I’m from the “pioneer generation” of reality-show consuming. Meaning, my favorite reality shows were the first ones, the first experimentations with mass-market, cable-network reality programming, like the first seasons of MTV’s The Real World and MTV’s Newlyweds. (Incidentally, I also consumed that terrible reality show about Dave Narravo and Carmen Electra and it was GREAT.) This is part of the reason why I don’t care for the Real Housewives and Vanderpump Rules and those types of shows now – because I remember when reality shows were truly flying by the seat of their pants and crazy, random sh-t would happen.
Anyway, the youths don’t know about Newlyweds and how it absolutely changed the reality show landscape. It felt like MTV and Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey totally fell backwards into a massively successful phenomenon. Jessica’s music career had been rather middling, but she became America’s Dumb Sweetheart and she was everywhere. So of course she talks about her first marriage and the reality show in her memoir, Open Book. Previously, she discussed her relationship with John Mayer (her first big romance post-Lachey), but what about Nick?
On marrying Nick in 2002: “He was my first love,” Simpson tells PEOPLE. She writes, “Nick loved the fact I was so strong in my faith and that I had this wide-eyed innocent approach to life. When he proposed in 2002, I said yes.”
The reality show hurt their marriage: The toll of nonstop work, the constant presence of cameras, and the fact that they grew apart as they grew up, made her realize it wasn’t meant to last. “We were young and pioneering our way through reality television, always miced and always on,” says Simpson, now 39. “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,” admits Simpson, who asked for a divorce in 2005. “I couldn’t lie to our fans and I couldn’t give somebody hope that we were this perfect golden couple.”
How she thinks of Nick now: “I respect Nick very much. I was really young and my success hadn’t really begun. He knew me as this young innocent 18-year-old that had never been introduced to the world in so many ways. I went straight from my father to him. Nick’s very smart. He was eight years older than me, but he was also young.”
She isn’t going to bad-mouth him: “We meant a lot to each other and we always will,” she says of Lachey, now married to Vanessa Minnillo Lachey, with whom he has three kids. “I want to be very respectful because I married him for a reason and we were together for seven years for a reason. He has a family now and I would never say anything to disrespect that.” Still, she admits of those years, “I didn’t know myself.”
I don’t think anyone who watched Newlyweds actually thought they had a good marriage built on a solid foundation. They had a young, innocent love. She was extremely inexperienced in every way. Nick was controlling, and her father was controlling and that’s the way Nick and Papa Simpson wanted it, and that’s why they kept her so innocent, so they could manipulate her. That being said, I believed Nick cared about her. I think he was just surprised that people fell in love with Jessica so much on Newlyweds. Anyway, no harm, no foul. Classic starter marriage between two people who weren’t prepared for any of it.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I don’t think it’s super fair to call Nick controlling. He was a grownup on the show, and she was noooot. It was funny to watch, but they were the odd couple, and were never going to last.
Totally agree. I don’t think Nick came off as controlling. Nick wasn’t the issue. Jessica’s parents doing everything for her and then letting her go into the world not know ANYTHING about the real world was the problem. Unfortunately, Nick was the adult in the relationship.
Dealing with people like that, whose parents do EVERYTHING for them, even as adults, is so difficult.
I never really watched much of the show, but I got the impression Nick was a decent guy, they just got married too soon and Jessica hadn’t had a chance to grow up yet.
I remember that show & feeling quite sorry for Nick. They never did anything without her family. Even an episode when they were going off to get “away”….her parents came.
Yeah, I never saw Nick as controlling, her dad was though. It seemed that Nick was surprised by how immature/unprepared Jessica was when they moved together and he needed to step up to ensure that the household worked. That wasn’t Jessica’s fault at all: she had been molded into this person by her parents and would have gained to spend time on her own. Gosh I hate her dad!
I never thought Nick was controlling, just amazed that he had to teach her everything about life. Her family did her no favors, and I hated how popular it became to be actively ignorant as long as you’re beautiful.
I always liked Nick for the fact that he was asked about her no premarital sex stance, and his answer was a simple (paraphrasing here) “that wasn’t an important value for me, but it was to her so of course we didn’t have sex before marriage.” He didn’t expect some ticker tape parade for being a good guy.
