In Touch Weekly and OK! Magazine both have nasty stories about Jessica Simpson and her Yalie K-Fed, Eric Johnson. Even though Jessica has just given a slew of interviews, all claiming that she postponed her wedding to Eric simply because of the pregnancy and because she didn’t want to be a “hormonal bride,” the tabloids are still running with the whole “Jessica doesn’t even know if she really wants to marry Eric” angle. I think she does want to marry him, as much as that pains me to admit. She’s getting what she paid for – a dude who will stick be her side as long as the money doesn’t run out. Anyway, In Touch Weekly’s story is basically about how Papa Joe kind of hates Eric, and Joe “pushes Eric away” and calls Eric a “sperm donor.” If Jessica is pushed into making a choice between Eric and her dad, who will she choose? *dun dun dun*
Meanwhile, OK! Mag’s cover story is all about MONEY. Specifically, Jessica’s largesse and Eric’s not-so-much, and whether Jessica will get married with or without a prenup. Here’s the story:
A fight over her fortune is holding up Jessica Simpson’s wedding to Eric Johnson – and spoiling her baby joy After years of heartbreak and humiliation, Jessica Simpson should be in ecstasy these days. The 31-year-old singer/entrepreneur is fabulously wealthy, of course, with a fashion and music empire worth anywhere from $700 million to $1 billion — and now, to make life complete, she’s aglow with her first pregnancy and engaged to a man she deeply loves, former NFL football player Eric Johnson. Ah, but this is Jessica we’re talking about, so even at this life pinnacle, there’s something to cause her anguish: Eric, who sources say had agreed to a prenuptial agreement, is now backing out and insisting on an equal share in her fortune — which is why, even as Jess’ baby bump burgeons, the couple’s wedding plans are on hold.
“Eric’s completely changed his mind,” an insider tells OK!. “He started dragging his feet, refusing to sign the prenup they’d drawn up; now he’s laying this whole guilt-trip on her about how he believes in true love and she should, too. A lot of people feel she’s been totally betrayed.”
ERIC’S HOLDING THEIR WEDDING HOSTAGE
Delaying the wedding while the down-home traditional Jessica is expecting, the insider adds, seems especially callous.“Eric knows how important it was to her to be married before the baby was born,” says the source. “She wanted to rush the wedding so that her child wouldn’t be born out of wedlock, and she wouldn’t walk down the aisle with this massive bump. And he’s basically used that as a bargaining chip.”
“The problem is that Jess really loves him and wants to make him happy,” adds the insider. “She’s such a softy at heart, and she’s so sure he’s the one, which makes it harder for her to tell him no. She almost went through with it, too, but her sister Ashlee [Simpson] stopped her. Ashlee’s going through a terrible divorce herself [with Pete Wentz] and at one time everyone thought they would last forever. If Ashlee and Pete were still together, Jessica probably would have just gone and eloped without a prenup — but her sister’s breakup really shocked her.”
PAPA JOE IS STEAMED
Fanning the flames, pals say Eric’s recalcitrance is infuriating Joe Simpson, Jessica’s extremely protective father — and, not incidentally, the architect and manager of Jessica’s many enterprises.“Without Joe’s approval, you’re as good as gone in the Simpson clan,” a longtime Jessica friend tells OK!. “Joe will make damn sure Jessica has an ironclad prenup. He’s not about to let some Yale grad get in on the empire he helped to build.”
Adds another source close to the family, “Everything Joe does is with Jessica’s best interests at heart. He wants her happy and to find that special someone, but she sometimes is completely blind to a guy’s bad side. Hello, we all remember John Mayer!”
At best, the relationship between Joe and Eric is tenuous.
“Joe runs hot and cold on Eric,” the friend says. “He wants what’s best for his daughter and for his business. Sometimes they don’t mesh, and sometimes he really questions people’s motives. With the whole Kim Kardashian–Kris Humphries divorce debacle, he wants to make sure Jessica is really thinking through the whirlwind romance and making sure everyone is on the same page.”
