The former couple's early aughts reality show has been finding a new audience as of late.
Jessica Simpson is getting real about her ex. In an interview with Bustle, the 42-year-old singer discusses Newlyweds, the early aughts reality show she starred on with her first husband, Nick Lachey.
The show, which cast Simpson as a ditsy blonde housewife, has made a resurgence as of late, becoming popular among the TikTok crowd.
While Lachey, whom Simpson was married to from 2002 to 2006, was seen as the ideal husband when the show originally aired, some of his behavior is now being viewed as villain-like.
The outlet notes that Simpson offered "a better-late-than-never shrug" in reaction to the public's changed perception of her ex, adding of Lachey's initial popularity, "It's amazing what publicity can do."
As for how she was portrayed on Newlyweds, Simpson says "that's me."
"My power is in my vulnerability... I’m still that person," she says, before adding of her current husband, Eric Johnson, "Honestly, if Eric told me I had to do all the laundry, I would still throw it over the banister and throw a hissy fit."
People may get a chance to see Simpson on reality TV again. Back in 2020, Simpson signed a multi-media rights deal with Amazon Studios, an agreement that includes both an unscripted and a scripted series based off of her hugely successful memoir, Open Book.
When it comes to the unscripted series, Simpson tells the outlet that it's a collaboration with people who worked on Newlyweds, noting, "We're about to start shopping it around."
"I have 10 years of footage. I've been doing that for a long time, just filming on and off -- big moments in my life, hard moments -- just feeling like there was gonna be a moment when I would use it," Simpson told ET in 2021. "... It's gonna be very powerful, the doc series. Lots of moments that you won't expect. You'll have definitely moments where you laugh, too, but it's life."
The show will follow Simpson's return to music, which may also include a move to Nashville with Johnson and their three kids: Maxwell, 11, Ace, 10, and Birdie, 4.
"I'm doing this as a mother now, as a wife. I was a wife last time, but this is a very different marriage. And they've never seen me do this," she says of performing. "I have my daughter taking a private plane with North West to go see Katy Perry in Vegas. And inside I'm like, 'She was supposed to see me first.' Then I'm like, 'This is not competitive, Jessica. Let your daughter enjoy Katy Perry.' But there's moments that make me want to do it -- for them to see that color of me."
"If they don't see me following my dreams and fighting for what I believe in -- and fighting for who I am and my place in this world -- they'll never do it for themselves," Simpson adds. "And they'll just be on Instagram thinking that's what’s perfect. It's not."
As for what her music will sound like, Simpson describes herself as "genre-less," and notes that her choice to give up alcohol has opened her up creatively.
"It dumbed down my creativity. It made me more insecure," she says of alcohol. "When people say it gives you liquid courage, it absolutely does not. It just makes me hold back instead of letting go."
Meanwhile, the scripted series, which was revealed to be starring Katelyn Tarver and John Stamos in 2022, wasn't ultimately picked up by Amazon, but Simpson, who had a small role in the show, does plan to shop it around.
That Amazon deal also included original essays by Simpson, one of which detailed her romance with a "massive movie star" while he was in a relationship.
Context clues from the essay, including the star's religious nature and denim awards show outfit, seemed to point to Mark Wahlberg, something Simpson will neither confirm nor deny. "There's a lot of Catholics out there," she says.
Aside from her career and her relationships, one of the biggest topics around Simpson is that of her weight. After opening up about losing 100 pounds last year, Simpson is denying that Ozempic got her there.
"Oh Lord. I mean, it is not. It's willpower," she says of how she lost the weight. "I'm like, do people want me to be drinking again? Because that’s when I was heavier. Or they want me to be having another baby? My body can't do it."
No matter what people say, Simpson is confident that she won't "let the negativity derail me."
"I'm too old for that. I am too connected to myself right now to let that derail me," she says, before admitting, "It doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt."
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