“I hated how popular it became to be actively ignorant as long as you’re beautiful.”
I totally agree. That dumb blonde stereotype that she and Paris Hilton leaned into during the early years of reality tv was so frustrating that I stopped watching those kinds of shows altogether.
@jaimie
Yep. I was a teen and in my early 20s and hated that society and the media was glorifying the dumb blonde stereotype. It felt insulting to me and my middle class peers working while in local colleges.
She was just SO young and inexperienced, and wanted a caretaker significant other. Plus, they were one of those couples that got engaged and married in the wake of 9/11. It seems like they went into it with the best of intentions but it’s hard to live with another person day in and day out, so no foul on this marriage not working out. Jessica also seems like she’s done some pretty major soul searching with her sobriety, good on her. It’s like we’re seeing her finally be open and honest with herself for the first time after trying to cram herself into a specific persona for years. I think its really awesome.
Yeah, I never saw Nick as controlling. I thought he came off as a great guy and could never understand what he saw in her. She was the one who came off looking less than great.
I really appreciate that neither of them significantly trash talked the other after their divorce, whether it was because of an NDA in the divorce settlement or not. Sure, there has been some snark but I think the worst I ever heard was Nick commenting on Joe, not Jessica.
I didn’t think of him as particularly controlling, but he was older, had been on his own, was conscious of money and more self-sufficient while she had been famous from a younger age and used to having everything taken care of, from money to basic household tasks.
Opposites attract, and get huge ratings. Newlyweds pretty much made Jessica Simpson a phenomenon, for the time, as it broke her out of the pack of Britney/Christina/Pink. Thought this was a great way to handle it for the book.
They never seemed very compatible on newlyweds but they both seemed nice enough.
MORE IMPORTANTLY…Til Death (the Carmen Electra/Dave Navarro show) was very underrated. I was so disappointed when they got divorced
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was into Til Death. Carmen and Dave were super hot and I’ve always been a fan of his music. I enjoyed Newlyweds and the Osbournes too, but I’m with Kaiser when it comes to current reality shows. The only ones I can stomach now are Project Runway (I miss Heidi and Tim!) and Househunters, which I guess aren’t technically reality shows, lol
Yes…”Til Death” WAS the show…and I was happy when Carmen and Dave hooked up…and not even shocked that they didn’t make it….
In relationships…timing…is EVERYTHING!
YAAAS i loved Til Death!
Does anyone remember back in the AOL bulletin board days (mid 90’s) when Dave went into rehab but kept posting of his obsession with Fiona Apple? Then he went AWOL. Good times
I hope she is very happy with her current husband. Other than retired from the NFL, I know nothing about him as I do not follow the NFL.
Sadly, I read too much gossip and know a little bit, lol! He’s smart, Ivy League grad (Yale or Princeton), was accepted to Wharton b-school and deferred then declined admission when he got involved with Jessica. He was still married when they started dating, have read he was separated and in the process of divorce, also had read there was some overlap between the ex-wife and Jessica timelines.
Yes to all this and he was a very good NFL tight end. He played for the niners and Saints.
i didn’t know his middle name was maxwell! people gave jessica shit for naming her daughter maxwell but i don’t remember any article mentioning that it was eric’s middle name.
That show was so great to watch. They were both endearing and their dynamic was hilarious. I wouldn’t say he was controlling (as a viewer), more like he knew the ins and outs of actually being an adult.
She is more powerful than she knew back then. She is a bright and special lady, honest and open and yes she can come off as an “airhead”, but we all have our quirks. She seems like she has a big heart and humble spirit, and wow she truly was so so incredibly beautiful. Still is! It makes me happy to hear that she has acknowledged her addiction and now has help for it.
I mean, it makes me sad. I do think Nick cared about her.. but like she said, he was a good chunk older than she was, and her dad had controlled her life to that point. I feel like it wasn’t the best situation for either her OR Nick.
