Nick Lachey says divorcees have a 'leg up' in the dating scene as he brings up ex Jessica Simpson on Love Is Blind

Nick Lachey brought up his failed marriage to Jessica Simpson as season 11 of Love Is Blind officially kicked off. 

Since 2020, Lachey, 52, and his wife Vanessa Lachey have been hosting the hit series, offering guidance to singles looking for love in a very unconventional manner. 

But before marrying Vanessa, 45, he underwent heartbreak in the public eye with a divorce from Simpson. 

The marriage was momentarily front and center on the season 11 premiere – where Lachey briefly opened up about the past relationship when contestant Erika Ellis vocalized concerns she has had about dating as a divorcee. 

'Well, as some of you may know, I was previously married before I met my incredible wife,' Lachey said. 

'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,' he said. 

Vanessa, standing beside him, said: 'We all have messy pasts, all of us.'

She then gestured towards her husband, repeating, 'All of us.'  

The Daily Mail has reached out to Lachey and Simpson's representatives for comment.  

Former boy bander Nick has been married to Vanessa since 2011 and together they have three children together – sons Camden, 13, Phoenix, nine, and daughter Brooklyn, 11.

They now co-host Netflix's Love Is Blind and The Ultimatum.

In Love Is Blind, single contestants date one another without actually seeing what their love interest looks like until they agree to commit. 

Vanessa described falling in love with Nick in a somewhat similar fashion during their early days of courtship.

'At the beginning of our dating as well, Nick and I knew each other so I guess it's not fully like the show, but I was in New York and he was in Los Angeles, so it was a lot of texting or phone calls,' Vanessa explained on Today while promoting the show in 2020. 

'And for a while, until I was like, "I'm moving to LA for the guy," and we really got to know each other on a deeper level. We weren't distracted by seeing each other at dinner and then saying "Hey! You wanna hang out or you wanna makeout" or whatever it is when you see someone in person, you just get to dive into what makes us tick and what our passions are.'

Nick rose to fame as a member of the pop band 98 Degrees but also became a reality TV legend after he tied the knot with now ex-wife Jessica Simpson.

For two years, the couple allowed cameras into their lives for their MTV reality show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.

The show ended in 2005, the same year Simpson filed for divorce.

The Hollywood hunk also dished on the strict rule he and Jessica were given in regards to the camera crew.

'I remember at first they were like, "Don't talk to the crew. They're a fly on the wall!" And I was like, "Guys, if this is ever going to work, that's just not 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 revealed.

'So I actually came to really love the crew. I remember crying the day we shut down because you develop relationships with them. They really became family.'

Earlier this year, Lachey had a run-in with his ex during a flight to Hawaii with his family.

'It was strangely OK! You know it's been 20 years since… and so we hadn't seen each other in those 20 years and then spent six and a half hours on a flight to Hawaii together,' he said on Watch What Happens Live. 'But when I say spent, in the same vicinity.'

'I believe her kids and her - I'm not familiar with where they stand at this point, but her husband? But they were all on the plane, but not with us,' Lachey said. 'It was honestly, it was fine!'