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Details Revealed About Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey
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00:00Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey each established themselves in the music industry during the 90s,
00:06but it was their hit reality show newlyweds that made them one of the
00:10it couples of the 2000s. Alas, the pop star's relationship would not make it to the next decade.
00:18Without their initial pursuits in the music business, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey
00:23might never have met. When she was a kid, Simpson auditioned for the all-new Mickey Mouse Club
00:29years before getting her record deal with Columbia in 1997. According to the Dallas Observer,
00:35an A&R representative listened to the singer's demo tape, then approved of her vocals in person,
00:41and took her to Sony's New York headquarters. Tommy Mottola, then the CEO and chairman of
00:47Sony Music Entertainment, signed Simpson after hearing her perform live. According to CBS News,
00:54Nick Lachey attended the School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati,
00:59and left Miami University in Ohio to pursue a music career. Nick, his brother Drew Lachey,
01:05Justin Jeffrey, and Jeff Timmons would eventually become one of the biggest boy bands of the era.
01:11According to Sacramento News & Review, 98 Degrees was discovered backstage at a Boys to Men concert
01:18when they sang a cappella for a radio station. The band signed with Motown Records in 1996.
01:25The record deals and early opportunities were huge milestones in Simpson's and Lachey's professional
01:31lives, but the events were also instrumental in bringing the artists together later.
01:37Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's dreams of stardom would lead both of them to the 1998
01:42Hollywood Christmas Parade. When their paths crossed at the holiday event, sparks flew. Simpson wrote in
01:48her autobiography, Open Book. He came over, walking in a more casual version of the onstage boy band
01:55saunter I'd come to see him do time and again, but still purposeful.
02:00Hi, I'm Nick, he said. Hello, my life, I thought.
02:03The couple soon reunited after the parade at a Teen People Party in Boca Raton, Florida. Simpson
02:09attended the event with her mother and manager, Tina Simpson, and Nick Lachey was there with his mom,
02:14too. As legend has it, Nick told his mother,
02:18Mom, your mission for tonight is to get me in good with this girl.
02:22Jessica confided in her mom as well, saying,
02:25Oh, I said, Mom, that's the man I'm gonna marry.
02:27Simpson and Lachey's stars were on the rise as their relationship blossomed.
02:32Simpson toured with 98 Degrees throughout the summer of 1999,
02:36and the couple appeared on MTV's New Year's Eve party that December.
02:41Around the time of the release of Nick and Jessica's Where You Are duet,
02:45Simpson was asked constantly about her love life. In Open Book, she remembered a Teen People interview,
02:51where they asked me about being a virgin. I said I wanted to wait until I got married.
02:56As BuzzFeed wrote in 2021,
02:59the media fetishized her virginity, sexualized the hell out of her,
03:03and then slut-shamed her anytime she did anything remotely sexual.
03:07Simpson shared in her memoir that she was surprised at all the attention surrounding
03:12her personal life, and said,
03:14Interviewers asked Nick and me about my virginity at every appearance,
03:18and my take was that it wasn't so much about saving myself, but building up anticipation.
03:24Lachey and Simpson were both so busy being pop stars that they spent much of their relationship
03:29talking to each other on the phone.
03:31If anyone sitting at home who thinks it's really cool and exciting to date Jessica Simpson, this is it.
03:35All we do is skip rocks.
03:38Simpson wrote,
03:39We were both concerned about our careers, and our anxieties just seemed to feed off each other.
03:45She told Lachey that the two of them needed to take a break,
03:48just to see what would happen if we both focused solely on work. But the two stayed in contact and
03:54remained supportive. Simpson went on tour alongside Destiny's Child, and Lachey continued his music career
04:00with 98 Degrees. When her Irresistible album sold 120,000 copies in its first week, Simpson recalled
04:08that Lachey sent flowers and a card. She said he wrote,
04:12I'm very proud of you and with what you're doing in your life. I'm happy I can be a part of it. I love you.
