While NCIS heads to its 1000th milestone episode, and the franchise as a whole is celebrating, NCIS: Hawai'i lead Vanessa Lachey's family is finding joy in a whole other part of her life.
The 43-year-old TV host and actress took to her Instagram with a rare snap of her nine-year-old daughter Brooklyn wearing her mom's Miss Teen USA sash, while Vanessa planted a kiss on her forehead wearing her glittering crown.
After winning Miss South Carolina Teen USA, Vanessa was crowned Miss Teen USA in 1998 when she was just 17 years old. She was also the first contestant from South Carolina to be named Miss Congeniality in the pageant.
She reflected on her honor nearly three decades ago, adding a throwback of herself being awarded the title, and wrote: "That moment your daughter realizes you WERE ACTUALLY Miss Teen USA 1998!!!"
Vanessa recalled a conversation with her only daughter, in which Brooklyn asked: "Mama, do you still have the crown & sash?" and she responded with: "You mean this?!!!!!" as she took the crown "out of the custom protective case and lining and sash out of [a] hanging bag in a special place of my closet."
She continued: "It started because she told me she was doing a dance at school to @nsync 'I want You Back' and I told her that was my swimsuit song for Miss Teen USA."
"Then we watched my parts, she said my voice sounded funny, we smiled while I was getting crowned and we went to bed hours past her bedtime. These moments will never get old to me."
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The former MTV TRL host looked back on her history in the pageant world, adding: "I had never done pageants or anything like this before in my life."
"My state (SC) pageant to get to nationals was my first. I will always be grateful to the confidence and self esteem I gained by accomplishing something by just being 'me'. This pageant was the beginning for me. And I am forever grateful."
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Fans gushed over the adorable mother-daughter moment with comments like: "Fast forward to years later when you married your own boy band husband," and: "I love this. WOW. What special moments and how cool to relive it with your baby girl!!" as well as: "This is THE CUTEST!!! Also Brooklyn doing 'I Want You Back' = Awesome parenting!"
Born Vanessa Joy Minnillo in the Philippines, the actress grew up moving frequently due to her father's service in the Air Force, and after her parents divorced, lived briefly in Turkey with her mother before moving to South Carolina with her father and stepmother.
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She made her way to pageants and after her Miss Teen USA win, branched out into modeling and TV, landing hosting jobs with MTV for The Morning After and Total Request Live, the latter making her a household name.
After many appearances on TV and film over the years, she found her most well-known role as the lead of NCIS: Hawai'i in 2021, just a year after being named the co-host of Love is Blind with none other than her husband Nick Lachey.
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