Niecy Nash tied the knot with Jessica Betts last year after what began as a friendship blossomed into an unexpected romance.
The “Claws” star, 51, said she and Betts starting off as friends is what set the stage for their eventual relationship.
“If you are open to it, love can come from unexpected places,” she said Friday on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna. “And I’ve never had a dear friend and then ended up dating them, so this is my first time.”
“I’ve never had a friendship that turned into a relationship,” she added. “So I know that there is great added value to having friendship as the foundation.”
Nash, who refers to Betts as her "hersband," said she’s gotten the happily ever after she’s always wanted.
“This is, by far, the greatest love of my life,” she said. “And part of that is because, for me, it’s the first time that I feel fully seen.”
Nash, who said her romance with Betts took her three kids by surprise, said it’s important to know that a successful relationship won’t be without bumps, but it’s made all the better when you find the right person.
“We struggle in love relationships, whether we’ve been hurt before,” she said.
“Now, we don’t want to do it again or we want it, but we try to control it because there’s pain attached to it. Just because you love someone, that’s not the last time you’re going to cry. That’s not the last time your feelings are going to be hurt. It just means that if you’re lucky, you chose someone who will restore you very quickly.”
Nash has previously been married twice to men and had known Betts for nearly five years when their friendship developed into something more, leaving fans stunned when they announced their marriage.
“I mean, a lot of people say that, like, ‘Oh you came out,’ and I said, ‘Well, from out of where?’” she told Ellen DeGeneres in March. “I wasn’t anywhere to come out of. I wasn’t living a sexually repressed life when I was married to men; I just loved them when I loved them. And now I love her.”