She went from being controlled by daddy, to being married and didn’t really have a chance to have her own life experience or growth during or between. I married the guy I had started seeing in 9th grade. But my own dad had really made a point to raise a daughter who could be capable on her own and he wanted to make sure I wasn’t just going to be relying on my partner for finances and decision making. While my parents are just as flawed as the next… I do really appreciate that they spent so much time reminding me of all the potential bad things that could happen and really wanted me to be independent, and an equal partner in any relationship. I just can’t ever imagine saying “I went from my father to my husband” even though I essentially went from living at home to being a home owner planning a wedding. But it never felt like I was under my fathers or my future husbands care, if that makes sense? I had time away at university as well to be more independent, which Jess didn’t have.
I really feel for the women who are raised to be super religious and submissive. I wonder how many of them are unfulfilled because they felt like they HAD to get married and pop out some babies and leave their husbands to make the decisions. I’m sure some people are really content with that – and that’s great if that’s what they want. But I worry about how many women are unhappy and feel trapped because of this kind of approach to life.
The quote kind of reminded me of that one line from Friends, way back in season 1, when Rachel’s mom came to visit her. Her mom jokingly said something about how she went “straight from her father’s house to the sorority house to her husband’s house.” It was supposed to be funny, but there was a really sad bit in there later when her mom also admitted that she didn’t love her husband but married him anyway.
I feel like this is something that’s actually a lot more common among the “boomer” generation than people realize (no disrespect meant). I feel like for a lot of these couples, they think that feeling unhappy and trapped is the norm, not an exception. This is something of an anecdotal observation from the younger generation, but a lot of us have talked about how bizarre it is that so many older people on Facebook and other social media share these comics and make jokes about how they low key hate their spouse and what a drag their spouses are and things like that. I’m sure most of these are in fact just jokes, and a lot of these people don’t actually hate their spouses in that way. But I think the fact that these types of jokes are so ubiquitous speaks to an underlying sentiment where many of these spouses are unhappy in their marriages, but don’t say anything or communicate it to each other in a meaningful way because they think this is just how it’s supposed to be, and that it’s normal to feel this way. I’m not saying that the younger generations don’t have their own set of relationship problems or communication issues or anything like that. But I think watching older people deal with these types of relationships where they essentially feel like they’re trapped on some level has made us more conscientious in terms of how we approach marriage or long term relationships as a whole.
And I still reenact the “chicken or tuna” scene from time to time because it makes my husband laugh so hard. World-class unscripted gooofyness right there.
Chicken of the Sea!!!!!! XO
I loved the show even if it was slightly uncomfortable for some of the reasons given here, as you say – starter marriage.
When I watched that show I didn’t get the impression that Nick was controlling. I got the impression that he was frustrated with her lack of maturity and, not to sound mean, but she did not come off as the sharpest knife in the drawer on that show either.
I agree. He didn’t seem controlling on the show at all. I think she was very immature and yes not the brightest of the bunch. Makes me wonder who her ghost writer is because we know damn well she didn’t write that book.
Same. I didn’t think Nick was controlling as so much as occasionally exasperated by the fact he was married to an immature woman-child. On the show they talked about how Nick grew up with a single mom and expected to take responsibility for himself, do his own laundry, cook, etc. Compared to Jessica whose annoying parents were underfoot constantly at the house whining that he shouldn’t expect their little princess to pick up after herself or make do without constant maid service.
I always noticed on the show that Nick was extremely polite to fans, restaurant servers, all the people they interacted with .. it’s a little thing but made him seem like a quality dude.
Yes, and she seemed like she was messing things up on purpose so that he would do all the work for them both. It drove me crazy.
It’s kinda shocking now to think she divorced at only 25. She was really a kid and her marriage was really blown up to be the be all and end all of perfect marriages in the beginning as I remember it. I’m also a fan of all those early reality shows – The ones you mentioned and the Osborne’s and Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler who it seemed had a great relationship on camera then it all crumbled toxically in real life. I see pictures of their young teen on Instagram and I’m like a disapproving auntie. The real housewives hasn’t been good since the first season of HW of Orange County when it was still raw. They are all too slick and phony now imo. And don’t get me started on the Kardashians.
