Carson Daly has revealed the unusual way he covered up his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Love Hewitt's name tattooed on his ankle.

The pair had an 18-month romance in the late 1990s, during which the MTV alum decided to get a physical declaration of his love and commitment to the actress, but after their split in September 1999, Carson had to get the inking covered up, which was not easy to do.

On a recent episode of NBC's Today, the 53-year-old star told his 44-year-old co-host Jenna Bush Hager: "I did have one ex-girlfriend tattoo on my ankle.

"And then I dated another girl who said, 'That's got to go' ... I was getting a new tattoo in Hell's Kitchen here, and I'd been under the chair for like, six hours and I told my guy, I was like, 'Oh my God, I forgot. You gotta just do something with the ex.'"

The tattoo artist had long wanted to experiment with a particular design, so he used Carson as his test case.

The TV personality continued: "He goes, 'Oh, there's something I've always wanted [to do] ... an hour later I looked at it and now I have, it's a crab claw coming out of a pocket knife."

Carson added: "And it's a cover-up. It used to have the ex girl's name."

Jenna said: "The problem is, when you got that tat on the ankle, you didn't think you were ever going to break up with that girl."

He replied: "No, I was drunk in the Jersey Shore. I was in Seaside Heights. I remember like it was yesterday."

Carson did not name Jennifer during the Today interview, but he has previously said that the ankle tattoo was for the Party of Five alum.

The Voice host has remained friends with his former girlfriend since their split, and he even showed Jennifer the tattoo cover-up when she appeared on his talk show, Last Call with Carson Daly, in 2005.

At the time, he jokingly asked the Heartbreakers entertainer if she had struggled with being single following their breakup.

She quipped: "You know, it has been difficult to recover."

Carson noted that their romance "ended a little weird", with Jennifer adding: "It did, but that doesn't matter."

The pair are now happily married and have children.

Carson married Siri Pinter, now 45, in 2015, and they are parents to son Jackson, 17, and daughters Etta, 14, London, 12, and six-year-old Goldie.

Jennifer, meanwhile, got hitched to actor Brian Hallisay, now 48, in 2013, and they have daughter Autumn, 12, as well as sons Atticus, 11, and five-year-old Aidan.