04:18In September 2001, Lachey was in New York City to perform a tribute to Michael Jackson at Madison
04:25Square Garden. In Open Book, Simpson shared that Lachey reached out to her following the 9-11
04:30attacks and told her,
04:32I only want to be with you. In February 2002, Lachey asked Simpson to marry him while they were in Hawaii.
04:39Simpson told People,
04:41I was wearing a huge sweatshirt that came down to my knees. If I had known he was going to propose,
04:47I would have at least dressed up cute.
04:50Simpson was all-in when it came to wedding planning, but Lachey was more interested in
04:54watching the budget. In her memoir, Simpson talked about how Lachey wanted a prenuptial agreement,
05:00but she wasn't interested. She revealed,
05:03Part of the tabloid mythology of our marriage is that my dad played hardball and refused.
05:08No, this was an intimate discussion between a man and his soon-to-be wife. Which is to say
05:13that I exploded. Even though her dad wasn't the driving force in dropping the prenup talk,
05:19Simpson did claim her father, quote,
05:21was awful through the whole engagement and against the marriage.
05:24In preparation for the big day, Simpson said she followed a dangerously strict diet that
05:30had begun in her teen years at her record label's urging. She wrote,
05:34I had upped my dosage of diet pills and was eating even less to be super thin for the wedding.
05:40Speedy and hungry, I was easy to set off.
05:43Jessica Simpson became Mrs. Lachey in Austin, Texas on October 26, 2002, with more than 300 guests
05:51present. Simpson revealed to InStyle that she had the lyrics to the 98 Degrees ballad My Everything
05:58etched into her engagement ring.
06:01As Simpson shared in her memoir, the newly minted Lachey's became even more famous when their reality
06:07show, newlyweds Nick and Jessica debuted on MTV. The 2000 series set the couple up for drama,
06:14and they had to deal with the duality of living their lives while becoming entertaining caricatures
06:19of themselves.
06:20Is this chicken what I have, or is this fish?
06:25I know it's tuna, but it says chicken.
06:28Simpson wrote,
06:29When the show premiered on August 19th, it was like someone slammed the accelerator on
06:34our lives and marriage, pushing it to the highest possible speed.
06:38Both Simpson and Lachey have acknowledged the problems that their newlyweds personas created.
06:44Lachey told Rolling Stone,
06:46Jessica and I began playing these parts even when we were by ourselves.
06:50It became a truly blurred line. There was a question about what truly was our reality.
06:55Like all reality TV, the activities captured on the show weren't always real life.
07:01The camping trip episode in season one was the production's idea, not the couple's.
07:06Simpson recalled,
07:07As Nick did stuff like load the car or cook the burgers,
07:11I asked aloud,
07:12Am I supposed to be helping? Not so much to fulfill my role as a new wife,
07:16but to act out my role as a character.
07:19The whole concept of the newlywed show was Jessica's dad, Joe Simpson's idea.
07:24She recounted in her book that her dad pitched the reality series in hopes of getting her music
07:29more MTV airtime.
07:32The cameras kept rolling for newlyweds, but the spark between Nick Lachey and Jessica
07:37Simpson dissipated with time. The couple was surrounded by attention as Simpson's music
07:42excelled while Lachey's solo ventures didn't. Lachey told Rolling Stone,
07:47Jessica's label did this really smart thing and tied her next single into the show.
07:52Lachey's label didn't seize the opportunity to do the same, and he said his record stagnated as a
07:58result. In her 2003 Rolling Stone cover story, Simpson said,
08:03I believe Nick and I are going to last forever, and if we don't, it'll make a good reality show.
08:09Simpson hinted that she and Lachey were still in love, but they didn't necessarily get along.
08:14She noted,
08:15Everything I did seemed to annoy him. The couple had arguments over money,
08:20with Lachey continually surprised at Simpson's expensive purchases.
08:25Some newlyweds episodes showed him questioning the money she spent on sheets,
08:29underwear, and a $55,000 watch for his birthday.
