How Did Vanessa Lachey Hurt Herself on 'NCIS: Hawaiʻi'? Here's the Run...Down

Shows like NCIS: Hawaiʻi are very physically demanding. Obviously, the big scenes, like jumping from rooftop to rooftop while chasing a bad guy or running into a burning building to save your partner, are going to be executed by a stunt person. However, not every action scene requires an expert, which means sometimes an actor has to get physical. Occasionally, the physicality might be a bit much, and for Vanessa Lachey, it was. How did she hurt herself on NCIS: Hawaiʻi?

In an interview with the Sioux City Journal, NCIS: Hawaiʻi executive producer Christopher Silber said that looking for the perfect Jane Tennant was challenging, but when they saw Vanessa, they knew she was perfect for the role. "She’s absolutely someone that I think all of us would fall off a cliff for." Don't worry, Vanessa didn't actually injure herself by falling off a cliff! It's far less dangerous than that.

During the pilot episode, Vanessa was tasked with running as quickly as she could. Easy, right? Well, Vanessa told the Sioux City Journal she was doing her "Tom Cruise run, and then I pulled my knee, my groin, both my calves and, somehow, my arm. And it was three seconds in the pilot.” Ouch, that mission seems more painful than impossible.

This is not the first time Vanessa has hurt herself on a show, and we can totally understand living that klutzy life. While filming Season 25 of Dancing With the Stars, Vanessa got a bloody toe. And while that might not seem too bad, you try dancing with a blood-filled shoe. Her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, said, "That is gonna be so painful, this hurts my soul." We think he meant sole.

Vanessa also told the Sioux City Journal that she was looking forward to representing female special agents, as well as really showing the world island culture. “For me to be the one to represent that, I’m honored. What it’s going to do is normalize women in this position,” she said during the Zoom interview from Hawaii.

Currently, her husband, Nick Lachey, is filming Fox's Alter Ego in Los Angeles and visits Hawaii when he can. This means Vanessa is extra busy, working and taking care of their children. She talked about having a 12-plus hour workday, then coming home to her oldest son who had just woken up from a nightmare. After putting him back to sleep, she still had to do dishes and learn her lines for the next day, but "for Jane, it’s her family as well as her country and work. I love that imitation."

Of course, Vanessa still has time for fun. In a perfect world, she could get a dodgeball game going with the other shows shooting in Hawaii. "We want to get a dodgeball tournament going,” she says. “Like, NCIS: Hawai’i versus Magnum P.I. versus Hawaii Five-O. It’s fun being in this same bubble, but it’s also fun having our own little posse." Just be careful when you run.

NCIS: Hawaiʻi airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EST on CBS.