There are a bunch of Jessica Simpson stories in the tabloids this week, just as I predicted in the wake of Nick Lachey and Vanessa Maniwhatever’s engagement. Immediately following the announcement, PopEater’s gossip guy reported that Jess was “deeply saddened” by the news. This week’s In Touch Weekly has a story summed up with: “After Nick Lachey’s romantic proposal to girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo, Jessica Simpson is desperate to wed before her ex-husband.” People Magazine scored an interview with Pete Wentz where he talked up Jess’s relationship with her Yalie, Eric Johnson. And now the low man on the totem pole, OK! Magazine, has a behind-the-scenes piece regarding Jess’s state of mind:

Jessica learned her ex-husband was engaged the same time everyone else did – when the announcement hit the Internet. Soon, a friend tells OK!, Jessica began “calling everyone, first her sister, Ashlee, and then everyone else in her circle…she was Googling Nick for a bit.”

And then she had a friend set up a Google Alert updating her about news of the engagement.

“She spent hours obsessing about it, but then she let it go,” the friend explains. “She doesn’t want her boyfriend Eric Johnson to think for a second that she still has feelings for Nick.”

But does she? “It’s not that she has anything specific against Vanessa…it’s the fact that when Nick began dating her, everyone assured Jess that Vanessa was ‘the rebound’ and that no one marries ‘the rebound’. and now he’s marrying her and Jessica’s just in shock.”

Friends say that Jessica tries to be happy for him because she is serious about Eric. But it’s not always easy.

[From OK! Magazine, print edition]

Poor Jess. Surprisingly enough, I buy this story. I think Jessica has mixed feelings about Nick’s engagement, and that her pride is hurt more than anything. Wouldn’t everyone like to think that we’re so awesome, none of our exes can survive without us? And Jess is just hurt because Nick is all “Vanessa’s vadge is better than or equal to Jess’s.” Also: I love that Jessica needed a friend to set up a Google Alert. Poor Jess.

Us Weekly has confirmed that Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey are engaged. Can someone stay with Jessica Simpson? Yeah, she’s in the bathroom throwing up after spending the night downing straight tequila. Just pull her hair back and put a trash can by her side. Don’t lay her on her back! Back to Nick and Vanessa – that’ve been together since 2006, with only a couple of bumps in the road, like this past summer’s breakup. I always thought that Nick was a little gun-shy, given his first experience with marriage was so awful, and I actually had a wager (with myself) that Nick and Vanessa would never marry. But he proposed a few days ago… and he even had a good ring! Asscher cut! Good boy.

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo are engaged, reps for both stars tell UsMagazine.com exclusively.

“We’re excited and incredibly happy about our engagement and we look forward to a wonderful future together,” the couple tells Us in a statement.

“They’re so happy, doing great,” a source adds. “Thrilled about it.”

According to another source, Lachey proposed with an Asscher-cut diamond with baguettes from Bader & Garrin.

“I popped the question on bended knee,” Lachey tweeted Thursday. “I do a lot of squats so my knees are very strong.”

The two began dating in 2006, following his highly-publicized divorce from Jessica Simpson. Though they briefly split last summer, they got back together a short time later.

The True Beauty host recently told Parade their relationship has lasted all this time because they openly communicate.

“You have to talk through everything,” she said. “We talk daily about things that upset us. It’s about having a sounding board because if you hold in all your thoughts, dreams, anger and anxiety than you’re only hurting yourself.”

She said they have no plans to do a reality show a la MTV’s Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, which caused strain in Lachey’s relationship with Simpson, 30.

Chatting on Good Day Philadelphia last year, the Sing-Off host — whose show was just renewed for a second season — said he was “happy” with Minnillo, whom he described as “a very smart girl. She’s far smarter than I!”

Lachey and Minnillo have another reason to celebrate: They both have birthdays Nov. 9.
Lachey will be 37; Minnillo, 30.

[From Us Weekly]

Good for them, and congratulations. I think Vanessa has stuck by him and shown him that she’s in it for the long haul, and I’m sure Nick appreciates that most of their life together is private, and not for mass consumption. Do you think Vanessa is knocked up? Ye Olde Standby for getting a guy to propose? Could be. I wouldn’t put it past her, but maybe not.

