The whole camping thing....
Camping was my idea, if you can believe it! I was miserable. What they didn't show was that the trip was five days long. They compiled ALL of my complaints from five days and just ran them back to back.

Didn't that bother you?
I think it's hysterical! I laugh at it 'cause I know the story.

Do you and Nick sit at home and watch the show?
Yeah, but it's not like I was in the edit studio or saw the episodes before. We've never taken one thing out. That's why people are so shocked--people always ask me, "Why would you ever let them keep the Chicken of the Sea comment in?" I thought it was funny! I'm a total ditz and a klutz, but I know I'm not dumb.

So many people are so embarrassed by everything.
I was like that, too, but when I got married, I just gained so much more confidence. I'm much more relaxed.

You seem completely different than the person on the show.
Well, that person is a side of me they like to show. I know that person, so it doesn't really bother me. If you're going to compare me to Anna Nicole Smith, that's gonna bother me. The New York Daily News compared me to her, and I started freaking out! Then The New York Post compared me to Goldie Hawn, Lucille Ball, and Suzanne Somers--that was okay. To me, it's important to be a likeable person--it's hard to pull off.

Suddenly, everybody's calling you "America's Sweetheart." We've only heard that about Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, and Reese Witherspoon.
Well, it matters to all of them to be sweet. It matters to me to make everyone feel important. America's Sweetheart is a dream title for me.

Nick seems like a great guy.
He has great character. He's a man's man! A total guy! He likes to do everything for himself.

He's such a grownup about tidiness and money. How did he become so responsible at such a young age?
I don't know. Maybe because he went to college--and because he had a great family--values and morals were instilled in him. I had a great family, too, but I grew up in entertainment. Nick and I come from different worlds, but we just have a connection that's undeniable.

Having gone through the rare experience of being a virgin when you got married, do you recommend that to other girls?
Absolutely. At times, it was annoying. At times I felt like, "Who cares? Whatever!" But Nick kept saying that I would regret [not keeping my virginity vow]. He never tried to talk me out of it. He had other girls throwing themselves at him, and I was the person who, on the fifth date, hadn't even kissed him yet. He respected that, and he wanted someone who wanted that for him.

Who do you talk to about your sex life?
My mom. I want to be the kind of mother my mom is. She was always comfortable about everything. Our family's just like that--so open. I think it's because my dad was a minister and an adolescent therapist. That's why I'm so grounded.

What's the most important thing you and Nick have learned from each other in your relationship?
I think that just being you is okay. Like, I don't have to be the sports-watching, neat freak who he probably would have envisioned himself with. And he's not the guy who wants to go shopping and pick out my outfits with me. You can just be who you are, and it'll work.

You are a woman who was ready to get married young.
I'm one of those old souls who was blessed young--but I'm still naive and completely ditzy.

Why do you keep labeling yourself ditzy?
I think there's a difference between ditzy and dumb. Dumb is just not knowing. Ditzy is having the courage to ask! [laughs]