Everything Nick and Vanessa Lachey Have Said About Nick’s Divorce From Jessica Simpson

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Everything Nick and Vanessa Lachey Have Said About Nick's Divorce From Jessica Simpson

All in the past. Vanessa and Nick Lachey have been married for over a decade, but they're not afraid to reminisce about the beginning of their relationship — which began shortly after Nick's divorce from Jessica Simpson. The NCIS: Hawai'i star and the 98 Degrees singer bumped into each other several times while they both had shows on MTV, but their first real connection happened after Nick split from the "With You" singer in November 2005. “Nick and I knew each other in passing because we both worked at MTV,” Vanessa explained during a February 2020 interview with Tamron Hall. “He would come on the show to promote his album or anything he was doing at the time, and I was there working on TRL. We would just catch up and we would just talk and hang out. And then when he was single and I was single … he asked me to be in his music video.” The Dancing With the Stars alum appeared in clips for Nick's song "What's Left of Me," which debuted in April 2006. Before they met up to film the video, however, the duo spent "hours a day" talking on the phone. When they reunited in person on set, Vanessa said she got "butterflies" from seeing him again. [sendtonews type="float" key="NRFtm0UkRz-2832196-14453"] In her memoir, Open Book, Simpson admitted that she was hurt when her ex-husband moved on so quickly after their breakup. When Nick's romance with Vanessa began, his divorce from the Texas native was still not finalized. "So, Nick, you're with another already? Seems that you forgot the love you spoke to me," the fashion designer wrote in diary entries included in the paperback edition of the book, released in March 2021. "I'm saddened beyond belief. Alone in the dark, with no one to call my own." Though Simpson was disappointed at the time, she later said she was happy to see that her ex had moved on and started a family. The Masked Singer winner and his wife, who tied the knot in July 2011, share three kids: Camden (born in September 2012), Brooklyn (born in January 2015) and Phoenix (born in December 2016). "I'm happy for him now," Simpson told Entertainment Tonight in February 2020. "He's married with three beautiful children and you know, that was his purpose, and he took heartbreak and made it into something beautiful, and that's what I did as well. But you know, it took me longer to get there." The Blonde Ambition actress wed Eric Johnson in July 2014, three years after her ex-husband exchanged vows with Vanessa. Simpson and the former NFL player share daughters Maxwell (born in May 2012) and Birdie (born in March 2019) and son Ace (born in June 2013). Keep scrolling to see everything the Lacheys have said about Nick's split from Simpson. [podcast_block]

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Everything Nick and Vanessa Lachey Have Said About Nick's Divorce From Jessica Simpson

All in the past. Vanessa and Nick Lachey have been married for over a decade, but they're not afraid to reminisce about the beginning of their relationship — which began shortly after Nick's divorce from Jessica Simpson. The NCIS: Hawai'i star and the 98 Degrees singer bumped into each other several times while they both had shows on MTV, but their first real connection happened after Nick split from the "With You" singer in November 2005. “Nick and I knew each other in passing because we both worked at MTV,” Vanessa explained during a February 2020 interview with Tamron Hall. “He would come on the show to promote his album or anything he was doing at the time, and I was there working on TRL. We would just catch up and we would just talk and hang out. And then when he was single and I was single … he asked me to be in his music video.” The Dancing With the Stars alum appeared in clips for Nick's song "What's Left of Me," which debuted in April 2006. Before they met up to film the video, however, the duo spent "hours a day" talking on the phone. When they reunited in person on set, Vanessa said she got "butterflies" from seeing him again. [sendtonews type="float" key="NRFtm0UkRz-2832196-14453"] In her memoir, Open Book, Simpson admitted that she was hurt when her ex-husband moved on so quickly after their breakup. When Nick's romance with Vanessa began, his divorce from the Texas native was still not finalized. "So, Nick, you're with another already? Seems that you forgot the love you spoke to me," the fashion designer wrote in diary entries included in the paperback edition of the book, released in March 2021. "I'm saddened beyond belief. Alone in the dark, with no one to call my own." Though Simpson was disappointed at the time, she later said she was happy to see that her ex had moved on and started a family. The Masked Singer winner and his wife, who tied the knot in July 2011, share three kids: Camden (born in September 2012), Brooklyn (born in January 2015) and Phoenix (born in December 2016). "I'm happy for him now," Simpson told Entertainment Tonight in February 2020. "He's married with three beautiful children and you know, that was his purpose, and he took heartbreak and made it into something beautiful, and that's what I did as well. But you know, it took me longer to get there." The Blonde Ambition actress wed Eric Johnson in July 2014, three years after her ex-husband exchanged vows with Vanessa. Simpson and the former NFL player share daughters Maxwell (born in May 2012) and Birdie (born in March 2019) and son Ace (born in June 2013). Keep scrolling to see everything the Lacheys have said about Nick's split from Simpson. [podcast_block]