08:34Simpson and Lachey continued to have trouble with one another and grew more distant. Rumors began to
08:40swirl about divorce and infidelity on both sides, particularly regarding Lachey's night at a
08:46bachelor party and Simpson's time with her The Dukes of Hazzard co-star Johnny Knoxville.
08:52In her book, Simpson noted of she and Knoxville,
08:55We were both married, so this wasn't going to get physical. But to me,
08:59an emotional affair was worse than a physical one. Simpson continued,
09:04We didn't want to give anybody the satisfaction of seeing us publicly humiliated with a divorce,
09:09so we continued to play our newlyweds' roles.
09:12Lachey had a slightly different point of view at the time, telling Rolling Stone,
09:17I wasn't trying to defend myself in the press. I was trying to defend my marriage to my spouse.
09:23The couple worked as a team once more for a trip to Iraq to entertain and spend time with troops.
09:29Simpson wrote that they gave marriage counseling a try after the trip,
09:32but it didn't save the relationship.
09:35As Simpson recalled in Open Book, she told Lachey just before Thanksgiving 2005 that she wanted a
09:42divorce. Lachey admitted to Rolling Stone he felt, quote, blindsided, and even after they decided to
09:48sleep on it, Simpson was sure she was ready to move on. In December 2005, People reported Simpson filed
09:55for divorce from her then-husband. Their joint statement read,
09:59After three years of marriage and careful thought and consideration,
10:04we have decided to part ways. This is the mutual decision of two people with an enormous amount
10:09of respect and admiration for each other. We hope that you respect our privacy during this difficult
10:15time. Simpson recounted in her memoir a conversation she had with Lachey where he told her he would go to
10:22counseling again in an effort to make their relationship work. She replied,
10:26Love is not enough. If love was enough, I would stay forever.
10:31In 2006, fresh starts for both Simpson and Lachey were in the works. The 98 Degrees member went solo
10:38and released What's Left of Me, which sold more than 500,000 copies and went gold.
10:44That same year, Total Request Live VJ Vanessa Manilo appeared in the music video for Lachey's post-Split
10:51Ballad. While it wasn't the first time their paths crossed, it set the wheels in motion for a
10:56relationship. The now couple recalled to Billboard that Sparks flew when it was time to promote the
11:01clip on TRL. Chatting with Tamron Hall about the first time she saw the video for What's Left of Me,
11:07Simpson said,
11:08He did play it for me that night, and it was, like — it was heartbreaking,
11:13and I didn't understand — I mean, I did understand.
11:17After the divorce, Simpson focused on her clothing and lifestyle brand Jessica Simpson Collection.
11:23She also continued to pursue an acting career and got back in the dating game. In her memoir,
11:29Simpson discussed her life as a single woman and the beginnings of her tumultuous
11:34relationship with John Mayer, whom she, quote, dated in secret for months.
11:39Now that interested parties have read Jessica Simpson's memoir,
11:43it's clear she and Nick Lachey are living separate,
11:46successful lives without the past intruding too much. After Nick and Vanessa Lachey became husband
11:52and wife, Simpson married retired NFL tight end Eric Johnson in 2014. The Lachey's have three children
12:00together, and Johnson and Simpson have three kids as well. In addition to happy personal lives,
12:06Lachey and Simpson are doing well professionally. Following his big win on The Masked Singer,
12:11Nick Lachey is making music and performing again with 98 Degrees. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer,
12:18the boy band launched 98 Days of Summer in June 2021, promising fans new music and live shows.
12:25Simpson continues to tell her story. According to Variety, Simpson's memoir inspired a scripted series
12:33in addition to an unscripted docu-series with two essays for Amazon Original Stories.
12:39When Simpson released the first piece in 2021, she wrote on Instagram,
12:44"...I felt strong, resilient, and got inspired through my pen teaching me as I was sharing with
12:49you ways to get to the other side of fear."
12:52Simpson and Lachey have gone through heartache, but they've moved on, as Lachey said on Today in 2020,
12:58noting,
12:59"...there's definitely a mutual respect there."
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