Maria Menounos recalls how her husband Keven Undergaro surprised her with his non-traditional wedding vows.
The TV personality, 45, and the producer, 56, famously tied the knot live on air during Fox’s New Year’s Eve 2017 broadcast in a ceremony hosted by comedian Steve Harvey. When it came time for the couple to say their vows just before midnight, Menounos recalls expecting something sweet and touching from her husband — but he had other ideas.
“It was the coldest New Year’s Eve in a hundred years and, when exchanging vows, I expected Kev to say something romantic. Instead, he started with ‘baba booey’ to a confused Steve Harvey,” she tells PEOPLE, referring to the well-known catchphrase of The Howard Stern Show.
“He then recited an excerpt from the infamous video that Howard Stern producer Gary Dell’Abate made for his ex-girlfriend,” she continues, jokingly adding, “I’m a die-hard, forever Howard fan so even though the time was like ‘two,’ my the wedding turned out to be ‘noine’.”
Maria Menounos and Keven Undergaro tied the knot in a ceremony hosted by Steve Harvey.
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Check out Maria Menounos’ stunning New Year’s wedding photos
The couple already had a special connection on the shock radio host’s popular radio show: Undergaro popped the question to Menounos on Stern’s SiriusXM show in 2016. Although the couple had been together for nearly 20 years at that point, Menounos didn’t think Undergaro was serious at first.
“I wouldn’t joke about that,” he assured her. “I love you so much and this show has meant so much to both of us. Why not make it official now?”
Back in September, the former Access to Hollywood correspondent shared with PEOPLE another special memory from the wedding — her parents were there for the occasion amid a difficult time for her family. Adding joy to the moment, she surprised mom Litsu and dad Constantine with the news that her wedding was taking place soon.
“My favorite memory was probably telling my mom and dad — my mom who had just been diagnosed with stage four brain cancer — that we were going to get married live on TV in about an hour,” said Menounos, whose mom died in 2021. “ And she was so overjoyed and started crying.”
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Maria Menounos and Keven Undergaro at their wedding in 2017.
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In that same conversation with PEOPLE, the Miss Universe 2023 host also touched on Undergar’s Howard Stern-esque wedding vows, joking that she “wanted to kill him” at the time.
I said, ‘I can’t believe he’s doing that.’ It could be the second one because that’s when he ended up taking his real vows,” she said.
Maria Menounos shared a video when she told her husband that they were expecting a daughter, Athena
The couple — who welcomed daughter Athena in July 2023 — went on to celebrate a second wedding in October 2018 in Akovos, Greece, the hometown of Menounos’ father.
“I have always wanted to return to Greece and have our wedding here,” she shared on social media at the time. “Greece means a lot to us, to our village and to our roots.”
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