More than halfway through her nine months, Jessica has other concerns besides the wedding-prenup drama.
“She’s got a lot on her plate right now,” the old friend tells OK!. “Jessica is a bit of a perfectionist, and she’s really nervous about the launch of her new show, Fashion Star. She knows she needs a hit show to get back into the spotlight the way she was during [her show with Nick] Newlyweds. Fashion Star is similar to Project Runway, but it’s more mainstream, more relatable, which is how Jess feels about her clothing line.”
Still, the star realizes that this is a unique time in her life — you only become a first-time mother once — and she’s vowing to savor it.
“Jess is enjoying the pregnancy and all the perks that come with it,” the pal relates. “No one is telling her she needs to watch what she eats; no one is telling her what to do except get massages, relax watching movies and do things with as little stress as possible.”
“It’s a nice change for her,” adds the friend. “She once made a joke to me that now she knows why Kate Hudson said her favorite thing is when she’s pregnant. ‘You get to do whatever you want!’ ”
WILL IT SPLIT THEM UP?
Nevertheless, many of Jessica’s friends are worried about how Eric’s financial hard-line will affect the future of their relationship.“It’s been really strained, and Jessica has random crying fits,” the insider tells OK!. “She can’t believe he’s not giving her what she wants. But at the same time, she’s totally crazy about him.”
Bottom line? “Jess wants to have the baby already and start motherhood,” her longtime friend says. “And she just doesn’t want to mess up the relationship with Eric — not when she’s this close to having everything she’s always wanted.”
[From OK! Magazine]
Jesus, that was a long article. As for its veracity… who are you going to believe, Farty or Farty’s unnamed friends and insiders? I tend to believe a little of both. I genuinely think Jessica didn’t want to have a shotgun wedding. She wants to only do one thing at a time, and right now is her time to just concentrate on being pregnant and what she’s going to eat next. But! I’ll also believe that Papa Joe and Eric are having issues, and that the money issue is probably a factor in Eric’s relationship with both Jessica and her father. You know that Eric is on Jessica’s payroll now, right? He’s basically an employee, being paid by the Farty Empire to play golf and fetch things for Jessica. Eh, there are worse things, and maybe he really will stick around.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.
If it is all about money and pre nups it’s disgusting. How much money does one person need? Half of a billion is still more money than all readers of this website will earn in several lifetimes combined. I’m not wasting any tears on these two.
Simpleton fashion empire can not be worth over 700 million dollars… Where r they getting there number from. Also she licensed her named to that company that makes her products, wonder how much they pay her
Forbes did a story on her empire. She herself is worth about 100 million. And years ago they sold the rights or some portion of her line. I can’t remember how it was set up. She definitely gets money per year from the business and many many years from now may become a billionaire but right now not even close.
She will not marry this guy. I think the bloom is off the rose.
I don’t know what to believe and don’t care either way. She did say in an interview that Eric is very calm, maybe that’s what she needs especially now.
It’s no wonder she “hid” the pregnancy for so long…She had to know these rumors about a “baby daddY” would be flying like crazy right after she let it out.
Hmmmmmm….. doesn’t want to sign prenup….. Me thinks he is thinking that in the future he will be the ex-Mr. Simpson and wants to be comfy for life…. Don’t marry him till he gets a job that isn’t on your payroll and signs the prenup.
If you have to pay for your boyfriend to stick around, then you know you’re in trouble. Surely, even somebody as dumb as Jessica knows that otherwise she wouldn’t think of letting him sign a prenup. But that Eric guy wants it all, so the baby is an insurance if things do fall out. Marriage or not, he’s getting PAID!
Jessica, really if you want to be a powerwoman, you shouldn’t had Erica let you knock up. Just saying, if he really loved you, he would do anything to keep you not the other way around…
I so want her boots in that last picture!!!
Jess is gonna do what Jess is gonna do.
