It’s been 15 years since Jessica Simpson mistook tuna for chicken

Newlyweds premiered on MTV 15 years ago and, with a seafood misunderstanding, launched Jessica Simpson into reality TV stardom.

“Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish?” are the unlikely words that cemented a pop singer’s legacy in reality TV.

On Aug. 19, 2003, MTV premiered its latest celebrity reality series, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, a docuseries chronicling the marriage of pop stars Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. Although the Teen People powercouple were already established fixtures in music and pop culture with their slew of hit singles and rabid teenage fanbases, nothing could prepare them for the whirlwind success that would arise from Newlyweds. And it all began with tuna.

Simpson and Lachey married in October 2002 after meeting in 1998, dating on and off, and getting engaged in February 2002. From their public relationship and constant TRL relevance came Newlyweds, which followed their daily lives without the Hollywood filter. For the first time, the world got to know the real Jessica Simpson behind the big voice and even bigger blonde locks.

She may have led the world to believe that the real Jessica is a Southern girl with Levis and an open heart, but as Newlyweds showcased from day one, she’s also a natural-born comedian. The confusion over Chicken of the Sea brand tuna was merely the beginning of a cavalcade of quotable moments featuring the ever-endearing pop star navigating the uncharted territory of domestic bliss.

In one episode, she and Nick go camping with Nick’s brother (fellow 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey) and his wife Lea, and it’s clear that you can take the girl out of the South, but you can also take the South out of the girl. In a season 2 episode, Jessica takes a pregnancy test when the tabloids start running rumors that she’s pregnant. And in another episode, she tells a story from when she was in school and proudly proclaimed that the continents were “A, E, I, O, U.”

The couple’s reality series also proved that transparency and honesty sell just as well sex appeal. Without the peek inside her semi-charmed kind of life, the public wouldn’t have fallen in love with the persona that’s belting out those hit songs, and we wouldn’t have been gifted the meta music video for the No. 1 pop hit “With You.” Even Nick Lachey benefited from the weekly exposure on MTV while branching out into his solo career in November of the same year.

Of course, Simpson and Lachey ultimately divorced in 2006 after announcing their separation in late 2005. Newlyweds ended months before the announcement of their split and began a discussion on the strain reality television could cause on a relationship, when these shows distort your own reality and invite the world into your business. Even so, there was never a shortage on documentary-style series about celebrities. How could there be when there’s more to gain?

Following the series finale of Newlyweds, Simpson and Lachey picked up the pieces and continued to separately leave their mark on pop culture. Lachey released his second album in 2006 and scored his biggest solo hit with post-divorce anthem “What’s Left of Me.” Meanwhile, Simpson tried her hand at film, released one more pop album before attempting a country crossover, and eventually launched her billion-dollar eponymous fashion brand.

You can’t give a can of tuna credit for everything, but mistaking tuna for chicken might have been the best thing that ever happened to Jessica Simpson.