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The 1st Response

“It breaks my heart that I couldn’t make Jessica happy. I wanted to be everything to my wife,” Nick told Rolling Stone in April 2006, two months before his divorce was finalized. “I wanted her to look at me with love in her eyes, the way she did at the beginning, and have her feel like I was the most wonderful, awe-inspiring man on the planet. And when that stopped, it was the worst feeling in the world.”

In the same interview, the boybander admitted that he would "marry her all over again" given the chance. “I still love her,” he added. “It would be a lot easier to walk away if I didn’t.”

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No Regrets

Eight years later, Nick had changed his tune, saying that he was happy he and his ex-wife never had children together. “In our situation, that was probably the best thing that could have ever happened that we didn’t have kids,” he told Jenny McCarthy during a November 2014 chat on her SiriusXM show. “And look, you’re always going to love your kids no matter how you feel about their other parent, but all things being equal, it was the best thing probably for both of us that we went on with our lives. She’s obviously happily married with two and I’m happily married and about to have two so it all worked out the way it was kind of meant to work out."

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It Wasn't Them

In February 2020, Hoda Kotb claimed that Simpson told her the Lacheys sent her baby gift after she welcomed her first child. Vanessa, however, claimed that this wasn't true. "I feel bad, I’m sorry, you said somebody sent her [something]," the former Miss Teen USA said during her own interview with the Today show host. "It wasn’t us, but thank you, whoever sent it."

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Not Petty

After social media users accused Vanessa of being "petty" for saying she and Nick didn't send the gift, the Life From Scratch author defended her comments in a series of tweets. "Ohhh shade! That would be fun and scandalous! No shade though, haha," she wrote in February 2020. "Just wanting to clear the incorrect statement up. That’s all." In a second tweet, she added: "Should I have pretended to give it? Dang. Can we get a do over and I will tell them it was big beautiful basket. ;-). Kidding, sorry you think that, just wanted to be truthful. That’s all. But the gift sounds lovely!"

Simpson, for her part, later claimed that she didn't say the Lacheys sent her a gift. "Well, I don’t really know that I got a gift pe se,” she said during a February 2020 interview with Andy Cohen. “I didn’t get a gift. ... I don’t know where that came from.”

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He Lived It

In November 2021, Nick said that he still hadn't read Open Book, which debuted in February 2020 — and he had no plans to do so in the future. "Obviously, I knew the book was coming out, but I lived the book," he said during an interview with Cohen. "I know what the truth is, so I don't need to read it — read someone's version of it in a story."

He added: "That was 20 years ago. It's honestly the last thing on my mind these days except when someone brings it up. ... I understand why people want to ask, but it's just so not a part of my life anymore that it's not even on my radar. She is doing her thing and I am doing mine, and that's the way it should be."

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'Very Hard'

During an April 2022 episode of The Ultimatum, Vanessa opened up about what it was like to date Nick so soon after his split from Simpson. “He was literally in a very public marriage and a very public divorce, and I had to go through all that s–t very publicly and it was very hard for us,” she explained. “It wasn’t until the moment that he was like, ‘I’m gonna let it go,’ and I said, ‘I’m gonna let it go,’ and we truly committed to each other. We literally fell deeper and harder than we ever could.”

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Lessons Learned

When asked in April 2022 if she regretted her and Lachey’s MTV reality series Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica, Simpson revealed she actually feels quite the opposite about the experience.

“I don’t regret that at all,” the With You singer said during an episode of The Real in April 2022. “I mean, if anything, it was great TV. It was very real, and Nick and I actually had a lot of fun. We got to do a lot o things we might not have done otherwise.”

The designer did admit there were a few things could have gone without on the series — like camping.

“There were definitely moments where it was like, ‘Put Jessica out here in the wilderness and you’ll get good TV,’” Simpson quipped. “[But] I learn from it. There’s a lesson in everything.”