Papa Joe Pimpson needs to go away. He’s already destroyed one marriage and enforced another. (Both of which have ended.)
She had to buy a boyfriend and baby daddy. Now the dude wants what was promised. If women can gold dig, why not a man? Hope the dude holds out for some big coin.
Yes, I said that.
The Simpsons have been sued many times for their sleazy business dealings. I say good for Eric Johnson for not taking their first offer. He should stand firm and demand to be compensated for his sperm donation. After all, his sperm got Jessica some attention in the tabloids and it will continue to get her coverage when the baby is born and she parades it in front to the paps. That has to be worth a lot to the fame hungry family.
He’s been promoted from Paid Escort to Reproduction Assistant and he is right to expect a raise.
If he doesn’t sign the prenup she shouldn’t marry him. No one gets married thinking they will end up in divorce but unfortunately it happens. It’s her fortune. He clearly is in it for the money, why not sign then? She is better off staying single.
I highly doubt these 2 will make it down the aisle. Jessica does not seem to be very happy, I think in the back of her mind she knows she messed up big time when she decided to divorce Nick.
All he wanted was a wife and a family….. Now he has a wife in Vanessa and hopefully soon they will have kids and I bet Jessica will be upset, but it’s her loss.
Hmmm….Here’s the thing, I’m not wealthy in the least but if I’m going to share my life with someone that means who I am now and who I was before. Once we get married what is mine and was mine is now yours (good and bad alike). Grant it, I wouldn’t be going into it divorced or contemplating ever getting one. So if someone DEMANDED a prenup form me I’d question where they thought the relationship was headed (especially if I’d already gone through divorce once!) and be pretty upset about it. I was thinking I’d go ahead and marry them after reluctantly signing the prenup but honestly, if someone wasn’t going into it with the mindset of forever, I don’t think we’d be walking that aisle.
Don’t think SHE could ever love someone as much as Nick but she probably thinks he’s the next best thing. Clooney just admitted to having potty-humor and loving all things fart-related so why is it so hard to believe that Eric could like/love her and the things we believe are undesirable? If so, it makes sense that he’d be upset especially if he thought Papa Joe was trying to steam roll him and control their relationship. It also makes sense that she doesn’t want to make him sign. This all sounds like Papa Joe’s doing and I have no way of knowing if its really Eric staking claim to everything or wanting to commit fully to marriage the 2nd time around.
Anyway, all that to ask…. how many of us if we thought we found the one we want to spend the rest of our lives with and are willing to parent with would demand a prenup? How many of us would willingly, happily sign a prenup if asked?
Of course this is true! Eric Johnson has the word ‘douche bag’ written all over his freeloader forehead.
I stay stick to your guns Jess (and family). If he is marrying for love, he will sign that pre-nup, if not, it just proves he’s in it for the dollar bills.
Sad for Jess. She lost the best fairytale romance of her life with Nick. They were so compatible and cute together. Makes me wanna cry when I see how miserable both of them are now with their prospective ball and chains (literally and figurately).
I have absolutely zero respect for this guy. He’s a user, plain and simple. He does nothing for himself, just sticks like a parasite to her and lives off her money. Getting pregnant by him was a big mistake, imo. Marrying him would be compounding that mistake. Run away Jess. You can do better than some lazy non-working loser. Where’s his self-respect? By being with her he’s getting to live a multi-million dollar lifestyle …what is she getting from him? Can she even be sure he really loves HER? If her money suddenly disappeared, would he still be there? Somehow I doubt it.
He should sign a prenup. A prenup doesn’t mean he will treated unfairly. In all likelihood he will be fairly compensated for his contribution to the union. I’d sign a prenup. Get the lawyers involved. Hash out something reasonable. No biggie.
Liz Taylor was one of the first in Hollywood (Eddie Fisher demanded money when they divorced), but we’ve now definitely entered an age where male golddiggers have become quite common.
