Vanessa Lachey is many things: co-host of Netflix’s Love is Blind, co-host of Netflix’s The Ultimatum, star of NCIS: Hawaii (she got the job), mother, and wife to Nick Lachey. Is she an expert on “body diversity”? No. So why would you ask her about that?
Earlier this week, Insider pressed Lachey on the lack of such diversity among the cast of Love Is Blind, a show in which contestants date each other while in “pods” and propose to each other sight unseen. This was during an interview tied to Lachey’s paid partnership with Dairy Queen, so I’m gonna go ahead and say she wasn’t prepared for the question. Still, she tried to answer, wondering aloud if some of the contestants were possibly more insecure about their bodies than others, and that this prevented them from moving forward on the show and getting more screen time. Or, at least, I think that’s what she was trying to say.
“Their whole life they've been so insecure about being themselves because of this crazy swipe generation that we are in and this catfishing world that we're in, that they're so afraid to be themselves,” she said, bravely searching for the right buzzword. “I wonder if they truly don't have enough time in those two weeks to find themselves, A, and then be themselves to then find that spouse.”
BuzzFeed and other outlets are now criticizing this response, claiming that it was tone deaf and somewhat nonsensical. Well, guess what: Lachey had to say something, and this is what she came up with, on the fly, while promoting DQ’s Miracle Treat Day. She’s not a casting director for Netflix! She is but a humble co-host, tasked with reading lines off a teleprompter like, “If you’re ready to find the love of your life, the pods are now open.”
She is doing her best. Please leave her alone.
