Nick Lachey opened up about his marriage to, and divorce from, Jessica Simpson.

He admitted to feeling the “hurt” and the “scars” from that experience.

Though Jessica remarried and so did Nick, their erstwhile marriage remains an indelible part of their story.

Nick doesn’t usually talk about it, though. It’s rare to hear him addressing it so directly.

On Wednesday, December 4, Netflix viewers watched as Nick Lachey spoke to a Season 3 contestant on The Ultimatum.

“I, too, was previously married, divorced,” he acknowledged.

“So,” Nick continued, “I understand the hurt, the scars that exist from that.”

Clearly thinking back to his 2002 marriage to Jessica Simpson and their 2005 split, Nick Lachey continued.

“Don’t let your past define your future,” he encouraged.

That is good advice. And anyone participating in The Ultimatum, where couples test the waters with potential new partners before deciding whether to break up or stay together in their existing relationships, clearly needs some wise counsel.

Famously, Nick Lachey is married to Vanessa Lachey

Addressing his current marriage, he gushed over Vanessa and their life together.

“What I truly always wanted in my life, which was to have a beautiful marriage and a beautiful family,” he began.

Nick continued: “If I hadn’t retained my belief in that, I wouldn’t have ever realized the beautiful life I have with this woman.”

In 1998, Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson met at the Hollywood Christmas Parade. After reconnecting just a month later, enough sparks were flying that they began to date.

Their marriage in 2002 made them hot news. They even began starring on Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica for a whopping three seasons.

However, they announced their breakup in November of 2005. In December of that year, Jessica filed to divorce Nick. They finalized their split in 2006.

What’s he doing on ‘The Ultimatum’ exactly?

The Ultimatum sounds like a fake reality show, one engineered to sound offensively bed. The sort of thing that they’d talk about on 30 Rock or on the Stepford Wives remake.

We could snarkily say that Nick Lachey is there to collect a paycheck. Which, yes, is how hosting a reality show works. Nick and Vanessa both work as hosts.

The Ultimatum may sound like an indictment of society as a whole. And, like so much reality television, it arguably is. But we can’t fault Nick and Vanessa for collecting that Netflix money before the streaming bubble finishes bursting.