t know her address,” Vanessa Lachey finally said. “But thank you whoever sent it from us!”
Well, at least that moment wasn’t as awkward as this famous clip from “Newlyweds”: