Lachey and bandmates Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons produced hits such as “The Hardest Thing.”

98 Degrees had ‘age of consent’ guide for each state on tour bus, Nick Lachey says

Lachey and bandmates Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons produced hits such as "The Hardest Thing."

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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April 9, 2026 8:53 p.m. ET

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Jeff Timmons, Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, and Justin Jeffre in 1999. Credit:

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Doesn't get more '90s than this! Nick Lachey, the frontman of 98 Degrees, is recalling that the boy band was reminded to stay cognizant of which girls they encountered were of age.

"This is going to sound super shady, but when we first went out," Lachey recalls in ID documentary *Boy Band Confidential*. "I remember our first tour, someone at the label gave us a book, and it was the age of consent in every state." They "kept that book on the tour bus."

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Lachey and his fellow bandmates Drew Lachey (also Nick's brother), as well as Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre, made up the group, which produced hits such as "The Hardest Thing," "Because of You," and "I Do (Cherish You)."

By 1999, he had coupled up with another up-and-coming singer, Jessica Simpson, whom he married in 2002 and with whom he costarred in the reality smash *Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica* beginning in 2003. They divorced in 2006.

Lachey is now the host of *Love Is Blind*, alongside his wife Vanessa Lachey, whom he married in 2011, in addition to continuing to work with 98 Degrees.

98 Degrees in 2025.

Lorenzo Bevilaqua/Disney via Getty

In November 2024, Timmons recalled that, at the time Lachey referenced, the fandom was wild.

"Fans would sneak on our tour bus and we wouldn't even know they were there until the next city," Timmons said in the doc *Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands*. "We ordered room service and they were in the room service cart and popped out."

He added that, "Some things are a little too crazy to talk about."

Lachey explained in *Boy Band Confidential* that, at the same time teenage girls were swooning over their sweet sounds and choreography, the guys were struggling financially.

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"98 Degrees, we signed with Motown and we got a very nominal advance on our contract," Lachey said. "We knew that all expenses were recoupable and so we took the opposite approach [from other bands]."

They were frugal, taking the approach, "'Hey, we're not paying for anything. We'll take a break, go around the corner to Wendy's, and go back to the studio.'"

There were no fancy cars either.

"At the end of the session at 4:00 a.m., we're not going to get a car service back to Brooklyn," Lachey said. "We'll take the A train back to Brooklyn, in the middle of winter. The four of us, at 4 in the morning, standing in the subway station."

*Boy Band Confidential *premieres Monday, April 13, on Roku.

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Source: “EW Pop”