Entertainment TV Niecy Nash Loves Being Married to Wife Jessica Betts 'So Much': She's the 'Wind Beneath My Wings' Niecy Nash and wife Jessica Betts married in an intimate California ceremony back in August 2020 By Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice Instagram Twitter Nicholas Rice is a Staff Editor for PEOPLE Magazine. He began working with the brand as an Editorial Intern in early 2020, before later transitioning to a freelance role, and then staff positions soon after. Nicholas writes and edits anywhere between 7 to 9 stories per day on average for PEOPLE, spanning across each vertical the brand covers. Nicholas has previous work experience with Billboard, POPSUGAR, Bustle and Elite Daily. When not working, Nicholas can be found playing with his 5 dogs, listening to pop music or eating mozzarella sticks. People Editorial Guidelines Published on May 18, 2022 11:19 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: ABC via Getty Niecy Nash is lucky in love. While attending the Disney Upfronts on Tuesday afternoon, Nash, 52, chatted with PEOPLE about her upcoming spinoff series based on The Rookie, as well as married life with wife Jessica Betts. "I love being married so much, but I also love being married to Jessica," the actress told PEOPLE exclusively on the red carpet. "She is the wind beneath my wings in more than one way." "We're coming up on our two-year anniversary. I don't know how we're gonna celebrate, but I know it's gonna be good," Nash added. During the event, Nash wore a coral-colored two-piece ensemble, which she paired with an accessory that included a shout-out to her beloved — a small clutch purse that read "Wifey for Lifey" on it. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Arturo Holmes/WireImage Niecy Nash on Which 3 Celebrity Friends She First Told About Her Relationship with Jessica Betts Nash and Betts, a 39-year-old singer-songwriter, first connected on social media in 2015 while Nash was still married to ex-husband Jay Tucker. After her split from Tucker, Nash's friendship with Betts took a romantic turn. On Aug. 31, 2020, the couple made a surprise announcement on their respective Instagram accounts revealing that they had tied the knot. The Claws star previously opened up to PEOPLE about her marriage to Betts in September 2020, describing their surprise nuptials as a "going into myself" rather than a "coming out." Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our new podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday. Araya Doheny/Getty "[My marriage] has absolutely nothing to do with gender and it has everything to do with her soul," Nash explained at the time. "She is the most beautiful soul I have ever met in my life." "I was not suppressing my sexuality my whole life," she added of her decision to marry Betts. "I love who I love. At one point in my life, I married twice and I love those people. And today I love this person." "I've done everything I wanted to do on my own terms and my own way," Nash told PEOPLE. "So my choice now in a partner has nothing to do with who I've always been. It's a matter of who I am in this moment." RELATED VIDEO: 'I Did Not Want to Be Without Her': Niecy Nash on Falling in Love with Wife Jessica Betts Nash was at the Disney Upfronts to promote her new ABC series The Rookie: Feds, which is a spin-off of the Nathan Fillon-starring show The Rookie. Starring as the FBI Academy's oldest rookie Simone Clark was a fun experience, Nash told PEOPLE, because she got to portray a character who plays by her own rules. "There's two ways of doing things — there's the FBI way and then there's the Simone Clark way," she said. "She gets in a lot of trouble cause she doesn't do things by the book, but she gets out of the trouble because she always figures it out." Nash added that her character Simone will differ from previous cop roles she has played on series such as Scream Queens and Reno: 911. In fact, she was told by others working on the show not to channel those characters in this new role. "They said leave it all at the door. Leave the foolishness at the door. This is the real deal," Nash told PEOPLE with a laugh.