I loved the first 2 of seasons of Real Housewives of OC, when it was somewhat “real.” I stopped watching when Laurie Peterson left and haven’t watched any of them since.
Oh wow yeah I LOVED the Shanna and Travis show and was so bummed when it ended.
I also loved Rich Girls which was Tommy Hilfigers daughter and her friend and their life of privilege in NYC, Gene Simmons and his family’s show, the Osbournes, real world and road rules and the challenges, Laguna Beach, the boy band reality show which made O-Town lol. Ahh, those were the days.
Jessica’s daddy was a pastor. Many of those evangelical people believe in marrying the girls off young. Look at the Duggars.
The only reality shows I’ve ever gotten into, ever, were Survivor and MasterChef Australia. Hell’s Kitchen for several years. And earlier, the domestic and British Trading Spaces/Places. I can’t handle watching contestants interact where they’re living lol. Drives me mental. I confess to an episode each of The Bachelor and Bachelorette…OMG, I heaved. So embarrassing. So wrong. Loved Lifetime’s Unreal however lol.
Those pics of her and Lahey sure take me back! I remember losing that wide-eyed gaze so so early lol.
One of my friends is OBSESSED with the Bachelor and Bachlorette shows. She thinks they’re all 100% real and so invested in the “relationships”. I don’t get it at all.
My daughter and I watch the Bachelor…it’s just sooo hilarious!We can’t wait to see how stupid it’s going to get and this season is so far not disappointing…There was a breakdown where one girl popped a bottle of champagne and it was this other girls who was so pi$$ed-sobbing…it was HER champagne to have with him-Boo Hoo ,and the girl who took it apologized but the other girl called her a (get ready)A Champagne Stealer!!!!!
So this is m current favorite insult…You CHAMPAGNE STEALER YOU 😂
I had friends who were obsessed, that was some time ago however. They always berated me lol. I guess my eye rolling irritated them. They laughed and gasped as they relived shocking moments. So that’s when I tried. I did. I wanted to be entertained! But just like any of the Housewives or any show rampant with superficial banter and embarrassing nonstop arguments, I can’t…it’s torture lol.
This is the first time I’ve ever watched The Bachelor. I kept seeing stuff about “Pilot Pete” so I thought ok let’s see what this show is about. How can anyone think this show is authentic lol? My God those women are insane. Plus this Pete guy makes it seem like each one of the girls is his soulmate and “so special”. Any sane guy would have sent that “Champagne tears” girl home! I am sure the producers are the one’s who decide based on who will provide the most entertainment. It has nothing to do with love no matter how “serious” Pete acts lmao. It’s so dumb yet I look forward to each episode lol.
Spicecake, I think it would be fun to watch to see how funny/stupid it is.
My friend though, takes it SOOOOO seriously and thinks it’s so romantic. I could feel my brain rotting every time she started talking about it, LOL.
As others have noted, I don’t think it’s fair to say that Nick controlled or manipulated Jessica. He so obviously just wanted her to grow up and be responsible for herself and their marriage. I think if anything, he encouraged her to be more independent and her father, Joe, was the one who balked at that. Now did *he* manipulate Jessica? Absolutely.
Yes, Anna! He wanted her to be more independent and take control of herself! He wasn’t controlling. Quite the opposite.
I think she nailed it. She didn’t know herself and most of us don’t at that age married. I like her frank analysis here, no trying to beat around the bush and being vaguely sarcastic about her ex. And I appreciate both of them don’t bash each other after their divorce. I did watch the show and he did not seem manipulative just a bit frustrated with her age sometimes. But then that’s what they presented to us. Anyway irl as long as it’s not a nasty breakup that is good.
I was the prime audience for The Newlyweds and I watched every single episode. I loved it. All of the ridiculousness, I sat my booty in front of the tv and watched all of it. I never saw him as controlling, more just frustrated with her immaturity.
All of this makes sense, and it’s sad, but it happens.
I am glad they’ve both found happiness and built families since then though.
I feel like Jessica Simpson’s early years were a cautionary tale for women that we shouldn’t still need to have in this day and age.
