Nick Lachey never expected a reality show to bring him to tears, but when the cameras stopped rolling on Newlyweds, he couldn’t hold it together.
The 51-year-old singer got emotional as he remembered the final day of filming the early 2000s reality show that chronicled his marriage to pop star Jessica Simpson. While their relationship eventually fell apart, what caught him off guard was how deeply connected he had become to the crew behind the scenes.
Speaking on the Richer Lives podcast, Lachey opened up about the surprising bond he developed with the production team during the filming of Newlyweds. “I actually came to really love the crew,” he shared. “I remember crying the day we shut down because you develop relationships with them. They really became family.” That emotional connection was a raw and real part of the experience for him, and saying goodbye wasn’t just about ending a show, it was about losing people who had become a part of his life.
Nick Lachey’s journey through reality TV started off with a lot of uncertainty. He recalled that when the show began filming, there were strict rules in place, one of the most unusual being that he and Jessica weren’t supposed to interact with the crew. “I remember at first they were like, ‘Don’t talk to the crew. They’re a fly on the wall’,” he said. “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’ve got to get past that right now’.” That natural instinct to connect made the experience more human for Nick, and it’s why the ending hit him so hard.
The show, which ran for three seasons, gave fans a front-row seat into the highs and lows of Nick and Jessica’s marriage. What started as a promo opportunity for their music careers quickly turned into something much bigger. “My ex-wife had an album coming out; I had an album coming out,” Nick explained. “We had no idea it was going to take on this other life of being this reality fly-on-the-wall type of show.” What was meant to be a marketing strategy ended up being a defining moment in early 2000s pop culture, and a deeply personal chapter in Nick’s life.
Despite the emotional ending of the show and the eventual breakdown of his marriage to Jessica in 2005, Nick found love again. He’s now married to Vanessa Lachey, his co-host on Love Is Blind, and the couple shares three kids, Camden, 12, Brooklyn, 10, and Phoenix, 8. His life has evolved far beyond Newlyweds, but that time in front of the reality TV lens still sticks with him.
Jessica Simpson also moved on, marrying former NFL player Eric Johnson in 2014. Together, they had three children, Maxwell Drew, 12; Ace Knute, 11; and Birdie Mae, 6. However, even that marriage came to an end after ten years.
For Nick, though, that tearful farewell to Newlyweds wasn’t just about closing a show, it was the end of a bizarre, emotional chapter that left a permanent imprint. Reality TV can often feel artificial or performative, but Nick Lachey’s story proves that even behind-the-scenes connections can be incredibly real. It wasn’t the fame or the attention that got to him, it was the relationships, the daily interactions, and the sense of family that made walking away so difficult.
