The Stunning Transformation Of Nick Lachey

The '90s boy band era — featuring fan favorites like NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, and of course 98 Degrees — gave birth to some timeless hits. 98 Degrees' single "Because of You," released off of the group's sophomore album "98° and Rising," peaked at No. 3 and spent 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart by December 1998.

According to the squad's lead singer, Nick Lachey, being part of the boy band movement wasn't the original plan. "When we put the group together in 1995, we thought of ourselves as similar to Boyz II Men. Then, along the way, we got pigeonholed into the boy-band phenomenon. But the motivation of the group was bigger than that," Nick explained in a chat with Interview Magazine, adding, "We started out on a different path. We put ourselves together and moved to LA and sang on street corners."

According to Billboard, the group had sold over six million copies of their albums by 2005, and in 2023, the number had shot up to 15 million. Nick has come a long way since 98 Degrees disbanded in the early 2000s. In light of the growing popularity of the Netflix series "Love is Blind" that he co-hosts alongside his wife Vanessa Lachey, keep scrolling for how he has transformed through the years.

Nick Lachey was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. As Nick's ex-wife, singer and actor Jessica Simpson shared with CNN in a joint interview back in 2003, he grew up in a single-parent household where he had to take up extra responsibility. "You know, his mom was at work, so he had to do the laundry and he had to have food on the table," Simpson disclosed, and further added, "We just grew up completely different."  Nick's brother, Zac Lachey, had a mild form of autism from the time he was 7 years old.

From the fourth grade, the future star attended the School for Creative & Performing Arts, which contributed to his artistic beginnings. In 2009, Nick returned to his alma mater as part of the MTV musical series "Taking the Stage." Speaking to The New York Daily News, the television host said of the institution, "That school is not like any other place in the world. It created a whole world of learning that you don't see very often in this country, especially on MTV."

Nick's hometown has been a consistent echo throughout his life in the spotlight. In 2014, he and his brother Drew Lachey unveiled the "Lachey's Bar," located in Downtown Cincinnati, which became the center of an A&E series with the same name.

Long before he was part of the famous boy band 98 Degrees, Nick Lachey was a student at Ohio's Miami University. He was a sports medicine major and was set to ensure athletes stayed in good shape when he traded that for what he said was his only shot at making it big. When Lachey dropped out of school, his grandmother wasn't impressed by the move. She tried to convince him to finish college. "My grandmother was crying, 'You can't leave school,'" Lachey recalled in his chat with CNN. 

Despite the intervention, he didn't change his mind. Instead, he gave himself a year-long window to figure out if pursuing music was worth it. "You can always go back to school. You know, school will always be there," Lachey remarked. "This opportunity won't necessarily always be there. You have to — if I didn't do it, I would have regretted not having taken a chance."

In 1995, Nick Lachey, his brother Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre created the boy band 98 Degrees. Before 98 Degrees got their breakthrough in the late '90s, they performed in multiple stops countrywide following the release of their first track, "Invisible Man," off of their debut studio album "98°." It was nothing to write home about since those days were spent in the discomfort of a home on wheels.

"In the summer of '97 we literally got into a motorhome with our picture painted on the side and drove ourselves across the country — from gig to gig," Lachey recalled in a chat with Huffpost. "We'd literally drive all night and show up in Myrtle Beach and play some 18-and-older club and then we'd get back in the motorhome. And it was a real hustle back in those days to try and make it, to try and differentiate yourselves."

Despite the difficulty, Lachey maintained that the hardship was necessary for them to get the hang of the cutthroat commercial side of music. Soon enough, the group's hard work paid off, and a predominantly teenage audience sang along to their popular hits.

98 Degrees' breakthrough may not have been possible had they not met singer Montell Jordan. A connection with the "This Is How We Do It" song sensation landed them in the hands of an official manager and led to a deal with Motown Records. As a result, the group was part of the package when Motown got absorbed into Universal Records in mid-1999. Their lives changed for the better: they went from touring in a camper to having a superstar artist experience featuring buses, backup singers and dancers, security personnel, and a tour manager. "It's definitely a step forward," Lachey said at the time, per The Herald Times. "Change can actually be good. This is the next level for us."

In 2001, the group took a sabbatical that lasted more than a decade. According to band member Jeff Timmons, the unfortunate events of 9/11 added to changes that were already taking place in each member's life, thereby causing a drift. "We were together finishing a long tour, 9/11 happened and then everything was in flux. Nobody knew what was going to happen," Timmons explained to Rolling Stone. "And so we were all like, 'All right, let's go to our families.' All of us just went in different directions and stayed there for over a decade. But it wasn't like a breakup or anything like that." The group has since reunited on multiple occasions.

Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson first met in the late '90s. The pair dated, then split for half a year before coming together again. The second time, as it turned out, was straight out of a romantic novel: they each reportedly got apartments in the same building, and just when fans thought things couldn't get any better, the "I Can't Hate You Anymore" singer got down on one knee and asked for Simpson's hand in marriage at a Hawaiian getaway.

