Nick Lachey used the Season 11 premiere of “Love Is Blind” to say something about Jessica Simpson he rarely says at all. Talking with contestant Erika Ellis, the host argued that his first marriage, and the divorce that ended it, made him better at the second one. The Blast reported the comments, citing E! News.
“I would make the very unique argument that it gives you a leg up,” he said.
What Nick Lachey Told Erika Ellis
His point was simple. Going through a divorce, according to Nick, gives a person a clearer sense of what they actually need in someone they plan to stay with for life. He told Ellis the experience helped him figure out what he truly wanted from a romantic relationship.
Plenty of people say that privately. Fewer say it on camera, on the premiere of a dating show, with the current wife standing nearby.
He has been here before. The Blast noted that the 98 Degrees alum has spoken in the past about moving past the scars of his first marriage to build a family life.
Four Years With Jessica, Fifteen With Vanessa
Nick and Simpson were married from 2002 to 2006.
He married Vanessa in 2011. Nick Lachey and Vanessa have three children together. Nick hosted the Season 11 premiere of “Love Is Blind.” Vanessa spoke during the episode.
Framing a famous divorce as an advantage is a choice. Nick is not pretending the first marriage never happened, and he is not dwelling on what went wrong. He is treating it as information. Someone who has already watched one marriage fail tends to know which problems are dealbreakers and which ones are just Tuesday. That knowledge usually costs a lot to get, and he is saying out loud that he paid for it.
What Vanessa Lachey Added
Vanessa did not let the moment become only about her husband’s history. According to The Blast, she told the contestants there is no shame in making mistakes, because everyone has a messy past.
She went further, stressing that nobody should feel defined or limited by past romantic difficulties.
Coming from the second wife, that lands differently. Vanessa married a man whose first marriage was public property. Her answer, on her own show, is that his past is not a threat to their marriage and nobody else’s past should be treated as one either.
Six Hours to Kauai
Nick’s comments come shortly after he and Simpson ended up on the same commercial flight from Los Angeles to Kauai, Hawaii, roughly two decades after their divorce. Eyewitnesses told The Blast that both of them sat in first class, keeping their distance and avoiding direct conversation for the long trip. Other family members were seated in different sections of the plane.
Nick later addressed it himself. He confirmed the two did cross paths on the six-hour flight and said the encounter was polite and free of drama, with both families traveling peacefully and everyone handling it like adults. He described the meeting as cordial and respectful.
Two accounts, then. The Blast’s eyewitnesses described two people steering clear of each other. Nick described a calm, courteous flight. Both can be true at once. Avoiding a long conversation with an ex is not the same as being hostile to them.
Simpson has not said anything publicly about the flight in The Blast’s reporting. Nick, meanwhile, went from sharing a cabin with his ex-wife to telling a dating show contestant that the marriage they shared was the reason his current one works.
Sources: The Blast
