Niecy Nash-Betts Shares Her Anniversary Dress Was Almost ‘Ruined’ (Exclusive)

Niecy Nash-Betts narrowly avoided a major dress mishap for her fifth wedding anniversary party!

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at her Mardi Gras-themed five year anniversary celebration, the All’s Fair actress, 55, explains how she was able to go from tears to smiles on her big day. 

“I had a big wardrobe malfunction today,” she says. “I got dressed and then I thought, ‘Oh, what gal doesn’t need a little bronzer on her chest.’ ”

What happened next nearly ruined her plans. 

“But the bronzer top was kind of stuck. And so when I pressed it, it exploded. And I had bronzer all over this dress and I cried,” Nash-Betts tells PEOPLE.

Her all-white, strapless minidress with a plunging, structured neckline designed by Matthew Christopher now had bronzer splattered all over it. 

The Scream Queens star says she contacted him and Lisa Litt from Lili Bridals immediately. 

“I was like, ‘You guys, I ruined this dress and I’m crying.’ They were like, ‘We will be there in 20 minutes. Send us a picture of the dress,’” she recalls of how they “saved the day” and ended up staying for the party. 

Nash-Betts tells PEOPLE that her wife, singer-songwriter Jessica Betts, also helped her keep her composure. 

“And then my better half was like, ‘It’s going to be okay. Calm down. Everything’s going to be all right,’ ” she says, playfully mocking Betts in her version of the 43-year-old’s voice as she sat beside her for the interview. “And I said, ‘Is it?’ And it was.”

Betts, who the Claws alum affectionately refers to as her “hersband,” recently released a song titled “Raw,” which she says is a nod to “love-making.” 

“I thought it would be great to release a song around this time so that it can sort of intertwine with our anniversary. And just letting her know that she’s raw,” Betts tells PEOPLE. 

Betts adds that being married to the Nash-Betts leaves her “feeling fully seen.”

“I would say that this relationship has taught me what it’s like to be fully accepted for the core of who you are,” Nash-Betts tells PEOPLE. “I feel like it makes me blossom.”

Looking at Betts, the Reno 911! actress says, “Your love, specifically, has told me that I don’t have to shrink, that I could take up all the space. I wake up in the morning and I feel like I look at you and you put a battery in my back.”

Nash-Betts tells PEOPLE their same-sex marriage makes her “very, very grateful that we could be a part of normalizing loving who you love.”

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The actress says fans sometimes reach out to her and ask how they found their way navigating a LGBTQ+ relationship and her response is simple. 

“My heart was open,” Nash-Betts tells PEOPLE. “And I would not let myself deny that she was the most beautiful soul I ever met. And it absolutely has changed my life. This [is] my forever love.”