You know how celebrities are always doing dumb things that the rest of us just can’t fathom? There’s the drunken wedding in Vegas, or the guy who marries the girl to hide the fact that he’s gay, or the stupid things they’ll do for free stuff. .. well Lance Bass did all of those things in one night. Turns out somewhere back in ’99 or 2000 (he’s understandably a little fuzzy on the details) Lance and a female friend he won’t name tied the knot in Vegas to get free booze. He doesn’t tell us what happened with it – we’ll assume it’s been annulled – but it’s an amusing little anecdote none the less. And really the guy from Nsync can’t afford his own booze? Really?

Of all the members of ‘N Sync, who would have guessed that Lance Bass was the first to take the marital plunge? But the former boy-bander has revealed exclusively to E! News that back in “like, ’99, 2000,” owing to “one of those crazy moments,” he tied the knot with a girlfriend after a wild night in Sin City. “People do stupid things in the heat of the moment. I’ve been in Vegas where I’ve gotten married for, like, five minutes,” he said. “No one talks about that though.”

Bass, who announced his homosexuality to much fanfare last year, declined to name his his former missus, only IDing his bride as “just a friend of mine. You know it was one of those crazy moments where you’re with a friend and you’re like ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be fun if we did this?’ and that’s all that happened. It’s the Vegas thing to do.” He said that his decision to swap vows was simply the means to an end—that end being to snag some comp’d booze.

“In fact, the only reason we did it is because we wanted to get free drinks all night. And we didn’t get one. We’re like, ‘We just got married!’ They’re like, ‘Ah. Whatever.’ ” Bass declined to go into details about when or how the marriage ended (we’re guessing an equally quick annulment), but he did say that the nano-nuptials didn’t sour his relationship with the former Mrs. Bass “We’re friends,” he said. “It’s great.”

[From E! News]

I wonder if it was a famous friend. I wonder if she knew he was gay? Most importantly, I wonder if she thought he was an exceptional cheapskate to be willing to get married just for free booze? I’m guessing that the wedding/annulment probably canceled out any booze profits. I’m constantly amazed at how much alcohol factors into weddings and marriage. Far too many people go to weddings just for the open bar. Far too many people get married because they’re drunk. And far too many people take to drinking when the wedding and/or marriage is over. But I haven’t heard of many people getting married to get free drinks. Congrats, Lance, Stay classy.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Lance at a signing for his new book, “Out of Sync” at Borders Books in Chicago on Monday. Images thanks to PR Photos.