Vieira Veers Onto Matt's Rocky Marital Road

November 10th, 2008 8:25 AM

Ruh-roh.  Things might get a little testy on the set when the lights go down after this morning's Today.  Teasing an upcoming segment about the right age to get married, Meredith Vieira stumbled into the apparently sore subject of co-host Matt Lauer's rocky marital history.

After mentioning that she had gotten married in her 30s, Vieira turned to Matt and asked when he had gotten married.  That elicited an embarrassed and embarrassing pause from Lauer, whose first marriage ended in divorce and whose second wife once filed for divorce before withdrawing the papers.

MATT LAUER: Then we're going to talk about marriage. What is the right age to get married?

MEREDITH VIEIRA: I don't know. I got married in my 30s.  When did you get married?

LAUER: Ah . . .

Someone off camera can be heard yelling "nice!"

VIEIRA: Anyway, I'm sorry.  Oh geez.

LAUER: The average age -- let's just start this show over. On average in this country women get married at 26, men at 28.  Those are the averages. But how does your age impact your choice of a mate, and your chances for living happily ever after?  Probably a more important question.  We'll get into that later.

VIEIRA: I don't think I'm going to be one of those that lives happily ever after, after this show!

Lauer actually seemed to take the incident with good grace.  Still, it might be entertaining to be a fly on the wall during the post-show conversation.