In October 2002, the duo got hitched in a low-key 350-guest Texas wedding. It rained on their wedding day, and their nuptials would have stayed under wraps, but luck wasn't on their side. Per Entertainment Weekly, Simpson and Lachey wed at the Riverbend Chapel in Austin, Texas. The couple's reception couldn't escape the hawk eyes of the press since its venue — Barton Creek Resort — happened to be hosting staff from the nationwide radio company Entercom.

The reality TV series "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica," which Simpson has no regrets about, eventually aired on MTV for three seasons between 2003 and 2005 and had viewers on the edge of their seats. In their joint interview with CNN, Lachey told the outlet of the series' allure, "I think that who we are as people and who we are as ... newlyweds is very normal. And I think people can identify with the things that we go through, you know, as a newlywed couple."

Two years after 98 Degrees went their separate ways, Nick Lachey ventured out on his own. His debut solo studio album, "SoulO," was a 12-track body of work released in November 2003 under Universal Records. "I'm very excited about it," Lachey told CNN in his joint interview with Jessica Simpson ahead of the album's release. "I've worked really hard on it. I think it's always a challenge when you step out of a group to kind of identify what you're going to do." According to Billboard, "SoulO" had an average performance by reaching No. 51 on the 200 Chart. Lachey's diehard fans seemed eager to listen to him outside of the group, as the album was purchased 160,000 times, per Nielsen SoundScan.

In 2005, Lachey got signed to Jive Records. His sophomore studio album, "What's Left of Me," hit the shelves the following year. Lachey has since released two other studio albums; "A Father's Lullaby," which he told Billboard, "Allowed me to further connect with [my son] Camden while also sharing the experience with families who are on a similar journey of welcoming a new life into their world," and 2014's "Soundtrack of My Life."

When he was still married to Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo would often see each other on "Total Request Live ” since he was a regular guest. Whether he was launching new music or promoting "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica," the duo kept their interactions on a respectful platonic level. In 2003, Lachey premiered the music video for his song "This I Swear" off of his debut studio album "SoulO" on "TRL." Minnillo graciously presented the segment, which afterward cut to the clip starring Lachey's then-wife, Simpson. Similarly, on the "TRL" Super Bowl special in 2004, Minnillo, who was co-hosting the show, asked Lachey to introduce a performance by Simpson.

In a conversation with Billboard, Minnillo said of their interactions back then, "It was always about business and it was always nice to see him." Just as Lachey was hitched, she happened to be in a serious relationship with someone else.

Nick Lachey made his acting debut on an episode of "American Dreams" in 2004.During an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" ahead of the airing of the episode, Lachey, who was playing Welsh singer Tom Jones, said of how he prepared for the role, "They gave me some really obnoxiously tight pants to wear, which, you know, I immediately felt like Tom. And then they actually physically glued chest hair— 'cause ... I'm like bare."

Afterward, Lachey got cast in several shows and films including "Charmed,""The Hard Easy," and "Hope & Faith." Through the years, Lachey has made cameos as himself on shows like "One Tree Hill." The singer has also hosted several singing reality series.

In 2008, he was unveiled as the presenter of ABC's "High School Musical: Get in the Picture," a television remake of the successful teen flick. Speaking to KMBC-TV about the project, Lachey said on its conception, "It starts with the movie and how successful the movies have been ... Someone brilliant came up with the idea to give a young person out there the opportunity to kind of step into that franchise." The following year, Lachey began presenting "The Sing-Off," a competition tailored for a cappella singers looking to find their big break in the music industry, and in 2013, he was the host of NBC's "The Winner Is." 

In a not-so-successful attempt at dancing, both Nick and Vanessa Lachey joined the cast of Season 25 of "Dancing with the Stars."

While fans may think that Nick Lachey had seen signs of a looming divorce from Jessica Simpson, the opposite is true. In an April 2006 Rolling Stone feature (via TMZ), Lachey claimed that his 2005 split from Simpson came as a surprise. Per the outlet's account, the couple had a normal evening of dinner with friends. Things appeared to be going well between the duo, but afterward, the "I Belong to Me" singer dropped the bombshell: she didn't want to stay married. Additionally, Simpson reportedly left no room for couples therapy. Lachey accepted her terms. Their separation could have been more acrimonious had he asked for alimony, but he didn't. "l have no intention of filing for spousal support. And I've been clear with Jessica about not wanting it," he said at the time. In June 2006, Lachey and Simpson were formally divorced.

For her part, Simpson was reportedly dumbstruck by Lachey's revelations to the press before their divorce was finalized. An anonymous source told People, "She didn't think he would do that," and further revealed that she was set to retaliate by doing a magazine feature of her own (a decision that she nipped in the bud).

Lachey moved on after his split from Simpson, and one of the people he went out with was Kim Kardashian, with whom he watched "The Da Vinci Code," as he revealed on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen." Lachey was also romantically linked to Orange County Housewife Lizzie Rovsek.

