Jessica Simpson Reveals Details On Nick Lachey Marriage: ‘We Got Crushed By The Media’
Jessica Simpson is an opening up about her first love. In her memoir, Open Book, the 39-year-old singer and fashion designer is giving details about her first marriage to 98 Degrees alum Nick Lachey.
In excerpts from Open Book obtained by People, Jessica, who is now married to NFL player Eric Johnson, wrote that Nick was her “first love” after meeting him at a party in 1998 before her music career really took off.
“He knew me as this young innocent 18-year-old that had never been introduced to the world in so many ways,” Jessica wrote. “I went straight from my father to him.”
The singer also gave insight into why her seven-year relationship with Lachey crumbled after the young couple starred on the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. The show, which debuted less than one year after their 2002 wedding, followed the first two years of the couple’s marriage.
“We were young and pioneering our way through reality television, always mic’d and always on,” Jessica wrote. ” We worked and we were great at it but when it came time to being alone, we weren’t great at it anymore. We really got crushed by the media and by ourselves.”
Jessica revealed that ultimately she could no longer lie to her fans and pretend they were “this perfect golden couple.”
It was Jessica who asked Nick for a divorce, according to Open Book excerpts posted by Hollywood Life. Regarding press reports at the time in which Nick reportedly said he was blindsided by her divorce request, Jessica wrote, ” I don’t know how. At that point, we were not even speaking to each other.”
Nick and Jessica divorced in 2006, one year after Newlyweds was canceled by MTV after three seasons.
While they are no longer in each other’s lives, Jessica also wrote that Nick will always mean a lot to her. Instead of writing a dishy tell-all about her ex, the mom of three explained that she wants to be “very respectful” when writing about Nick because she married him for “a reason.” She also noted that Nick, who is now married to Vanessa Minnillo Lachey, has a family now and she would “never say anything to disrespect that.”
Nick previously told E! News that while he wishes his ex-wife “the best,” he hasn’t spoken to her in years. The 98 Degrees alum also described his marriage to Jessica as “another lifetime ago,” and joked that he doesn’t sit around and watch old Newlyweds DVDs with his family.
In addition to her relationship with Lachey, Jessica dropped details about her post-divorce romance with singer John Mayer in her Open Book memoir. The former Newlyweds star wrote that Mayer was “obsessed” with her both physically and emotionally when they were dating.
