By Charli Penn ·April 1, 2021April 1, 2021
Don’t you just love a good love story?
Newlyweds Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts pulled up a seat the red table yesterday and opened up like never before.
The couple joined Red Table Talk hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield-Norris and Willow Smith yesterday for a new episode of the hit Facebook Watch show and sat down for an intimate discussion about their headline-grabbing love.
You’ll recall that the Claws star surprised her fans last summer by announcing that she’d gotten remarried in a surprise ceremony…and plot twist, to a woman! Nash, 51, had tied the knot with her friend turned love-of-her-life, singer Jessica Betts, 38.
Since then, the couple has showed up in our feeds time-after-time basking in the glow of their love and sharing their unwavering joy with fans. Which, is exactly why we tuned in to watch the Betts open up about their beautiful love story and set the record straight on some of fans’ biggest questions about their love. For starters, contrary to popular belief, Nash made the first move!
“A lot of people think that this little Thundercat just came in here and picked me up and turned me every which way but loose, but I gave myself permission to feel what I felt in the moment and to be unapologetic about it,” says Nash about making the first step toward transitioning her relationship with Betts from friendship to romance.
Here’s a recap of what we learned about the Betts on the episode.
01The Couple Got Engaged While Skinny-DippingBetts revealed on the show that they got engaged while skinny-dipping in a hot tub and when she turned and said to Niecy, “If anybody’s gonna be getting on my nerves, it’s going to be you. Marry me.” But… 
Instagram 02Niecy Was Already Planning to Propose When Jessica DidRight after Betts asked her, Nash ran to grab the ring she’d already bought for Jessica because she also planned to purpose. “We engaged each other the same night,” Nash revealed. 
03Niecy’s Kids Love Jessica, But They Had A Hilarious Reaction To The Couple DatingWhen Nash told her three kids, all young adults now, that she was officially romantically involved with her good friend Jessica, their initial reaction was hilarious. “My daughters were like, ‘Wait, what?,” Nash said. “My youngest daughter, she reminded me. She was like, ‘Wait a minute, Mom, are you the same mom who was like, ‘Girl, I’m strictly dickly?’ And I was like, wah wah. I was like, ‘Yeah, no, yeah. Yeah, but no.’” Ha! “And my son was like, ‘Woooow!’ My children were able to meet Jessica before they knew we were dating,” Niecy continued. “So they were able to meet her and form their own opinion about her as a person. And they all were like, ‘Oh, my God. She’s so cool. Oh, my God. I like her.’ They was exchanging numbers and all of this and that. So they already liked her.” 
04Niecy Was Hesitant To Date Jessica At FirstNash was reluctant to begin dating Betts romantically in the beginning for two reasons, she shared. For starters, after her divorce from Jay Tucker in 2019, she’d made other plans for her life. “I had said on the other side of this marriage I’m going to get me a little young 25-year-old … and I was just going to live my life and just have fun and I’m going to run these bachelorette streets,” Nash revealed. She also didn’t want to ruin a great friendship. “The second reason was because I was fearful that our friendship might not survive it,” shared Nash who thought valued her four-year long friendship with Betts. “I never want this person to not be in my life, so I don’t know what the running rules are.” 
Instagram 05With Jessica, Niecy Felt Seen For the First Time“I’ve dated men all my life, too. Married a couple of ’em. But it was the first time in my life I had ever felt fully seen,” Nash told the hosts. “And it changed me, and the other thing that I think gets harder for people is when you don’t fit in the box we put you in.” 
Instagram 06Niecy Labels Herself As ‘Free’At the time of the couple’s surprise wedding announcement, many news headlines said Nash had “come out” and Nash says that wasn’t exactly the case. • “A lot of people had said at the beginning, ‘Niecy Nash has finally come out.,” Niecy said. “And I said, ‘Well, come out of where?’ Because I wasn’t in anywhere. I wasn’t living a sexually repressed life…I loved the boys I was with when I was with them. And now this is who I love. “I wasn’t living a lie or trying to make myself like a man. I mean, I liked ’em. I liked ’em real good but now I’m on the new new. If I had to label myself in this moment, I would label myself with the term free.” 
TOPICS: Jessica Betts Niecy Nash
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