Vanessa Lachey Reminisces Over MTV’s ‘TRL’ Days and What She Misses Most (Exclusive)

Vanessa Lachey has been taking a walk down memory lane lately by posting photos of her TRL hosting days to Instagram and fans are loving it. Lachey became the host of Total Request Live on MTV from 2003 to 2007 following Carson Daly‘s exit from the famous daily show in 2002. While there’s a lot of nostalgia surrounding the late ’90s early 2000s show, in an interview with PopCulture.com, Lachey says one of her favorite parts of TRL was the respective aspect of patience and the excitement that surrounds everyday anticipation.

“I just remember being young in New York working in Times Square, being, like, full glam and just living it up,” she said during our @Home series. “But I think it’s not so much even what I miss personally just overall, I miss the excitement for people to tune in at a special time.” These days, fans have the luxury to record their favorite shows or view some of the biggest moments from TV on their phones at any time. When TRL was at its prime, that was not a luxury society had.

“To see there’s just so much access now that it’s actually kind of scary, whether it’s social media and all the different branches of social media, to a live stream, to people’s channels, to shows. You just have so much access and streaming you can get it when you want it, as long as you want it,” Lachey explained. “There was definitely an excitement, like, ‘Tomorrow at four, check it out! We’ve got some guests and who’s going to be number one and who’s going to be on.’ […] The show was nothing like any other show out there in the sense that it wasn’t just music or entertainers or actors or just politics. It was everything for that generation, and so I miss it.”

Becoming the host of TRL springboarded her into other hosting opportunities. More recently, she and her husband Nick Lachey have become the faces of Netflix’s hit dating competition Love Is Blind. The show forces its contestants to learn about their special someone for their personality first, without knowing what they look like, Lachey says it’s similar to how she and Nick were forced to date at the beginning of their romance.

Now that 2020 has passed, the industry in Hollywood is gearing up again, and so is her work schedule. However, in the meantime, she has partnered with Total Wireless as they highlight five incredible individuals for doing some pretty amazing things through one of the toughest years yet, and she will be hosting a virtual award show in honor of it. “I am so excited for this partnership with total wireless because we are recognizing those who do amazing things,” Lachey expressed.

“To find these stories and these people and to put them together and create the total wireless awards is something that I was excited to be a part of because anything we can do right now to help encourage positivity, encourage that connection.” Fans can vote for their favorite winner on the company’s Instagram page here. For more on your favorite celebrities, keep it right here at PopCulture.com.