Whatever happens though, I hope Vanessa enjoys the hell out of Jessica Simpson’s money.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Back in June, the National Enquirer reported that Nick Lachey and his longterm girlfriend, Vanessa Minnillo, were trying to land their own reality show. Supposedly producers were telling them “the project needed a hook” so Vanessa was actively trying to get pregnant in order to sell that plotline. Romantic, isn’t it? I was hoping this story wasn’t true, because I remember how Lachey cried to a reporter for Rolling Stone after his marriage with Jessica Simpson ended and explained that doing the reality show had negatively impacted their relationship. He didn’t blame the show for the disintegration of his marriage, but he did say a bunch of things about how it was a bad experience for them. He said “Jessica and I began playing these parts even when we were by ourselves. It became a really blurred line. There was a question about what truly was our reality. When you are on a reality show, your life ceases to be reality. It becomes TV.”

Now OK! Magazine is reporting that Nick and Vanessa are planning on getting married and are pitching some kind of Newlyweds 2.0 show, except it somehow feature other newlyweds in order to take away the boredom factor. I wonder if anyone is even remotely interested. We haven’t heard much from these two lately.

Nick Lachey and girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo were recently spotted talking with NBC execs. An insider tells OK!

“They are exploring an idea to get married and do a show about newlyweds. It would help Nick relaunch his career and Vanessa take her career to the next level.”

The idea worked well in the past – Newlyweds, starring Nick and then-wife Jessica Simpson, was a ratings hit for MTV and the talk of the nation from 2003 to 2005.

[From OK! Magazine, print edition, September 20, 2010]

Yes the idea worked well – for MTV, not for Nick and Jessica on any level. Reading Nick’s Rolling Stone interview over again, I’m struck by what an emotional committed guy he is. He really loved Jessica and he was heartbroken that they broke up. I watched that Newlyweds show a few times and I remember really liking him. He’s watchable, and people might be interested in seeing him again with his Vanessa. He’s only screwing over his relationship by trying to feature it on television, though. I would think he would have realized that after all he went through, but tough times must have convinced him otherwise. I’m glad these two are solid, though. They seem like they’re so in love.

Photos are from 4/20/10, 2/10/10, and 6/5/10 (candids). Credit: WENN and Fame

Nick Lachey finally shaved off that overly-processed boy-bander hair! Yay! He looks pretty good, I think. Actually, he sort of looks brand-new. His eyes look brighter, and his head looks bigger. Do you think he cropped it short because he’s balding? It looks a bit thinner, but he’s still got a ways to go before he’s in Bruce Willis territory. Lachey claims he only shaved his precious highlighted boy-bander locks because he “just wanted a change.”

What’s the buzz? Nick Lachey debuted a new cropped cut at the 9th Annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in the Brentwood section of L.A. Friday night.

“I just wanted a change,” the former boy bander, 36, explained to UsMagazine.com. “I used to wear it short, and I have been in this business so long. and I got sick of it. I just decided to shave it.”

But it won’t be short for long.

“It’s slowly growing back!” Lachey told Us. The singer attended the fete with on-again girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo. Their summer plans?

“We are both working. I am doing True Beauty 2, and he has a single coming out in August,” Minnillo, 29, told Us. “In the middle of that, we are going to try and get away and take a mini summer vacation because why not? We are young, we don’t have kids, we like to travel and visit the family.”

Could their own kids be next?

“Of course, yeah,” Lachey told Us when asked if he wants to start a family one day. “Absolutely!”

For now, they are getting practice watching little bro Drew Lachey’s second child, Hudson, who was born on May 17. (Drew and his wife, Lea, also have a daughter Isabella, 4.)

“They don’t live in California anymore so we have to make an effort to go and visit them and see them, but when I’m there, I love to babysit!” Lachey told Us. “They don’t trust me very long with the new baby now.”

Minnillo tells Us she’d also like to see her beau on Glee. Admitted Lachey, “I’m not as avid an watcher as she is, but I went to a performing arts high school, so I always like to see the arts celebrated. It’s cool to see how popular that show is based on the kind of show it is.”

[From Us Weekly]

I really don’t understand what Nick’s hold-up is with getting hitched and having babies. It’s none of my business, but wasn’t that what he wanted when he was with Jessica Simpson? He wanted a traditional marriage and babies. And when they split, he walked right into another serious relationship with Vanessa, and yet… he seems reticent now. Once burned, twice shy? But good on him for changing up his look. Now he could pass for a dozen dudes a went to high-school with.

Nick Lachey has been busy since breaking up with Vanessa Minnillo back in June. Most of the stories had Vanessa pushing for some bigger commitment, considering she couldn’t shut up about weddings, while Nick just seemed happy with the way things were. Just a few weeks after Nick and Vanessa split, Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo broke up, and the tabloids spent a few months trying to enable “Nick and Jessica are getting back together” stories. They kind of fell flat though – Nick didn’t seem interested, and he was spotted out with random chicas all over the place. Meanwhile, Vanessa kept quiet except for the odd report of a Topher Grace makeout session.