Her Christian pastor father publicly announcing her “hymenal status” at their wedding? Having bragged in the press about the size of her “double-D’s”?? Her education- let alone basic competence in household tasks and life skills- completely neglected in order to more quickly pimp out her youthful hotness? Being, as she says, passed from her father to her husband, with no space for her to grow in between?
That whole (so-called) “Christian,” paternalistic system of thinking is outdated and wrong. Women are not toys, they’re not decorations, and they are not brood mares. It always seemed to me that this is what she was designated as by the people in her life in her early years.
I’m really glad that she seems to have survived all that- though the alcoholism and stuff is no surprise- and that she’s now a billionaire with power of her own & with her own voice.
Yeah, she’s pretty nice about it, but I’m wondering if with aging and therapy, she’s started to realize how unhealthy some of her parents’ actions were and how they impacted her relationships with men. I really hope her husband treats her with the respect she deserves as a human being.
I am wondering if she confronts that her parents did her NO favors in this book? They used her as a moneymaker and exploited her.
I really miss that era of ’00s MTV/VH1 reality shows. I agree that today’s reality shows seem so boring and mundane compared to those. Back then they didn’t really give a shit about seeming “relatable” or “believable”, the situations they were in were always so over the top and ridiculous. I remember The Osbournes very well. That show was EVERYTHING. It’s so crazy to compare Jack and Kelly now to how they were back then.
As for Jessica, even as a teenager watching that show I felt that marriage wasn’t going to last long. But I appreciate she’s classy enough to not trash Nick and respect he’s formed a new family.
I do think her father was controlling, but not Nick. He was an adult who had life experience and she was one as well but had the mentality of a child. He literally had to teach her basic life skills that she somehow was not taught and that made for a lot of funny moments for the show. I loved Newlyweds and all of those original reality shows on MTV. Good times…
No the youths don’t know. MTV reality shows were SO much better back then. The first few seasons of The Real World, Newlyweds, and yes I too consumed and enjoyed Dave Navarro and Carmen Elektra’s reality show.
I like what she had to say about her marriage and Nick. And yes that was always the feeling I got – that Jessica was really young and didn’t know who she was yet. Marriages like that have a tough hill to climb anyway but add on top of that the stress of having every moment filmed and it’s kind of inevitable that things will break down.
The first 2 or 3 years of The Real World were ground breaking television. It was so fresh back then
The first Real World shows boggled my young adolescent mind with how cool and different people could be from me & those in my tiny little universe. I came to love Road Rules as well, and then all the “Road Rules Challenge” competition shows were fun too.
John Jeremiah Sullivan has a really amazing, funny essay about the Real World stuff, if ppl wanna get a quick intello hit. He narrates it himself in the audiobook & it almost killed me
Real World, Road Rules and Survivor fan here! Those early seasons were classic. I still remember so many names. Pedro, Judd and Pam. Sean married someone who was on the show and now they have a ton of kids.
Re: me calling Nick “controlling” – obviously, her dad was more controlling and I can easily see that much of Nick’s actions were in reaction to that. But I often felt like Nick was a tightass who had a controlling streak. To be fair, Jessica could barely function at anything.
I saw some of their show,he wasn’t super controlling exactly,but given the age difference it was classic parent child relationship,and considering she went from father’s house to marriage at such a young age it makes sense.
I’m here for the nostalgia of Real World… I loved the one with a girl named Eileen,who knew the uni bomber.I cry laughed at that season.
Her name was Irene not Eileen,obviously I’m too invested.
Irene, David, and the slap heard round the world.
@David yaaas!
that irene?!! with the slap, the teddy bear?!! shoot i didn t watch that whole season, i didn’t know she knew the unabomber !!
HE was a tightass, so to speak, because instead of learning how to do any single thing for herself, Jessica just wanted to hire everything out. In addition to spending money like water on all her clothes, anything she thought was cute for her house, etc. She was blowing through their $$$ like it would last forever. I think Nick was smart enough to know they had a shelf life and it wouldn’t, and was frustrated she wouldn’t stop.
I also remember her parents at their house everyday doing everything for her, but then would cop an attitude when he would ask her to go visit his family with him. I loved the show at the time, and still hold a lot of affection for Jessica, but she’s right – their marriage failed because she was too young, and needed to grow up and learn who she was.
