Celebrity Exes
Nick Lachey Makes Rare Comments About Ex-Wife Jessica Simpson & Their Show ‘Newlyweds’
Twenty years after the finale of Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica and the end of Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson‘s marriage, the 98 Degrees singer opened up about the show and why he was so sad at the end of its third and final season in 2005.
While Lachey rarely talks about that time in his life and tries to avoid discussing his tabloid-frenzied marriage to Simpson, he got nostalgic during a recent appearance on the Richer Lives podcast.
Lachey said he found the success of Newlyweds to be “completely unexpected,” adding, “My ex-wife had an album coming out. I had an album coming out. We had no idea it was going to take on this other life of being this reality fly-on-the-wall type of show.”
The former couple dated on-and-off for three years before getting engaged in February 2002. They got married that October in Austin, Texas, and Newlyweds premiered in August 2003. The show ran for three seasons before concluding in March 2005, with Simpson and Lachey announcing their separation eight months later. Their divorce was finalized in June 2006.
“I actually came to really love the crew [from the show],” Lachey admitted. “I remember crying the day we shut down because you develop relationships with them. They really became family.”
Although he and Simpson were told to try and ignore the crew while they were filming, Lachey had trouble not forming relationships with them. “I was like, ‘Guys, if this is ever going to work, that’s just now how I’m wired. You’re not going to be in my house and watch my every move and we’re not going to talk to each other. We got to get past that right now,'” he recalled.
Following his split from Simpson, Lachey filmed the music video for his song “What’s Left of Me,” which costarred Vanessa Minnillo. They went on to start dating and wound up tying the knot themselves in 2011. They’ve since welcomed three children together. Meanwhile, Simpson shares three kids with estranged husband Eric Johnson, whom she married in 2014 and separated from in 2024.
