What's more revealing: a talk show interview,
or a Playboy cover? In the case of wardrobe malfunctions, you might be surprised.
For years, singer Mariah Carey has proven why she's a memorable icon
in the pop genre — but on this particular day, "pop" had more than one meaning. On
tap to perform one of her hits, "Always Be My Baby," on "Good Morning America" in 2013,
Carey discovered that her Versace dress wasn't jibing with the rest of her. While
chatting with host Lara Spencer about how she normally wouldn't wake up so early to perform,
Carey suddenly cursed and revealed that something had just gone wrong with her outfit.
"It popped! I love you, Donatella, but it popped, darling."
Fortunately for the star, who showed the audience the rear of the dress that came
apart below the shoulders, at least her straps prevented the item from dropping too far.
"I dare say this is a TV moment."
"It seems like it's several moments. It seems like a YouTube moment…
"There’s so much I want to talk to you about."
"...possibly Spotify even."
As the camera focused on the two still chatting away on live TV,
assistants frantically worked behind Carey to fix the garment on the spot.
When a wardrobe malfunction occurs on live television, gravity is usually the
culprit — but in the case of reality television star Bethenny Frankel, who appeared on Anderson
Cooper's short-lived afternoon show "Anderson" in 2012, inertia turned out to be responsible.
The former star of "Real Housewives of New York," who has since expanded her brand
to the health consumer industry and even the daytime talk show world, bragged to Cooper that
she would regularly do push-ups while dancing in nightclubs. That's when Cooper called her bluff,
to which Frankel obliged by hitting the floor on all fours. A split second-later, with Frankel
almost in a prone position, her skirt accidentally hiked itself up, revealing her underwear.
That was it for Cooper, who keeled over hysterically, as Frankel tried to explain
that she normally didn't execute push-ups in that particular fashion.
"I don't usually have the jump, I mean, the jump usually… How’d it look?"
"Wow!"
TV viewers caught everything via a center-stage camera, although censors blotted out Frankel's
caboose. The Frankel faux pas was a definite high point of the talk show,
which was canceled later that year after only two seasons.
Style snafus don't seem to faze the "Real Housewives" alum. As she once tweeted —
Model Sarah McDaniel made history in 2016 when she became the cover model of Playboy's
first-ever non-nude issue, a radical decision for the magazine best known for introducing au naturel
images to the mainstream. But while making an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen
Colbert" to hype up the big change, she very nearly offered what the printed version decided
against revealing. McDaniel, who first created a splash via a plethora of selfies on social media,
was in the midst of coaching Colbert on the fine art of digitally capturing her likeness when she
noticed the top of her crimson strapless dress was losing its battle with gravity.
Recognizing her difficulty in trying to keep her breasts concealed,
Colbert had a remark ready to go — while politely averting his eyes.
"Can I get you some duct tape?"
The comment caused McDaniel to convulse in laughter, which only caused her outfit to
shimmy further south. As she instructed Colbert on how to select his favorite facial angle,
it was all a bit too much for the host, who eventually reached for a tissue and
planted it on her chest. The guest spot garnered nearly 50 million views on YouTube,
gaining more social media clout for McDaniel as she made a transition into the world of acting.
Playing a game of "Say Anything" with Jimmy Fallon comes with its own set of challenges,
not the least of which is ensuring all your faculties are intact. In the case of Oscar
nominee Rosamund Pike, who appeared on "The Tonight Show" in 2017, that included the
fabric holding together the black dress she wore for the occasion. It was right before
the word association drinking game began that Pike's outfit decided to stop playing nice.
"I might have just fallen apart… from behind,
yeah. I think I might've — My dress might have split, but, um…"
"I won't look."
By all accounts, Pike didn't seem to be freaked out over the wardrobe malfunction,
even joking that Fallon might be privy to a peep show. Ever the gentleman,
Fallon had a joke ready to go to ease the tension.
"I'm not even — I'm not even wearing pants, so this is good."
Luckily, the chat resumed as close to normally as a fashion foul would allow.
This wasn't Pike's first trip to the world of wardrobe malfunctions. At the BFI London Film
Festival 2016, she told Magic Radio that moments before she was supposed to take
the red carpet, her dress broke and had to be stitched up right then and there.