Didn’t she repeatedly cheat on him then ghost him?
Yeah, something like that. Johnny Knoxville, or someone… can’t remember. But Nick has in so many words said that her dad got a taste of the money and fame Jessica stood to make as a superstar. Daisy Duke, yada yada, and basically broke them up. He saw bigger fish fir Jessica. Nick’s career was fading at the time.
She banged Bam Magera. He talked about that too.
Eight years is a pretty damn big difference when the younger partner is in their early twenties, so I wasn’t entirely shocked it didn’t last. But it goes to show you how that whole “women as sexual property” mindset is harmful to both parties. These religious types treat their daughters like children on purpose because they essentially see it as handing off something to be cared for by another man. If you infantilize somebody their whole life, you make them dependent. That’s entirely by design so they never get a good grasp on their own wants and needs.
Can’t really fault her here, though, she is very respectful and stresses how many mistakes were her own. I would hope both of them are happier these days.
I loved their show. I believe I was one of the few who knew her from her first recording album LOL
Her father always came across as manipulative and he was so intrusive in their marriage. No wonder it crashed and burned.
I did not realize he was 8 years older than her?! I’m old enough that I watched their reality show as it aired! LOL Eight years isn’t a huge gap, but she was a teen when they started dating, right? I’m going to have to google. I also don’t think Nick was controlling. She was so naïve, young and had no life experience…I really think he was trying to help her. Selfishly I really wish she would have spilled some tea on their marriage! LOL
They got married in Austin, where I lived at the time. Nonprofit I worked for held an event at their wedding venue a couple weeks later and got chatting with the event and catering team. They said Jessica and Nick were lovely, friendly and appreciative to all the staff, seemed very happy and in love. Also said Joe Simpson was the most high maintenance and difficult of the group, even their wedding planner couldn’t deal with him.
To be fair, Joe was still in the closest and it was probably hard for him to control the raging gay man inside him wanting to come out.
I was thinking that the root of his controlling Jessica probably had something to do with that.
I dont think hes officially come out publicly, right? I thought i read he didnt understand or like people assuming he was gay
@Meg no he is probably not, but his actions scream he is out.
I LOVED Newlyweds. I also loved the first season of Survivor. The concept was so neat. And, I too, can’t watch “not reality” TV anymore. It all is just so fake and blatantly staged. It kinda makes me sad that their are so many humans who can watch it. They don’t know the true joy of “Chicken of the Sea.” XO
The chicken of the sea moment was everything. P
I know she loves to back peddle and say that was her “character” acting dumb. That was a totally authentic comment from her. She lived in a bubble she had no idea at the time.
I remember in one episode where she took a pregnancy test because all the tabloids were saying she was pregnant so she wanted to find out for herself. Lol
Loved The Newlyweds, Laguna Beach and the original The Hills. I also agree, I don’t think Nick was controlling (not on the show anyway) but Joe was. When I used to watch the show (I was young) I always thought Joe was super creepy and almost like he fancied his daughter. Didn’t he cheat on his wife with a man? I wonder if he’s in a relationship with a man now? Was he trying to hide his sexuality and make crude remarks about his daughter to hide that? What was the logic behind that?
Crazy random shit would happen back in the day. Remember Flavor Flav show, Flavor of Love? Something slipped a turd on the floor on TV! you can’t top that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeOMwXquzIQ
oh god wow
i’m realizing there were whole alternative universes on VH1 left to explore
I still randomly think about that pooing sometimes, it was so crazy! VH1 had amazing “celebrity” shows and some really great spin offs from them. Even these girls kept it going with their own dating shows and Charm School. Rock of Love will forever be my favorite ridiculous dating show. So gross and hilarious.
I loved watching Flavor Flav!