Amyone remember the blind reveal on CDAN about the couple screaming over the details of a prenup in the lawyer’s office? It was Jessica and this guy. I completely get gold digger vibe off him and no way should she marry him. Ever.
We haven’t seen much of Papa Joe lately have we? I think Papa Joe and Jess and Mama Kris and Kim should all just marry each other.
And Clooney pays to squire his girls around so why not Jess? If I was rich I wouldn’t want my man stuck at home either. But, I do agree with everyone he is a loser because I wouldn’t want a man who didn’t have ambition beyond my money. And I refuse to buy any Jessica Simpson products. All of her shoes are knock-offs of designer brands.
Why get legally married at all?
No matter how much it pains so many here. The girl has a empire. And a bad marriage to man without income of his own. Will destroy her empire. Because bitter, to soon to be ex’s, always insist on selling it off. To “get their fair share”.
Jessica was bitter as hell when she had to pay Nick his share of their income. Rumor to have been around 10-12 million. And at least he was part of earning it.
No matter how goofy she may act, Jessica is not about to have to cash out to another ex-husband.
I suspect she made a fair offer in the pre-nup. But it looks like Eric has some future plans… and wants half.
And if that is the case. Then don’t legally marry him.
Move him out of your house. Let him pay his own bills for awhile. There is no shame in keeping him as a boyfriend. Just don’t make him your husband.
And I would say the same to any man too. When you have a complex business with income coming from everywhere. Get that pre-nup!
It’s been obvious for a while that Eric is a DB and a golddigger. I’m not a huge fan of Jessica, but she’s worked hard since she was a kid, and she deserves better than this guy.
And, having been through a bitter divorce with a sociopath, EVERYONE should get a pre-nup. Judy Judy said that years ago, that even if you own very little when you get married, get a prenup, because if a divorce happens, it will make it much easier. She was 100% right.
Marriage is, legally, a contract and is a civil matter.
It pains me to say this, but the truth really is that marriage is overrated….WAY OVERRATED.
I am seriously conflicted. I agree WITH BOTH @NM9005 & @Pyewacket’s opinions.
I guess there are two sides to me. The hopeless romantic….and….the realist.
I agree that Jessica really is PAYING for this dude to be around. Also, for what poor Eric has to put up with…all that farting, Jessica’s MONSTER father…hell…he SHOULD be on a payroll!!!
My impression is that Eric isn’t as “in love” w/Jessica as she is w/Eric. I also think Jessica is just in love w/the IDEA of being in love…and Eric was an easy and willing target.
I’ll say this…I give Eric credit for not being steamrolled by Joe Simpson. I think that Joe the Monster Father ruined & mitigated the relationship between Jessica and Nick Lachey. Nick was young, in love, and a young idiot. He learned his lesson well, though.
Anyways….Jessica’s parents are big “Christian people.” Hell, IMO they are no more christian than a regular cut-throat you’d run into on the street. At the end of the day it’s like this: Jessica is stupid and her whole family consists of money-hungry “Christian” cut-throats. Okay…end. of. rant!
@Kasey
In most states (all by now?) what was yours before getting married will be yours when you get a divorce (car, house, pet, etc.), unless you specify it is now joint property in a prenup, or unless you change a title, deed, etc.
Thanks for that info @seal team I’m not from the US, I’ve lived there for 10 years and am not familiar with marriage/divorce laws. Apparently its a LOT easier to get a divorce in the US than where I’m from.
Anyway, if that’s the case and what’s yours before is yours after, why the prenup? If anything they should be fighting solely on him wanting to go joint. I’m so confused by this all.
I guess I’m alone in not seeing why two people who claim to want to make a life-time commitment to each other need to fight about this. But it seems I agree with all of you who feel that they should either choose to commit and stick it out or just stay not married.
If the genders were switched would you still be saying the same thing?
Since half of all marriages, whether celebrity or not, end in divorce, she would be a fool to not have him sign a prenup. Didn’t she have to fork out a ton of cash to get rid of Nick? If Eric does believe in true love, he should have no problem signing it. Jessica is a smart girl, aside from the whole chicken of the sea thing.
