Nick Lachey might have been able to help his ex figure out the difference between
chicken and tuna, but he can't seem to stop badmouthing her now.
Fans of MTV's "Newlyweds" fell in love with Jessica Simpson and her unfiltered
remarks as she and hubby Nick Lachey shared their seemingly sweet love story on camera.
"I know it's tuna, but, it-it says Chicken … by the Sea."
Sadly, things were far from perfect off-camera. Simpson wrote in her 2020 memoir "Open Book,"
"I had the Instagram-girlfriend syndrome before it was a thing, and I wanted the
world to see my husband in the best light because I was hopelessly in love with him."
As she grew up and her career took off,
her husband supposedly began losing interest. She explained,
"[Nick] wanted somebody who could make him feel like I
did when I was 19 years old, fawning all over him"
Rather than working on their marriage, Lachey reportedly bailed on counseling
and turned to partying with friends instead. When Simpson realized how much
he apparently enjoyed strip clubs, she tried to be sexier, but nothing worked.
The couple split in 2005, and despite Lachey being the one who initially wanted a prenup,
he allegedly took her for everything he could.
One of the biggest issues in Jessica Simpson's tumultuous marriage to Nick Lachey appeared to
have been his alleged wandering eye. As their union crumbled, he was reportedly
spotted partying with women in Miami, was linked to adult film star Jessica Jaymes, and, in 2005,
tabloids claimed he took a 19-year-old college student to his hotel room while in Columbus,
Ohio. Just days later, one of his friends, Chad Leslie, claimed to In
Touch that Lachey also had a fling with his girlfriend at the time while in Cincinnati.
Lachey denied everything, but as Simpson later revealed in her memoir "Open Book,"
she regularly wondered if he'd been unfaithful. Recalling a 2004 outing to a Hollywood club,
Simpson wrote that a mystery brunette smiled at her hubby,
and when she asked him about it, a huge fight allegedly broke out. Simpson said,
"Groupies will always be groupies,
but there was something different about the way he looked at her."
Rather than responding, Lachey apparently turned things around. She wrote.
"I would accuse him of having a wandering eye, and he would rip into me, making sure
I knew I was the one causing problems in our marriage. Everything was my fault."
Then, instead of making up, he'd allegedly hold a grudge. Simpson claimed,
"We would yell at each other, and then he would go out of town and not answer his
phone [...] or he would just stay out late to teach me a lesson."
Nick Lachey apparently took trash-talking to a whole new level while supporting the
Cincinnati Bengals at the San Diego Chargers' Qualcomm Stadium in 2012. According to TMZ,
which obtained video of the singer being escorted out of the game by security,
things allegedly got physical after Lachey and his friends ridiculed an opposing fan for
wearing the jersey of former Chargers player Igor Olshansky. Said fan claimed to TMZ that
they wouldn't stop talking smack about the player, leading his wife to tell Lachey,
"Well, he lasted longer than your boy band."
Lachey wasn't impressed and allegedly yelled at the woman. When the man defended his wife,
the singer was said to have grabbed his neck before pushing him back over the seats.
Following the headline-making incident, Lachey took to Twitter to boast,
"Just got kicked out of the Chargers stadium and couldn't be prouder!"
He then gloated,
"I'd talk trash to everyone in SD, but what's the
point? You already had me kicked out of the stadium and you still lost."
He and his rep later denied things got physical,
however, and the star returned to Twitter to offer more details.
"I was not kicked out of the Chargers game for excessive 'trash talking.' No,
that honor belonged to the guy in front of me!"
Nick Lachey first met his future wife Vanessa when he was still married to Jessica Simpson,
and they began dating less than a year after his split. The speed with which the singer moved on
really hurt Simpson, who wrote about the pain in her journal. According to ET, she wrote,
"Seems that you forgot the love you spoke to me. I'm saddened beyond belief."
Then, there was the "What's Left of Me" video, which Nick
shot with Vanessa post-divorce. Simpson shared in "Open Book,"
"I watched him portray himself as a victim,
casting me as this selfish person. [...] I knew he did this to hurt me."
Eventually, she found love again with Eric Johnson while Nick married Vanessa.
But despite having discovered long-lasting love, he was still talking about Simpson
years later. When Andy Cohen asked him if he'd read "Open Book" in 2021, Nick said,
"I know what the truth is so I don't need to read it or read someone's version of it in a story."
Jump to 2022, and Nick Lachey's ex was again seemingly on his mind
during the "Love is Blind" Season 3 reunion special. While speaking
to contestant Matt Bolton about marriage after divorce, he quipped,
"Hey, it's always better the second time, right?"
In March 2022, Nick and Vanessa Lachey were leaving Mastro's restaurant in
Beverly Hills when paparazzo Jody Santos started photographing them from her car.
There were reportedly other paparazzi present, but when Nick spotted Santos,
he appeared to lose it. TMZ obtained video of the singer going up to Santos' car while
seemingly swearing and trying to grab her phone through her open window.
Recounting the incident to the Daily Mail, Santos claimed,
"He flipped me off and then I heard Vanessa say, 'Go get 'em,
open the door,' and then he started walking towards my car, all aggressive."
As Santos rolled up her window, Nick allegedly punched the glass
and continued his tirade. The paparazzo stated,
"In all my years of photographing celebrities, no one has ever tried to hit me. I am just
relieved that I rolled up my window as fast as I did, otherwise he would have knocked me out."
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office got involved,
later telling Page Six that Nick had been placed in their Pre-filing Diversion program. This meant
he had to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and complete an anger management course in
order to avoid being criminally charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.
For his part, Nick Lachey put the blame on Santos, tweeting,
"The paparazzi harassed us as we walked back to our hotel."
Meanwhile, Santos told the Daily Mail that she did nothing wrong, claiming,
"A personal apology was declined, then a written apology was declined."