When Jenna Fischer, best known for her portrayal of receptionist Pam Beesly in "The Office," made
her entrance onto the set of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in 2018, viewers easily deduced that
something didn't go right for her backstage. Clad only in jeans, a set of heels and a towel,
Fischer approached Kimmel carrying a burgundy dress she had planned to wear for her appearance
to plug her show "Splitting Up Together." The name of the show seemed appropriate,
considering that the zipper on the dress had broken. This forced Fischer to pursue the towel
option as a last-minute solution. Evidently, it was the best idea she could come up with at the
time, as Fischer admitted to waiting until the last minute to change into her outfit.
Kimmel seemed puzzled over her situation, but obviously didn't have a problem with
the attire. For her part, Fischer felt a bit weird over the results of her choice of top.
"I am mentally a little freaking out that I'm on a talk show in a towel,
but I’m physically very comfortable."
"Good, good!"
That broken zipper wasn't her first fashion-related mishap, either. On a
2022 episode of "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Fischer shared that she accidentally tucked the lining of
her dress into her underwear before she took the red carpet at "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" premiere.
And she didn't realize it until after she'd taken her seat and, you know, posed for photos.
After baring it all and getting into several risque scenes across three movies of the "Fifty
Shades" franchise, viewers might believe that actor Dakota Johnson has absolutely
nothing to hide. Still, all that past exposure didn't prevent the star from
feeling rather uncomfortable in the middle of an interview on "The Late Late Show With
James Corden" in January 2022. The super-short crimson Magda Butrym dress Johnson wore to the
talk show prompted her to cross her legs and place both hands over her left thigh.
"Do you want my jacket?" "No."
"Do you want my jacket?"
"I'm okay."
"Are you sure?"
"It's nothing nobody hasn't already seen."
The near-malfunction, however, underscored a reputation Johnson hasn't been able to shake
since starring in the risqué "Fifty Shades" outings, despite her roles in memorable
pictures from "The Social Network" to "The Lost Daughter." The "Corden" mishap wasn't Johnson's
only bad experience with fabric — there was also the time she nearly lost her top at the
2016 People's Choice Awards as she embraced Leslie Mann onstage. She told Seth Meyers —
"I hugged Leslie and then my, my dress broke, and it was a two-piece, so my top almost fell off."
That said, she managed to trigger that discussion
after dropping one of Meyers's pencils down the front of her low-cut blouse.
Angie Harmon became a big name in showbiz in the late '90s playing an assistant district
attorney on the series "Law & Order." However, that doesn't mean her clothes always maintain
law and order in front of the camera. Harmon has suffered multiple wardrobe malfunctions during
talk show appearances, with the more outrageous one taking place during a 2015 interview on the
daytime series "Live With Kelly and Michael." Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan were chatting up
the star about her origins when her skirt rose to expose her entire right leg almost up to her hip.
"I'm from Dallas, Texas, I am… oh, apparently,
a lot of me is from Dallas, Texas right now, I apologize."
Three years earlier, she was appearing on "Fox and Friends" to promote the third season
of her crime drama "Rizzoli and Isles" when part of her top tried to separate.
"That's right, as a matter of fact — hang on, my blouse just came undone. As we were talking about it -"
"Well, hello!"
"And I'm back, okay."
The reveal turned out to be pretty innocuous,
as the fabric and long tresses blocked any offending real estate from the camera.
Anyone spending valuable downtime researching the history of wardrobe malfunctions on talk shows
will realize a few consistencies. First, women are usually the victims of these apparel anomalies,
and second, these disasters seldom affect the hosts. Enter Ryan Seacrest,
who broke that pattern in August 2022 during "Live with Kelly and Ryan" while
sharing space with his guest co-host: "Queer Eye" star and fashion pundit
Carson Kressley. Shortly after the obligatory introductions, Seacrest unloaded a bombshell:
"By the way, my fly is down."
"What? I guess you're just happy to see me!"
It turns out that the incident wasn't the first time Seacrest had flaunted more than
he intended in front of the camera. He related to co-host Ripa on another installation of "Live
with Kelly and Ryan" about one segment he had hosted on "American Idol." Seacrest's stylist
interrupted the proceedings and demanded the star to change his underwear: evidently, his trousers
were creating an impression not quite suitable for family viewing. As Seacrest told Kelly Ripa —
"America voted and decided that there was anatomy in the shot."
Luckily, Seacrest's decades of experience as a host helped him
play off the incidents with a laugh and a smile.