After their summer apart, Radar is reporting that Nick and Vanessa might be back together. They were spotted hanging out and making out over the weekend, and spectators claim they were looking very couple-y.

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo are giving love a second chance (at least for a night), RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.

The pair broke off their three-year relationship in June, but you would have never known it with the way they were together at the hip Dime bar in Los Angeles. Hot ‘n heavy only begins to describe it!

A spywitness at the tiny hotspot on Fairfax Avenue told RadarOnline.com: “They were making-out in one of the booths and seemed totally into one another. They were having a great time and definitely appear to be back ‘ on.’ They didn’t care who saw them.”

Another source told RadarOnline.com that Nick and Vanessa came in with friends around 11:30 p.m. and stayed approximately two hours. They were drinking and about 20 minutes after arriving started making out. At one point she sat on his lap as they kissed.

In between PDA’s with Nick, Vanessa took to dancing with a couple of girlfriends while beaming Nick watched.

[From Radar]

Meh. I know a lot of people really like Nick – and so do I – but I kind of think he could do better than Vanessa. I also think he might be kind of a jerk to Vanessa, because he so obviously does not want to get remarried. Which is fine (once burned, twice shy, et cetera) – it’s just that Vanessa really, really seems to want that, and I kind of feel like Nick is leading her on. Maybe they’re not really getting back together though – perhaps it was just a fun night between two exes who remained friendly. I could buy that.

Nick and Vanessa are shown on 4/22/09. Credit: Fame Pictures

Page Six is reporting that Jessica Simpson is being pushed by her father, Joe Simpson, as Paula Abdul’s replacement on American Idol. We’ve already heard rumors that Victoria Beckham wants to be more than just a one-time judge – so is this a battle royale between Posh and Jess? Which one knows more about the music industry? Which one would give better advice? Actually, putting Jessica on to replace Paula might be sort of brilliant. Instead of Paula’s cracked-out comments and slurred speech, we could have Jessica’s epic malapropisms and ditzy/drunk comments. It might work!

USA Today got ahold of Redskins quarterback Colt Brennan to ask him if last week’s report that he and Jessica were dating was true. Colt says no way - but he’s sort of charming about it, telling the newspaper, “My life coach, (Redskins TE) Chris Cooley, said that I should neither confirm nor deny it. But me being an honest guy, I have no idea what that’s about.” He actually sounds half-way interested. Jessica should go for it!

In one last piece of Jessica Simpson news, Nick Lachey’s brother Drew told Us Weekly that a Nick and Jess “Newleyweds Part Deux” reunion was not in the cards:

Sorry, Newlyweds fans: Nick and Jessica won’t ever get back together. Asked at Saturday’s Los Angeles Lakers 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament if they’ll ever reunite, Drew Lachey told Usmagazine.com: “On the record or off the record? No on both.”

Nick and Jessica – who split in 2006 – recently ended relationships around the same time. Nick and Vanessa Minnillo called it quits this summer, shortly before Tony Romo dumped Jessica before her 29th birthday in July.

When told that people want to see Nick and Jessica back together, Drew told Us, “I think everybody who was a fan of The Newlyweds wants the same thing.”

Jessica recently told Vanity Fair she hadn’t spoken to Nick “in years.” But she said their MTV reality show helped her realize the importance of good relationships.

“It made me understand what marriage is, what love is, what commitment is,” she said. “In all honesty, I believe it did not affect our marriage. Because we enjoyed watching those episodes, and that will always be a time I cherish.”

[From Us Weekly]

Yeah, I really don’t think Nick wants to go there again, and he’s probably been very vocal about it to friends and family. Thankfully, Nick has been pretty gracious in public – although I would love to hear his take on Papa Joe. You know Nick has a ton of Papa Joe stories, and they’re probably all disgusting.

Update: Jessica Simpson’s rep has denied this report, saying “There is absolutely no truth to this.”

Here’s Jessica performing in Texas on May 9th. Images thanks to Pacific Coast News.

OK! Magazine has been pretty much floundering since they canned their editor, hired a bunch of consultants, and tried to become more youth and lifestyle-focused earlier this year. They ran that obnoxious cover photo of dead intubated Michael Jackson (link does not lead to photo) in the ambulance, for which they received a lot of well-deserved flack. Their latest cover seems old and like a rehash of the much-denied US Weekly cover from three weeks ago about how Jessica and Nick had another chance now that they’re both single. Nick denied that he was reconciling with Jessica, and said that he wished her well but hadn’t spoken to her in a couple of years.

Star Magazine claimed a couple of weeks ago that Jessica was reaching out to Nick and that he was being supportive but firm in letting her know he wasn’t interested in giving their long-over relationship another chance. It could have been a completely fabricated story, considering the source.

