This week, Jessica Simpson announced her split from Eric Johnson, her husband of ten years and father of their three kids. Their separation was widely rumored throughout 2024, and it looked like both Jessica and Eric had removed their wedding rings towards the end of the year. I assumed there were several factors – Jessica moved to Nashville to restart her music career, and there seemed to be significant money problems in recent years. So what was really going on? It sounds like someone cheated? At least that’s what Page Six’s sources are insinuating.
Jessica Simpson’s 10-year marriage to Eric Johnson was rocky long before their split, Page Six has exclusively learned.
“Jess and Eric had trust issues,” a source tells us. “They were no longer on the same page, and it drove a wedge between them.”
Simpson, 44, announced her separation from Johnson, 45, on Monday, confirming reports that they have been living apart while navigating what she called “a painful situation.”
“Our children come first, and we are focusing on what is best for them,” she said in a statement, referencing the estranged couple’s daughters, Maxwell, 12, and Birdie, 5, and son, Ace, 11. “We are grateful for all of the love and support that has been coming our way and appreciate privacy right now as we work through this as a family.”
We hear Simpson and Johnson — who are selling their $18 million marital home in Hidden Hills, Calif. — decided to live separately last year “as a trial of sorts” before officially calling it quits.
“Jess thought it would help if they spent some time apart,” our source shares, “but it only made her realize she enjoyed her independence.”
We’re told Simpson, who recently celebrated seven years of sobriety, has “good days and bad days,” but she is “handling the separation well, all things considered.”
Reps for the “With You” singer did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment. Simpson and Johnson first sparked breakup rumors in November 2024 after she cryptically wrote on Instagram that her plan to return to music was an “apology to [herself] for putting up with everything [she] did not deserve.”
[From Page Six]
Trust issues? Putting up with sh-t she didn’t deserve? Did that man cheat on her?? The thing is, Jessica has been “acting single” for the past year, which is fine because it turns out that she was in a trial separation. But I would love to know what came first and what started all of this. More housekeeping: it’s true that Jessica is selling their Hidden Hills, California home, she just slashed the price on it too. I assume Eric was living there while Jessica lived in Nashville. People Magazine also had an exclusive about how Eric and Jessica have worked out a “new schedule” for the kids and there’s no drama between them as parents. We’ll see.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Backgrid and Cover Images.
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New York, NY – Couple Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson rock some vintage rock t-shirts with while leaving their New York hotel to enjoy another busy day in the Big Apple.
Pictured: Jessica Simpson, Eric Johnson
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New York City, NY – Jessica Simpson at the 37th Annual Footwear News Achievement Awards at Cipriani South Street in New York City.
Pictured: Jessica Simpson
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, New York, NY – 20180801 – Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson in Band T-Shirts in Manhattan
-PICTURED: Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson
-PHOTO by: DARA KUSHNER/INSTARimages.com
This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Instar Images LLC reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
Featuring: Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson
Where: New York, New York, United States
When: 01 Aug 2018
Credit: DARA KUSHNER/INSTARimages.com
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, New York, NY – 20200204 Jessica Simpson, Eric Johnson and their children pictured during the signing of her new book, Open Book, at Barnes and Noble in Union Square.
-PICTURED: Eric Johnson, Birdie Johnson, Ace Knute Johnson, Jessica Simpson, Maxwell Drew Johnson
-PHOTO by: Kristin Callahan/ACE PICTURES/INSTARimages.com
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This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
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Featuring: Eric Johnson, Birdie Johnson, Ace Knute Johnson, Jessica Simpson, Maxwell Drew Johnson
Where: New York, New York, United States
When: 04 Feb 2020
Credit: Kristin Callahan/ACE PICTURES/INSTARimages.com
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2023 Footwear News Achievement Awards
Featuring: Jessica Simpson
Where: New York, New York, United States
When: 30 Nov 2023
Credit: Janet Mayer/startraksphoto.com
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2023 Footwear News Achievement Awards
Featuring: Jessica Simpson
Where: New York, New York, United States
When: 30 Nov 2023
Credit: Janet Mayer/startraksphoto.com
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If you are going to have an amicable divorce or actually care about the kids, don’t drop hints and innuendos. It’s far worse for the kids. If there was an event you want to share, state and own it if necessary. If there were everyday grievances of being with someone for years and you are super irritated and feel like things were unfair, save it for a therapist and your closest friends. But dribbling out innuendos is the worst thing you can do to the kids.
Trust issues could only mean that he cheated or he stole her money. Apparently she’s been trying to sell the house since 2023, she’ll probably get it sold now.
Side point but if she is truly relaunching her music career she needs a vocal coach.
Her previous style of singing was awkward, messy and she’d go for a “big belt” moment in her songs that sounded more like screaming & straining.
I do think that she can carry a tune but she needs a totally new perspective on her vocal attributes. What is her her “real” voice? I feel like it got lost in the pop career ambitions, trying to follow trends and her weird parents’ advice and producers advice.
I’d love for her to work with a vocal couch that really helps her shed those past ideas of what a singer should be & forge her own identity with her voice.
Not that I want her to copy yet another singer but I admire Kasey Musgraves style of singing. She has a beautiful, crystalline voice perfect for pop/country but never strains, screams yet her vocal delivery is flawless in her live performances.
I wish she hadn’t removed her buccal fat. It’s changed the shape of her face so much.
She must have been very unhappy with herself to start drinking, gain all this weight, lose all this weight, and get all this unneeded plastic surgery. Perhaps there had been trouble in her marriage for a very long time…
Agree! I’ve seen the buccal fat removal on other stars too, and it just makes their face look/settle differently
Agree! I’ve seen it on other stars too, and it just makes their face look/settle differently
Jessica has a beautiful voice, yes, a bit outdated for the way pop music is right now. But her issue is that she could never sing like she had soul…like she meant it…like she loved the music…it was some moaning then a big finish-belting out the lyrics. Lastly, I think Eric was her rebound from Tomy Romo, Jon Mayer and even her marriage. At that moment, she needed a guy who had nothing going on so whose fulltime job was to cater to her needs. They both got what they needed. I think they are both tired of each other now so they are divorcing.
I’m sorry but I do not believe that Jessica is sober at this point and I think that has a lot to do with why they are breaking up and Eric’s keeping the kids with him.
Why do people wait for that 10 year mark before divorcing? Is there some significance to this? A legal requirement?
Jessica has always been a pastures are always greener type of person. Nick and Jessica were so mismatched. He was a down to earth sensible type, while she was overspending, etc. in first show and when rumors swirled she was having an affair with Johnny Knoxville, she and her dad went on to smear Nick’s reputation only for her to come out later and admit to it. I don’t doubt there are issues, but I am not buying the hint of it all being the husband.