Nick Lachey Implies He’s The Reason Kim Kardashian Is Famous [Video]

Fame-hungry Kim Kardashian would have done anything for the spotlight, including dating 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey once upon a time. Of course, this is all according to Nick Lachey, so you’re encouraged to draw your own conclusions.

But still, you may not remember that these two reality TV stars did actually date way back in 2006. And Lachey claims that their brief dalliance was just a fame-grab on Kardashian’s part.

“Let’s just say this: We went to a movie. No one followed us there. Somehow, mysteriously, when we left, there were 30 photographers waiting outside,” Lachey tells Details magazine.

Right after high high-profile divorce from Jessica Simpson, Lachey and Kardashian dated for about a week. The pairing was documented extensively by the paparazzi, with Lachey implying that the media interest in their short relationship was by design.

“That’s one way to interpret it,” he says.

The 39-year-old seems to believe that Kardashian tipped off the press about their date, hence the media blitz.

“There are certain ways to play this game, and some people play it well,” he says, conceding that Kardashian’s sex tape with Ray J was part of her manufactured fame.

“Yeah,” Lachey admits. “Well, that was already in the can.”

Though it seems like Lachey is “throwing Kardashian under the bus,” as The Huffington Post puts it, Kim hasn’t exactly denied that her coupling with him helped boost her public image.

“It started when I went out on a date with Nick Lachey. Of course the paparazzi took pictures, because people were curious about who he was with,” she wrote in her 2010 memoir Kardashian Konfidential.

“The next night I was out with Paris Hilton,” Kardashian wrote. “We were in her car and the paparazzi started taking pictures. Usually they would shout, ‘Paris! Paris! Paris!’ [But] they started yelling ‘Kim! Kim! Kim!’ I wanted to hide, and Paris and I just looked at each other and laughed. She said, ‘Whatever you do, just smile.’ I thought, this is so weird, I don’t know what’s going on. It was surreal.”

What do you think? Was Nick Lachey an unwitting pawn in Kim Kardashian’s rise to prominence? Sound off!

[Image via: Adam J. Sablich / Shutterstock.com]