When Lance Bass first connected with now-husband Michael Turchin, he had no idea it was gonna be him.
Introduced at a friend’s Palm Springs, Calif. birthday party in 2011, “I didn’t think he liked me,” the *NSYNC singer admitted in an exclusive interview with E! News’ Francesca Amiker. With all of his previous relationships, continued the musician, “It never started as a friendship. It was a very big spark and it was immediate.”
Not to say the 45-year-old wasn’t attracted to the Miami-bred visual artist and actor.
“I mean, of course I was into him,” Bass shared of the Georgetown University grad, 38. “But I just didn’t think he was into me.”
And at the time, noted the Mississippi native, he had just moved to New York City. “So we spent those first few months on the phone all the time, really getting to know each other, which I highly recommend being on separate coasts for the beginning of your relationship, because you really get to know that person very well.”
Still, it ain’t no lie to say that Bass considered telling Turchin bye, bye, bye.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘This will never work. He’s too young. We’re on different coasts,'” Bass recalled. For those first two months as their friendship was building, the musician found himself “giving all these excuses of why it would never work, and then all of a sudden it just worked.”
Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP/ShutterstockHe credits the switch up to one key play.
Attending the Super Bowl together that year in Texas with other pals (“We had the same friend circle, so it was easy just to be friends”), Turchin fully got his head in the game.
“Super Bowl was our first kind of date,” Bass recounted. “Like, we thought it was a date, but maybe it wasn’t a date.” And yet, when they found themselves sitting together on a couch, emboldened by a glass of wine or two, it certainly felt romantic.
“He just leaned in and kissed me,” Bass detailed. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, wait, he does like me.” So, yeah, it was all over after that.”
And for those interested in the Xs and Os, “I knew immediately,” Bass said of Turchin’s big move. “That kiss was very, very good. And I don’t think we’ve really spent may days apart since.”
Bass proposed in the fall of 2013 and then exactly a year later with a sparkling black diamond band.
By Dec. 20, 2014, they were exchanging vows in Sharon Sacks-planned nuptials at Los Angeles’ Park Plaza Hotel, their 300 guests—including Bass’ bandmates JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick plus Vanderpump Rules‘ Lisa Vanderpump—asked to dress as if they were attending a royal wedding, but at the Met Ball.
The ceremony—officiated by their close pals JoAnna Garcia Swisher and Jamie-Lynn Sigler—was captured by E! cameras for Lance Loves Michael: The Lance Bass Wedding special.
And more than a decade on, Bass does still very much love Turchin.
“I think the evolution of our love, it’s become more of a partnership,” Bass explained. “I finally found someone that I can say is my partner in life. I love him dearly. But it goes beyond that.”
Having welcomed twins Violet and Alexander with the help of a surrogate in October 2021, “There’s just this understanding now that you’re stuck with me, you’re not getting rid of me,” Bass joked. “We have to make this life work together through the ups and downs, and having that person that you know is always going to be there just gives you peace of mind that you’re always going to have someone to share life with.”
Michael Simon/Getty ImagesA few someones, really.
Because while shifting from a duo to a family of four comes with challenges, Bass and Turchin still drive each other crazy in the best of ways.
“Having the children, that just makes you fall so much more in love with your partner,” insisted Bass. “It’s a different love, not only just for your kids, but for your husband. Seeing how amazing he is with the kids, just makes you fall more in love with him.”
Matt Baron/BEI/ShutterstockLike Bass, Turchin is also “an incredible singer,” his husband insisted. Which means life at their California home is simply bursting with melodies.
With his kids “super into Broadway shows” at the moment, most days involve holding space for tracks from Wicked. And “every time we get in the car to go to school, before I even get the seat belt on,” Bass detailed, Violet and Alexander are requesting “the shimmy, shimmy song,” the name they’ve given to Hairspray‘s “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”
Between his “mini me” son Alexander (“He’s always pushing buttons and trying to be as naughty as possible”) and his “perfect little flower” Violet, Bass said, “As a family, we’re always trying to find things that really entertain us and make us laugh. That’s what keeps us going.”
Saturday date nights are a key part of the puzzle as well.
“I think it’s so important to make sure that you focus on your partner,” Bass explained of the weekly ritual that sees them hiring a babysitter and making plans whether they feel up for it or not. “It really helps you bond with your partner again. Because six days a week, it’s all about them. You’re sleeping in different beds sometimes because you have one kid here and one kid there, one’s sick. It’s not sexy sometimes. So at least we have one day a week where we get to just really be with each other, look at each other’s eyes, say, ‘I love you.'”
TheImageDirect.comThey do a good job of showing that love as well.
After Bass was diagnosed with type 1.5 diabetes last year after an initial misdiagnosis of type 2, Turchin “has been incredible,” Bass raved of his spouse. “When you’re diabetic, I always say it’s a full time job: Just remembering all the different steps of, ‘Did I bring my insulin when I left the house? Did I make sure it was refrigerated? Do I have enough needles? Did I take my insulin 15 minutes before 15 grams of carbs?'”
While Bass admittedly has “a horrible memory,” he stressed that Turchin is “just so good” at helping him track it all.
Should Bass’ Dexcom G7 device go off at three in the morning, indicating his glucose has dropped too low, “He immediately jumps up and knows to get me some orange juice,” detailed Bass. “He has medication if I unfortunately go into a diabetic coma one day. He knows exactly what to do. He is my unofficial nurse and it’s great.”
InstagramAnd, no surprise, he’s equally attentive with their kids. Though Bass chides Turchin for being the “pushover” to his “bad guy,” he acknowledged, “It’s really been cute watching him grow as a dad.”
So, when it comes to potentially expanding their family, “I would start my own orphanage,” Bass admitted. “I would love to have so many kids and bring in kids to help find them families.”
But he could be convinced to stop at just four.
“I’m still trying to talk him into it,” Bass admitted of growing their family, “if it’s having our own or I’ve always dreamt of adopting kids. So it’s gonna be interesting to see in the next 10 years where my life goes.”
Regardless if they say hi, hi, hi to more children or not, “I’m just excited to see what people they become,” Bass said. “I’m just trying to make good, nice kids to combat the craziness in this world right now.”
Having scaled back on work committments so he can “be there for every single moment and event” before they head off to kindergarten, said Bass, “I’m just trying to eat up every second I can until they start going off a lot and leaving me.”
For now, he added, “It’s just cute to see their personalities grow and grow.”
