Nick Lachey: I Was Told My Marriage Was Over

Nick Lachey is now offering a more thorough peek inside his former marriage to Jessica Simpson than viewers were allowed to see on their Newlyweds reality series.

"Jessica and I began playing these parts even when we were by ourselves," he says of their roles. "It became a really blurred line. There was a question about what truly was our reality."

Lachey, 32, makes the comments to Rolling Stone in a new interview. Among the singer's more startling revelations: "I'll tell you how I knew my marriage was over: I was told."

He tells the magazine he was "blindsided" when his then-wife told him after dinner last November: "I think I want a divorce."

"I basically said, 'Please, let's sleep on it.' But when we woke up the next day, Wednesday, she was still sure," he says.

As for lingering doubts about his three-year-marriage, Lachey admits: "I don't know if there were other men. But if she did cheat, it was the result of something bigger, not the reason we didn't work. ... Sometimes I think it would be easier if I had just walked in the house and found her in bed with a guy. That would be clear-cut. End of story. I wouldn't have to deal with the uncertainty of adultery."

Lachey also lifts the veil on his feelings about ex-father-in-law (and Jessica's manager) Joe Simpson. "I don't pretend to understand Joe," he says. "I don't know if he ever liked me. To this day I couldn't say. It was painful. Do I think Joe drove a rift between us? No. Was he an influence in our marriage? Absolutely."

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