Consider the source(s). It’s In Touch and OK Magazines, AGAIN. She’s probably waiting so she can look beautiful at her wedding. Everybody doesn’t look great pregnant. Maybe they just love each other and whether or not he’s rich is not a big deal to her. No matter what, I don’t think she’d marry a guy who would only agree to marry her ONLY if he could split her fortune and not sign a pre-nup. But he’d be out of line to ask for that. If they marry and ultimately divorce, she could reach a settlement with him and he’d be set for life, and she’d never even miss the money.
“In most states (all by now?) what was yours before getting married will be yours when you get a divorce (car, house, pet, etc.), unless you specify it is now joint property in a prenup, or unless you change a title, deed, etc.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is not remotely true in Texas.
You get the pre-nup in order to state what is yours.
That if the marriage ends in divorce… you will be keeping everything you listed in the pre-nup.
Your house. Your car. Your gun collection. Your cat. 🙂
Without that pre-nup, E.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g becomes community property. And your soon to be ex will be getting their half of all your shit.
There is no protection of your personal belongings, that your owned before marriage, without it.
@bluhare
Yes, I would. After my bitter and horrible divorce, I agree with Judge Judy: EVERYONE should have a prenup.
Community property doesn’t mean you don’t keep what was yours before the marriage. I was married and divorced in a community property state, and my car and certain other things were legally off the table.
I just checked, and it appears that in TX, what was yours before the marriage is still yours, unless you change the title or whatever (car, cat, gun collection!).
This is all fascinating to me. I would NEVER think of getting a prenup. Then again, I don’t really have much in the bank and only own some property in the Caribbean that still has my living parents’ names on it.
This is a completely different approach to marriage than I would have considered. Perhaps its cultural. I still don’t like it and it makes me uncomfortable but….if ever I do get married and IF he happens to be from the US, I guess I shouldn’t get all vexed if he asks for a prenup then, eh?
Jessica is not as dumb as people think. DO NOT marry him without a prenup Jess. Does he even have a job?
I don’t believe in marriage anyway but if I would marry (weird statement but hey roll with it =) ) I would take seperate contracts in combination with a joint one to protect your belongings but also share things with the partner. You just have to keep track what you buy during your marriage. When you would divorce, there’s nothing to bitch about.
And marriage is mostly business and hard work to keep it going, it’s an institution. People seem to forget that and take the “they lived happily ever after” thing too seriously. Romance doesn’t apply anymore in many cases when you ask a divorce, many people can vouch for that! If people would take their precautions before marriage, you don’t have to fight for everything when it gets nasty and your not capable of thinking fair anymore.
Good for him but Jess – don’t marry him. The child is already out of wedlock there is no point. He’s a total gold digger. Does he even work?
If I was worth 100 million, I would have a prenup. I am sure he has no problem with that. It’s how they are structuring the prenup he is probably fighting. He wants more.
“softy in the heart….?” How about softy in the head? I severly doubt there’s going to be a “nup”, so there won’t be a need for a pre-nup. Having said that, despite what her friends say, she’s one of the stupidest primates that ever lived so I bet she’ll marry him without a pre-nup and then actually be shocked as shit when he dumps her.
“it’s something that you need to have, coz when he leaves your ass he’s leaves with half……”
PS. Jess I think it’s worse you’re having a baby with this douche than marrying him.
Well, if it’s an arrangement which suits both of them and they want to make each other happy, why don’t they make a sensible agreement? If she gives him cash, it probably goes right back to her anyway (in form of gifts etc.). And she has so much of it too. Should be easy to make each other happy in this set up.
Kimbob: Marriage overrated really? Compare this to people who have kids before marriage alot of these kids end up on welfare and/or in prison. Rich people can have kids with whom they like but money can NEVER give a child a stable childhood. The problem with Hollywood is that they treat each other like disposable items regardless of the consequences i.e. the children.