Vanessa Lachey Reflects on Split From Nick Lachey Before Marriage

For Nick Lachey and wife Vanessa Lachey, absence made the heart go fonder.

On the debut episode of their Netflix reality show The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, which premiered April 6, the two revealed to the contestants that they grew closer after a brief breakup, during which they each saw one other person.

“I always said I was gonna be that girl that would never give a man an ultimatum. I was 29,” Vanessa, 41, said, standing next to Nick. “Five years later, things changed. But look what it got me! We dated for five years. So I finally said, ‘What are we doing?’ I have now moved in with him. I renovated his entire bachelor pad. There was a bar in the pool. I’m like, ‘Whatever you want.’ Now I want kids in the pool. So that’s when I started the dance [waves ring finger in the air].”

Nick, 48, joked, “That’s what put the nail in the coffin.”

Vanessa continued, “If I’m being completely candid and transparent, we took a break. We both saw one other person and we realized that if we got out of our own way, we could be amazing together.”