Jessica Simpson is getting even more candid, taking a look back at her marriage and subsequent divorce from Nick Lachey in the new paperback edition of her 2020 memoir fittingly titled Open Book.
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In the memoir, originally released last February, Jessica detailed how their marriage of four years unraveled very publicly on the MTV series Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. Now getting an exclusive look at the new edition, which features a new introduction and additional diary entries, Entertainment Tonight, shared an excerpt of Jessica revealing just how heartbreaking it was to learn of her ex-husband's relationship with Vanessa Lachey, formerly Minnillo, mere months after they went their separate ways.
Quick recap - after about 3 years of dating, Simpson and Lachey married in 2002, divorcing in 2006. Less than a year later, Lachey began dating Vanessa, who eventually would become wifey number two in 2011.
"So, Nick, you're with another already? Seems that you forgot the love you spoke to me," Simpson writes in the diary entry. "I'm saddened beyond belief. Alone in the dark, with no one to call my own.”
Last year when speaking to ET, she recalled one of the factors that led to the end of her and Lachey's marriage, saying, "with Nick, I was 22 years old when we got married... Once I started to get endorsement deals that were separate from him, there was a little bit of tension," she said. "[The press] put us as a trophy couple that we actually weren’t." Additionally, Simpson acknowledged that she’s aware that many might assume the reality show was the cause of their divorce, however claims that wasn’t entirely the case. Explaining, "I don't believe that the show is what tore our marriage apart.”
"Nick and I were very great at being together publicly and on-camera. We were best at our relationship when we were singing together. I felt like we were at home in that place," Jessica continued. "But as far as doing the reality show, we just kind of had fun with it until the end—until we started having marital problems.”
Besides her recollections of heartbreak, Jessica also spilled some secrets, revealing in the memoir that she had an emotional relationship with Dukes of Hazzard co-star Johnny Knoxville, which she described as "worse than a physical one.”
Oh and that’s not all folks, she also shared that her and Nick hooked up a few months after signing the divorce papers. According to Jessica, after watching the documentary of the making of Nick's album What's Left of Me, as well as the Making the Video special on MTV for his song of the same title she decided to invite him over to talk, feeling like she needed to "fix him." Well, one thing led to another and they ended up sleeping together. What makes this particularly juicy is because guess who starred as the leading lady love in the “What’s Left of Me” music video… yup, first name Vanessa, last name Minnillo, which in five years time would be Lachey. And that’s the tea.
In the years that have passed since their split, Simpson has also found happiness and is delighted that both she and Lachey have found contentment. Telling ET, "We both were at fault in a lot of things, but I'm happy for him now. He's married with three beautiful children,” Camden, 8, Brooklyn, 6, and Phoenix, 4. "He took heartbreak and made it into something beautiful.”
"That's what I did as well,” Jessica went on to say, “but it took me longer to get there.” Finding love and marrying Eric Johnson in 2014 and welcoming three beautiful children of their own, Maxwell, 8, Ace, 7, and Birdie, 2.
WATCH MORE: 5 Shocking Facts From Jessica Simpson's Tell-All Book
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