Kristin Cavallari Recalls Brief Nick Lachey Romance, Jessica Simpson Comparisons

On the latest episode of her Let’s Be Honest podcast, the reality star addressed a series of headlines about her from over the years, including the time she briefly dated the 98 Degrees singer following his divorce from Jessica Simpson in 2006.

“This was a wild time in my life, because I was, overnight, on the cover of every tabloid,” Cavallari recalled. “I had so many paparazzi following my every move, waiting outside of my house.”

“That was the first time I had experienced that,” she continued, adding that she was 18 or 19 at the time. “It was, whoa, it was wild. It was a lot.”

“[Lachey] had just gotten a divorce from Jessica Simpson,” Cavallari said. “So this was, like, the biggest thing in 2006. It was a wild ride.”

The Hills alum said that while dating Lachey she was “compared” to Simpson on red carpets and accused of “stealing” the singer’s poses.

“There [are] like four f–kng poses you can do on a red carpet, like, my hand on my hip? You think I’m stealing her poses? Like, what?” she told her podcast listeners.

Although her romance with Lachey was short-lived, Cavallari said it made an impact her on her.

“This was when I really started to kind of lose trust in some people,” she explained, before sharing an example.

The Uncommon James founder claimed that one of her friends at the time sold a photo of her and Lachey to a magazine.

“I was out one night with my friend, and Nick was there, and we were all sitting together. We were at a club,” she recalled.

“[She] acted like she was taking a photo of just me and her, right,” Cavallari claimed. “Nick is in it next to me, but he’s not looking at the camera because everyone thought it was a picture of me and [my friend], but Nick is actually in it a little bit.”

After showing the alleged photo to the camera, the Laguna Beach alum said her friend “sold this picture for $2500.”

Reflecting on the alleged incident, she claimed her friend’s actions were “so f–ked up.”

“That was the kind of first real sense of betrayal that I felt of, like, ‘Oh, wow. I’m not even safe with my people I think are my friends.’ … That was my introduction to just shadiness,” she said.

Many years following her split with Lachey, in 2014, the former pair poked fun at the fact they both named their sons Camden during an interview on VH1’s Big Morning Buzz.

The boys are also the same age.

Cavallari shares her son Camden, 12, with ex-husband Jay Cutler. The former couple — who split in 2022 — are also parents to son Jaxon, 10, and daughter Saylor, 8.

Lachey, meanwhile, shares son Camden, 12, along with daughter Brooklyn, 9, and son Phoenix, 7, with wife Vanessa Lachey, whom he married in 2011.