Huge fan of the show and obsessed with Jessica Simpson, as we all were in 2005. At the time I thought they had an adorable relationship, but in hindsight it wasn’t the best. Nick does seem like, and probably is, a very decent straight-laced kinda guy. BUT…he did not really seem to know her or what he was getting into to with a marriage to her, and I do put that on him. He was often very impatient with her in a way that now I think to myself, what did he expect?? Yes, she had some growing up to do, but there are definitely some scenes I can think of where he did not treat her with patience and kindness, two very important aspects of a marriage. My two cents and my husband is 7 years older than me and a surgeon so he knows everything *sarcasm* *rolls eyes*
I never thought Nick was controlling, if anything he came across as the big brother teaching his clueless younger sister how to do basic things like flush the toilet.
To me it was more lust than anything, i think once the novelty of the sex wore off they looked at each other and realized there wasnt much else between them
Its been such a long time since I even thought about their show but wasn’t there a scene where Nick was outraged about the cost of some lingerie she purchased (panties IIRC). She paid some ridiculous price for them?????
And about the current husband– is he the one that was smoking pot and being lazy? I am thinking back to some articles on here about him being a jerk???
She’s 39 and good on her for trying to move on and live the best life she can
Oh whatnow! That was awesome! She left the store and looked at the receipt and freaked. It was like $1000 or more. She called Nick and he asked her if she ever asked the price and she was like “no! I didn’t want to embarrass myself!” It was so dang funny!!
There were three people in that marriage. Nick Jessica and her father. From what I remember of all the news. Joe was always trying to get her to break up with Nick. Well he succeeded. They didn’t just grow apart either. She is leaving out the part where she was sleeping (banging?) Bam Magera before they announced the divorce. That was all over the press then too!
I think that this, if anything, kind of illustrates the issues with large age gaps in relationships where both parties aren’t even out of their 30s. Especially if one person is barely an adult and the other person has been an adult for quite some time. Doubly so if one person is barely an adult and raised really sheltered and the other person is a full-fledged adult who knows something of the world. This is what people mean when they say that such relationships have an inherent power imbalance. Nick Lahey is by all accounts a perfectly nice human being, and I’m sure he had absolutely no intention of taking advantage of Jessica Simpson. But even with that, the age gap plus the fact that she was so naive and sheltered meant that there was a big gap in life experience and knowledge, and this set up a relationship where she had to cede a lot of the control to him by default, simply because he knew stuff and she didn’t. While Nick Lahey was a nice enough person, a lot of people in similar set ups aren’t, and they specifically pursue relationships with younger women b/c they are less likely to know themselves and therefore more easier to control and “mold” into their idea of an acceptable partner.
I think that even if you were an 18 year old who wasn’t quite as sheltered as Jessica Simpson was, it would still be something of a massive power imbalance. You’re talking about someone who has almost a decade’s worth of experience in what it means to be an adult than you do. When you’re that young, especially when you’re 18 and hardly know yourself, those 8 years count for a lot. I know that when I was 18 I thought I knew everything. It’s only with the benefit of hindsight that I know that I didn’t, and I wasn’t even raised all that sheltered. Add to this the fact that Jessica Simpson probably saw Nick Lahey has her escape ticket from her stifling family environment, and just how common it is for young people who are raised in a really religious atmosphere to get married young because they want to have church approved sex, and you’ve got a situation where there’s not much of a chance in hell that this would work out.
Was/is she intelligent, or just uneducated. Not sure. If NL was controlling, I’m sure he had to take control of some things as she seemed completely incapable.
A LOT of women liked Nick Lachey and his brother Drew, but I still don’t get it… 20+ years later lol. I hated Nick’s big tattoo on his arm also. I’m not sure why he married Jessica if even he thought she was such an airhead. A lot of people, self included, got tired of the she’s-so-dumb jokes pretty fast.
This is actually something you hear of A LOT in the south. Many women live their whole lives sheltered and under their father’s roof and then get married as soon as they hit adulthood or pretty close to it. They never learn independence or how to be financially responsible etc. and that’s how men want it. Then when they get into their older years and their husband dies they’re suddenly adrift. I have seen it happen many times, especially with more affluent families.
I’ve also seen situations where women have gotten married to fairly well-off men, with the expectation that they’ll be looked after their whole life, only to have it turn out that their husband’s business/career just tanked or something and they don’t have enough money to retire on, so the wife has to find a job, often for the first time in her life.