Photo: Getty Images
Kimberly Schlapman had to make an important call before she appeared as a guest co-host on TODAY with Jenna & Friends on Tuesday morning (January 28). The Little Big Town artist called her parents before she revealed a secret she’s been keeping for nearly 20 years on TV.
“Well, I’m thinking about talking about something this morning,” Schlapman said while she was on the phone, “and so I wanna tell a secret. But it’s something you and momma don’t know yet, so I want you to know before I say it on TV.
“When Schlappy [her husband, Stephen Schlapman] and I got married in November of 2006, before that we got eloped in Vegas,” the country star said, and immediately covered her mouth with her hand. “Yes, we had two of them [weddings]. But we hadn’t told anybody. …Eighteen years later, I finally told you. That’s the only thing I haven’t told you.”
Schlapman — who is part of Little Big Town with bandmates Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook — assured others in the room, “she’s laughing,” after she told her mother she married her husband twice. Schlapman told Jenna Bush Hager that she called her parents 10 minutes before her appearance on TODAY with Jenna & Friends, and although she was “still shaking,” she said “it’s nice to be free of that.” Then, when Bush Hager asked about any “wild” nights on vacation, Schlapman revealed: “Schlap and I got married November 2006. But six months earlier, we eloped to Vegas.” Bush Hager’s jaw dropped when she learned the country singer-songwriter’s long-kept secret.
“Nobody knew. No one knew,” Schlapman said, apart from “four people on the whole Earth.” “We planned it. We planned that we were going to go [to Vegas] because we were meeting some family out at a big, beautiful lake out there. Elvis was at the reception. …Don’t judge. it was beautiful, and wonderful and it’s worked out.”
