Vanessa Minnillo

Vanessa Joy Minnillo was born in the Clark Air Base, Philippines to Vincent Minnillo and Helen Berecero.

Her father is an American of Italian and Irish descent; the ethnicity of her estranged mother has been ambiguous with Minnillo's reference to her as being a Filipina from the province of Leyte ^{[1] [2]} and then recently referring to her mother as Polynesian ^[3] during an interview with Maxim Magazine for her cover story in the October 2006 issue.

As a child, her family moved numerous times due to her father's work in the United States Air Force. Her family spent time in California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan before eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Her parents are divorced, and she has a close relationship with stepmother Donna Minnillo, and an older adopted brother, Vincent. Vanessa is fluent in English and has passive knowledge of two Philippine languages, namely Kapampangan and Tagalog.^{[citation needed]}

Minnillo became Miss South Carolina Teen USA 1998, and went on to win the 1998 Miss Teen USA Pageant. she was the first delegate from South Carolina to capture the title and received the Congeniality award in 1998. In the competition She received the highest score in the Interview, Swimsuit and Evening Gown

Minnillo was one of the finalists in E!'s competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke as hostess for the show Wild On. The job eventually went to Cindy Taylor. Minnillo has been hosting TRL on MTV since 2003. Her first interview on TRL was with hip-hop artist Chingy. In 2005, she also became a New York-based reporter for the entertainment news show, Entertainment Tonight. Before joining MTV, she had minor roles in The Bold and the Beautiful, television series City Guys, That's Life, and Maybe It's Me. In addition to her work on TRL, she has served as a host or co-host for a variety of MTV specials, and served as a celebrity judge for the Miss Teen USA pageant in 2003.

In May 2006, Maxim Magazine listed Minnillo as #15 in their Hot 100 issue. she was listed as #62 in the 2005 issue and was the Maxim cover girl for both October 2005 and October 2006 issues.

Minnillo had an on-and-off relationship with New York Yankees shortstop and captain Derek Jeter from November 2003 to early 2006. Currently, Minnillo has been dating singer Nick Lachey for the past 8 months, ex-husband of Jessica Simpson and member of the former boy-band 98 Degrees. she was featured in Lachey's music video for "What's Left of Me" which was nominated for "Best Male Video" at the 2006 MTV video Music Awards.