Although they'd previously interacted on a friendly level on "TRL," it wasn't until Nick Lachey asked Vanessa Minnillo to appear on the music video for his song "What's Left of Me," the lead single of his sophomore album with the same name, that the pair really got close. All along, Vanessa had the impression that Lachey reached out because she was attractive, but Nick told People he was hellbent on increasing his odds of being played on "TRL" by including the show's presenter in his song. "I saw an opportunity, but there was some self-serving interest involved as well," Lachey confessed.

When they linked up, Lachey was already a single man and Minnillo's long-term relationship had coincidentally come to an end. Sparks had flown on set such that Minnillo called out of work on the day Lachey launched the video on "TRL," as she told Billboard. Lachey's ex-wife Jessica Simpson was not impressed that he had moved on.

In 2010, Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo issued a statement about their November engagement that read (via People), "We're excited and incredibly happy about our engagement and we look forward to a wonderful future together." An elated Lachey further expressed their delight in his now-suspended X (formerly Twitter) account.

The following year, Minnillo and Lachey had a pre-wedding cocktail celebration featuring 140 attendees at the London Hotel West Hollywood. That month — July — the pair had a top-secret intimate destination wedding, which was broadcast on TLC afterward. Lachey and Minnillo only had a 35-person guest list for their big day on Necker Island. The island had been the couple's vacation spot several times. It was, therefore, an easy pick for their dream wedding.

 Those in attendance were surprised by the couple in a move that adds to the list of strange things in their union. "Nobody knew where they were going," Minnillo, who donned an elegant Monique Lhuillier combo, disclosed in a chat with People. "Our wedding invitations were in the form of a plane ticket. We told them they were going away and the attire was island chic. It was all very vague," Lachey told the publication.

Nick and Vanessa Lachey had their first child, Camden John, in September 2012. "We are incredibly proud to announce the birth of our beautiful baby boy, Camden John Lachey," the pair told E! at the time. "Born today at 6:54 p.m., he came into this world at 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and 21 inches. Love has truly been redefined for both of us." The couple's baby No. 2, Brooklyn Elisabeth Lachey, arrived in January 2015. Vanessa shared the good news on her now-defunct website. Their third child, Phoenix Robert Lachey, was born in December of the following year. Nick documented the joyous occasion in a sentimental Instagram post that read, "It's a very Merry Christmas indeed! We had our Christmas Miracle. Phoenix Robert Lachey decided to show up early and was born on Christmas Eve. Mommy, Daddy, Camden & Brooklyn LOVE You very much."

Nick and Vanessa's parenting style has undergone an evolution over time. With Camden, the couple was more anxious, as Nick shared with People. Taking care of their second child, he said, was easier, and by the time baby No. 3 came around, they had loosened up completely. The big question is, will there be a fourth baby to add to the family of five? Vanessa answered this in a conversation with Us Weekly by saying, "I mean, I still like my husband and he likes me. So, I guess anything's possible."

In February 2020, Nick and Vanessa Lachey began hosting the Netflix dating show "Love is Blind." The concept, one which has never been seen before on television, focuses on emotional attraction in place of a physical one: participants speak to each other through a barrier and only get to see each other once a proposal has taken place. The climax — a wedding where they have the option of saying "I don't" — happens in four weeks. Although viewers may question the validity of such an arrangement, two couples from season 1 of the show are still married as of this writing. 

Asked whether they foresaw the incredible fanbase the show has garnered, Nick told the "Comments by Celebs" podcast, "I think the easy answer to that is "no" ... I don't think anyone expected this. It's been crazy." He went on to add that he and Vanessa often found the show fascinating at the end of a long filming day way before it aired, which was an indication that the audience may be just as invested.

At the time of writing, "Love is Blind" is set to wrap up its sixth season. While there have been calls by fans of the show to have the Lacheys ousted as hosts, the couple is still standing tall.

Nick and Vanessa Lachey reportedly sold their five-bedroom Los Angeles mansion to four-time Grand Slam singles champion Naomi Osaka in February 2022. Per The Dirt (via Architectural Digest), Osaka parted with $6.3 million to purchase the 6,855-square-foot residence. The property in question has several standout features that make it a home fit for a tennis star: doors that merge the living room and its outside surroundings, a well-lit sports area, and a breathtaking view of the neighboring Santa Susana mountains. According to The Los Angeles Times, the Lacheys had bought the property from New York Jets wide receiver Randall Cobbs back in 2020 for $5.05 million.

In the past, Nick and Vannessa Lachey have shown an equally impeccable taste in real estate preference. In 2011, the duo was said to have acquired an 8,000-square-foot 18-room San Fernando Valley home with visible supporting arcs and a basketball court, per Realtor (via Business Insider). Five years later, they reportedly put it on the market, sold it, and got themselves an English-inspired Encino home, as Pop Sugar reported.