Jessica Simpson made a major hair change to gain back confidence after her split from ex-husband Nick Lachey.
“I chopped it all off,” Simpson, 43, shared during a Tuesday, December 5, interview with Footwear News. “I was going through a divorce. I just wanted to wear something that was very me.”
The singer, who was taking a look back at some of her most iconic Y2K, revisited her short blonde bob and a purple dress from 2006, which she wore while promoting her album A Public Affair. She paired the ensemble with boots from her own shoewear brand.
“And then I wore a Jessica Simpson Collection boot,” she explained. “I just thought it was fun that you could fold them over, you know? Maybe that will come back one day, but it’s a little Renaissance or something.”
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Simpson began dating Lachey in 1999 when she was 18 years old. After an off-and-on romance, they tied the knot in October 2002. Their marriage was then chronicled on MTV’s Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, which ran for three seasons from August 2003 to March 2005. Nine months after the series finale, Simpson filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split.
In her February 2020 memoir, Open Book, Simpson detailed her life with Lachey and how it felt for her relationship in exist in the public eye. “The thing about falling in love with someone in a boyband is that you’re not alone,” she wrote about her early days of dating 98 Degrees singer. “There are a lot of girls out there who had already complied all the details on Nick Lachey.”
Simpson also opened up about how her desire to portray her relationship with Lachey as “perfect” while in front of the cameras.
“I didn’t mind if I looked dumb, but I wanted people to see the fairy tale in Nick. In us,” Simpson explained. “I had the Instagram-girlfriend syndrome before it was a thing, and I wanted the world to see my husband in the best light because I was hopelessly in love with him.”
Simpson noted that after a while, filming Newlyweds became akin to playing a character. “We had become actors in our own lives, playing ourselves,” she continued. “Worse, we slowly started acting out our parts even when cameras weren’t rolling.”
By the time production picked up for season 3, Simpson said she was “sick of lying” about her marriage, adding that Lachey told the crew to “stop rolling” so often that the show’s final episode was nothing more than a montage of clips. “It was bizarre, and I never watched it,” she said. “We finished our run and fulfilled the contract.”
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When asked in April 2022 if she would change anything about filming the reality series with her ex, Simpson said she had no regrets. “I mean, if anything, it was great TV. It was very real, and Nick and I actually had a lot of fun,” she added. “We got to do a lot of things we might not have done otherwise.”
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After their divorce, Simpson moved on with Eric Johnson. The couple tied the knot in July 2014 and welcomed daughters Maxwell, and Birdie, in May 2012 and March 2019, respectively. Their son, Ace, arrived in June 2013. Lachey, for his part, wed Vanessa Lachey in July 2011 and the pair share three kids: Camden, 13, Brooklyn, 8, and Phoenix, 6.
In November 2014, Lachey said he was happy he and Simpson didn’t have kids together before going their separate ways, calling it the “best thing that could have happened” to either of them.
Related: Why Jessica Simpson Doesnt Regret Filming 'Newlyweds' With Nick Lachey
“Look, you’re always going to love your kids no matter how you feel about their other parent, but all things being equal, it was the best thing probably for both of us that we went on with our lives,” he told Jenny McCarthy while appearing on a November 2014 episode of her SiriusXM show. “She’s obviously happily married with two and I’m happily married and about to have two so it all worked out the way it was kind of meant to work out.”
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