Jessica Simpson on Her Divorce From Nick Lachey: ‘You Forgot the Love’
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey used to be a top couple. The blonde bombshell and 98 Degrees member fell in love quickly and embarked on a romance that played out on the TV show Newlyweds. But unfortunately, it didn’t last. In journal entries featured in the new paperback version of Simpson’s 2020 memoir Open Book, she discussed the breakup and the reason she ultimately called it quits.
A timeline of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey’s relationship
Simpson met Lachey at a Christmas parade in Hollywood in 1998, per E! Online. Within weeks, Lachey was going around telling people, “I’m going to marry that girl one day.'”
He eventually asked Simpson to marry him in February 2002 after three years of dating. They wed in a lavish ceremony in Texas that October, but their union only lasted for three years. Simpson filed for divorce in December 2005, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
Jessica Simpson’s memoir offers details about the breakup
In a page from her journal which is included in the paperback version of her book, Simpson writes about feeling conflicted about her marriage.
“I didn’t want to be married any longer but I was also afraid to be alone with ‘no one to call my own but the night,'” she wrote (via People). “The house is hushed. Everything is still. I sit in solitude. To cry. To feel alone….”
“What a shame to find that which is or who is to blame, because in this world, deceit becomes a crippled hearts cane,” she continued.
Simpson then mentions how Lachey had moved on, seemingly with TV personality Vanessa Minnillo, who starred in the music video for his 2006 song “What’s Left of Me.”
“So Nick, u r with another already? Seems that you forgot the love you spoke to me,” she added. “I’m saddened beyond belief. Alone in the dark, with no one to call my own.”
But she would eventually find love again. Simpson is now with former NFL star Eric Johnson, whom she married in 2014 and with whom she shares three children: Maxwell, 8, Ace, 7, and Birdie, 2. Lachey, on the other hand, has been married to Minnillo since 2011. The two also have three children: Camden, 8, Brooklyn, 6, and Phoenix, 4.
Lachey has not commented on the journal entries at the time of this writing, and emails to his representatives were not returned. However, he previously told TODAY hadn’t read Simpson’s book.
“I’ll be honest, I obviously haven’t read the book, so I don’t know what she said or what she revealed there, but I’m certainly happy for her and her life, I know she is happy for us,” he said.
