Updated Oct. 15, 2026, 1:47 p.m. ET
Nick Lachey is sharing his lessons in love.
The 98 Degrees alum and reality TV host, formerly married to Jessica Simpson, reflected on their short-lived romance in a rare comment during Season 11 of “Love is Blind,” which premiered Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Lachey and Simpson were married from 2002 to 2006. The duo became an It couple in the early 2000s thanks to their popular reality TV show, “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica,” which ran for three seasons on MTV from 2003 to 2005 and had 40 episodes. The pair divorced in June 2006 after four years of marriage, with Simpson citing “irreconcilable differences,” People magazine reported at the time.
“Well, as some of you may know, I was previously married before I met my incredible wife,” said Lachey, who cohosts “Love is Blind” with wife Vanessa Lachey. He then advised a contestant who was nervous about navigating dating after divorce.
“I would make the very unique argument that it gives you a leg up because you know from that experience what it is you truly want,” Lachey continued.
Vanessa Lachey added: “We all have messy pasts – all of us.”
Following her split from Lachey, Simpson married former NFL player Eric Johnson in 2014. The couple announced their separation in January 2025. They share three children: Maxwell, Ace and Birdie.
Lachey married the former Miss Teen USA in 2011. They share three children: Camden, Phoenix and Brooklyn. In addition to “Love Is Blind,” the pair cohost the Netflix reality series “The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On.”
In April, Lachey and Simpson crossed paths again during a flight to Hawaii, Lachey revealed during a May appearance on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.” Despite the potential awkwardness, Lachey said the unexpected encounter was “strangely OK.”
“We hadn’t seen each other in … 20 years and then spent six-and-a-half hours on a flight to Hawaii together,” Lachey told host Andy Cohen.
Lachey was on the flight with his wife, Vanessa Lachey, and their children, he shared, while Simpson sat next to her mother, Tina Ann Drew.
“But when I say spent, in the same vicinity,” Lachey added. “Everyone was very, very cordial, very respectful.”