Vanessa Lachey Seemingly Apologized To Paul For Her Love Is Blind Reunion Comments

The first-ever Love Is Blind live reunion had its fair share of complications and controversies — and not just because it wasn’t actually live due to that hour-plus technical delay. Viewers took to Twitter to criticize Nick and Vanessa Lachey’s hosting style, calling out Vanessa in particular for being “too nice” in her Zoom interview with Jackie Bonds and Josh Demas, and for pressing couples on their plans for babies. But one of the biggest complaints came from a cast member, Paul Peden.

During a post-reunion interview with Entertainment Tonight, Paul criticized the way Vanessa repeatedly questioned comments he made about not being able to see his ex Micah Lussier as a mom.

“I think Vanessa might have had a little bit of personal bias in that scenario, or at least I kind of detected that,” he said. “I don’t know. But that’s just my assumption based on how she continued to drill into it after I gave my full rationale for why I felt the way that I did.”

During the special, Paul acknowledged that he “phrased that really unfairly towards [Micah],” explaining that his comments were more about “[him] not inspiring that [nurturing quality] in her.” He also said his reasoning was “ineffable” and impossible to explain in the limited time given at the reunion. But Vanessa wasn’t totally satisfied, asking Micah, “are you as confused as I am?”

“I think it was extremely reductive in the way that they dismissed all nuance and complexity in why I said no,” Paul told ET. He voiced similar sentiments in an interview with People, describing Vanessa’s questions as an “interrogation.”

Apparently, Vanessa saw Paul’s comments — because on April 17, the day after the special, Paul posted a photo of flowers on his Instagram Story that appear to have come from the Love Is Blind co-host in apology.

“Thanks for acknowledging the accidental misleading @vanessalachey,” Paul wrote.

While Paul seemed to appreciate the gesture, he still had more to say about Vanessa — reposting one story that said the co-host did a “terrible job,” and another that said she was “out for blood.”

“Honestly she never wanted to understand what I was saying,” Paul wrote in response. “She just wanted to punish me.”

As for where Paul and Micah stand today, Paul previously told Bustle he’d consider reuniting with Micah, though this was before the Love Is Blind reunion. “I do think that it would take some time to get back to that point where we were at,” he said. “But, yeah, there’s an openness there.”