Jennifer Esposito Recalls Her 2020 Pandemic Wedding — and Reveals Why Her Husband Married Her in a Wetsuit

The 'Blue Bloods' actress, who directed and stars in the new movie 'Fresh Kills,' tied the knot with Jesper Vesterstr?m in an intimate ceremony on the beach

<p>Kevin Mazur/Getty; Jennifer Esposito/Instagram</p> Jennifer Esposito and Jesper Vesterstrom

Kevin Mazur/Getty; Jennifer Esposito/Instagram

Jennifer Esposito and Jesper Vesterstrom

Editor's note: This article was updated to include additional context.

Jennifer Esposito is reflecting on tying the knot in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While appearing on the July 3 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, the Blue Bloods actress, 51, who wrote, directed and stars in the new movie Fresh Kills, opened up about enjoying her intimate wedding — and her husband Jesper Vesterstr?m's unconventional choice of attire for their special day.

Esposito called her small ceremony "the best way to have a wedding" and said there were no guests or virtual stream — despite the latter option growing in popularity at the time.

The Boys star said she "tried" to have a virtual option, but she and her husband "live out all the way in the Springs in East Hampton so there’s no service."

<p>Jennifer Esposito/Instagram</p> From left: Jennifer Esposito, Jesper Vesterstrom and officiant in 2020

Jennifer Esposito/Instagram

From left: Jennifer Esposito, Jesper Vesterstrom and officiant in 2020

Esposito went on to share how Vesterstr?m ended wearing a wetsuit as they exchanged vows on the beach.

"My husband is from Copenhagen so it was just him and I on the beach," she told hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. "And he’s a professional windsurfer. So he was windsurfing ... windsurfed in his wetsuit, I had sneakers on, and a friend of ours married us and that was it," she said.

Esposito also discussed her new movie, Fresh Kills, a Staten Island-set crime drama in which she stars as a family matriarch opposite Emily Bader, Odessa A'zion, Nick Cirillo and Annabella Sciorra. She told Ripa and Consuelos that she “produced it and paid for most of it. I mortgaged my home.”

She called it the "first film in the mafia genre where we’re seeing the point of view from the women.” Born in Brooklyn but raised in Staten Island, the filmmaker said she was inspired by seeing “young women really violently angry” whose families were involved in criminal activity.


“I realized, it’s really more about choice,” she continued. “I kept going back to [the script] when I would hit roadblocks in either my career or my life and think, ‘That’s where that rage came from.’ It’s about the boxes we’re put in and they didn’t have a choice.”

“I went to my nice husband and was like, ‘Hey, I got an idea. What do you think about mortgaging the house?’ I do believe, if you don’t bet on yourself, who is going to bet on you?” Esposito said.

The actress shared photos of her wedding on Instagram on September 13, 2020. The carousel of images and videos feature the actress wearing a yellow, loose-fitting summer dress and a jean jacket with a pair of white earrings while Vesterstr?m rocked a multicolored wetsuit.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer??, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Consuelos expressed interest in the champion windsurfer’s choice of sport, saying, "Windsurfing, you don’t see a lot of people windsurfing. Is it old-school, on the board with the handle?"

The NCIS alum explained: "Yes, and going 50 mph and flipping."

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

She added that her husband grew up loving the water sport — which involves using a sailboard to ride on water — in Denmark before going "all around the world doing it. He was like the best in the world."

When Consuelos asked if Vesterstr?m has convinced her to give windsurfing a try, she said, "Absolutely not. I said no."

Related: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Visit Daughter Lola in Switzerland, Where She 'Goes Quite a Bit'

Ripa agreed with her guest's stance. "I don’t blame you, that to me sounds dangerous," she quipped.

"I’m on the beach like, 'That’s amazing honey, I have to go.' No no no. No, I’m good," Esposito joked. 


For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.