Jessica Simpson Said 1 Ex Made Her Realize She Was ‘A Pet Bird’
Jessica Simpson has been blissfully married to Eric Johnson since 2014, and their love story began as strangers who met at her house party. Before that, she experienced a public courtship, marriage, and breakup with boy band singer Nick Lachey.
The singer/fashion mogul had her share of heartbreaks, but there’s one celebrity who affected Simpson to the point where she felt like a “pet bird.”
Jessica Simpson dated other celebrities after her marriage ended
Following her split from Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson had relationships with several other famous men, and two of them were Tony Romo and John Mayer. She and Romo met through her father and dated for about two years before ending it in 2009. Some people may remember the teasing she took in the media when she was branded as a jinx following his team’s loss.
At the time, Simpson and Romo were not shy about PDA and expressing their love for each other. But John Mayer was also in the mix. Simpson dated the singer months after she and Lachey separated, and they broke up several times during their first year together.
In her memoir, Open Book, Simpson wrote about how Mayer would break up with her regularly and he typically did it via email. On one occasion, he did it the night before a major tribute performance for Dolly Parton and then followed up the next day with a phone call. Simpson was too devastated to perform.
Why Simpson and Romo split
Simpson admittedly had a tumultuous relationship with Mayer, one that she described as a “merry-go-round.” She wrote that he’d dump her and then ask to get back after he realized he loved her.
“Every time John returned, I thought it was a continuation of a love story, while my friends saw a guy coming back for sex with some foolish girl,” said Simpson. She had an epiphany not long after her breakup with Romo, and it was partly because Mayer played an indirect role in her relationship’s demise.
Simpson explained how Mayer kept himself attached to her family and would often pop up without her knowing in advance. Romo discovered an email from Mayer to Simpson that mentioned the shower not working at her parents’ house. He thought she was cheating and broke up with her.
Though Romo later recognized he was wrong, Simpson felt it was time to move on. Since Mayer had declared his love for her to her parents and still sent her messages, she thought she was “in the closing scenes of a sweeping, epic, love story.” Simpson drove to see her ex.
Simpson said she had a realization about John Mayer
Mayer shut down the notion of getting back with her, and instead wanted to play his new music for her. Mayer told Simpson the songs were about her. When she countered with a suggestion that the songs could’ve been about other women he dated, what he said next made her sick.
“He paused, then told me he could never find material to write with her,” Simpson wrote. “I almost puked. I was material,” she reflected. She figured he was fueling his musical pursuits by tormenting himself with repeat breakups — with her.
She recalled how many times and the manner in which Mayer ended things. Sometimes, they weren’t even having problems and other times, she accepted blame.
“Now I knew the truth. I was a pet bird. He would throw me into the sky and watch me catch air and soar long enough that it meant something when he pulled a gun from his back pocket to shoot me down, expertly aiming to graze a wing, never a kill shot to end the misery,” Simpson said.
She admitted that although she should have, she didn’t leave him for good in that moment. What Simpson did realize was that she wouldn’t play the bird game again so Mayer could reap a song.
