The 39-year-old singer shares the story in her new memoir, 'Open Book.'
Jessica Simpson nearly played an iconic movie role.
In her new memoir, Open Book, the 39-year-old singer reveals that she was up for the part of Allie Hamilton in 2004's The Notebook, which eventually went to Rachel McAdams. In the book, Simpson shares the interesting tidbit while recounting the flight she was on after deciding to divorce her then-husband, Nick Lachey.
"The statement went out while I was in the air, but nobody on the plane knew a thing, except that Jessica Simpson was loudly sobbing in first class," she writes. "Then they announced that the movie we all had to watch was The Notebook. Oh God, I thought. The most romantic movie in the world, and I was leaving Nick."
"I knew exactly what the movie was about because I had read the script but turned it down because they wouldn't budge on taking out the sex scene," she continues. "And it would have been with Ryan Gosling, of all people."
The male lead of the movie was relevant in the story, as Simpson had met Gosling years earlier during her failed audition for The Mickey Mouse Club. During that part of the memoir, Simpson refers to Gosling as her first "hard crush."
"I was in love," she writes of Gosling, whom she met when she was 12. "Before anybody knew how hot Ryan Gosling was going to become, I had a vision."
The Notebook isn't the only acting project Simpson turned down in her career due to intimate scenes. In fact, when she began dating Tony Romo in 2007, the former NFL quarterback asked her not to do projects that would show her kissing on screen.
"One of the few parameters he put on the relationship was actually a big one: He didn't want me to do any movies that required an on-camera kiss, which basically ruled out any romantic comedy, the type of movie for which I was most likely to be cast," she writes. "I get it, some people can't handle another person making out with their girlfriend -- even for work -- but there were only so many plucky fish-out-of-water stories with no male romantic leads. I think it was more about how he would be perceived, than the love scene actually happening. What would people think of him for allowing that to happen?"
"He was less vocal about his real fear that, given my past and proven ability to fall in love on a film set, I would do it again," Simpson adds, referencing when she had an "emotional affair" with Johnny Knoxville while filming The Dukes of Hazzard, despite being married to Lachey. "I didn't have a good defense for that, I'll admit... But I would never have done that to Tony."
ET recently spoke with Simpson about all of the relationship reveals in Open Book, which is out now. Tune in to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday for the full interview.
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