Now OK! is stretching it to claim that Jessica’s more than coincidental meetup with John Mayer was planned to make Nick Lachey jealous because Jess would like nothing more than to have her ex husband back. Oh really?

While Jessica Simpson is going out and having fun with her sister Ashlee Simpson and ex-boyfriend John Mayer, showing off how happy she is might be serving another purpose — to make her ex-husband Nick Lachey just a little bit jealous.

Although John may be the perfect Mr. Right Now — the two recently hung out at Katsuya — she knows her Mr. Right was, is and always will be Nick. As every woman knows, having a public affair with a sexy rocker would make any man jealous. And Jess’ night with John, who has a habit of broadcasting his affairs to the press and on Twitter (hello, Jennifer Aniston!), just might make Nick — who has been spotted with Jess look-alike Holly Letchworth — take notice.

“Nick is the guy Jess knew she should be with, but they were too young and their lives catapulted so quickly into fame that they never seemed to be able to catch up,” a pal says of the Newlyweds co-stars, who ended their three marriage in 2005. “She’s changed so much since they split and found out a lot about herself.”

That includes realizing she still has feelings for Nick.

“He’ll always hold a special place in her heart. It was her first love,” the pal says of their marriage. “Jess isn’t sure if Nick would give her a chance at this point, but she’d love to be friends. She says a part of her will always love him.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Jessica seems like an untethered boat when she’s without a man, like she’s just drifting around hoping for someone to take over and help her out. She’s so effusive about her relationships and has a tendency to overshare to the press to the point of embarrassment. I buy that she wouldn’t mind getting back with Nick and she’s probably idealizing her failed marriage now that she’s fresh out of another relationship. She told Glamour that she “loved everything about marriage.” It’s doubtful that OK! has much to go on other than tabloid reports and interviews, though.

Nick would be much better for Jessica than John Mayer, but it seems like only Mayer is willing to sleep with her and string her along. Nick got burned badly in his marriage and he’s not about to consider taking Jessica back. He’ll find another longterm girlfriend probably soon – he’s already dating, but it will be someone new. Jessica needs to focus on herself and work on being single for a while. So much for that story that she’s sworn off men. All she wants is another boyfriend to take away the pain, and that strategy hasn’t worked out for her at all in the past. You would hope she knows better than to get involved with Mayer again, but we all know that she doesn’t.

Nick Lachey out with an unknown woman yesterday

We’re prefacing this article with the fact that it’s from Star, because as many of you know that means it’s just as likely to be creative fiction. It’s plausible at least. Star reports that recently dumped Jessica Simpson went crying to her ex husband, Nick Lachey. Lachey was said to have been supportive and kind, but to have told Jessica in no uncertain terms that there’s no chance that they’re going to reconcile. Last week Lachey told People that he wished Jessica “the best, as I’ve always done,” but added that “I haven’t talked to her in probably two years.” That story might nullify this report, or maybe Jessica reached out to Nick after he wished her well through the press.

Since Jessica and Tony split, the Dallas Cowboy’s quarterback has been on a tear, kliving it up like a bachelor and partying with a bevy of beauties. His behavior has been so upsetting to Jessica, she’s turned to Nick, 35 – who’s also newly single after splitting with Vanessa Minnillo in late June – to boost her bruised ego, insiders tell Star. “He was trying to reassure her that things would get better,” says one. “Nick even made a joke about how he never really liked the Cowboys anyway. It made Jessica laugh and definitely cheered her up.”

It also gave her the wrong impression. Nick, thinking they were just friends, invited Jessica over for a late lunch at his place a few days after her July 10 birthday, says an insider. “Nick made BLTs. It was great for them to reconnect and catch up on all that has happened in their lives over the past few years.” But the time spent together got Jessica thinking about starting something with Nick again. “Part of her has always regretted leaving him,” reveals the insider.

An emotional Jessica got so wrapped up in the moment, she hinted that maybe she and Nick could spend some more time together and “see what happens,” says another insider. But she didn’t get the answer she was hoping for. “Although it had been nice to see Jess, Nick still hasn’t forgotten how badly she broke his heart. He told her he just couldn’t go through all that again.”

“Nick’s willing to be friends,” says an insider. “But that’s all. She’s upset and confused. Only days after being dumped by Tony, she’s rejected again. It’s been a rough week.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, August 3, 2009]

Is Jessica turning to her exes, including John Mayer, for support, or are the tabloids making up crap in the wake of her high profile breakup? She strikes me as the type who needs a lot of support and who is probably hurting badly at this point. I can see her calling up Nick and John Mayer and wanting to talk and maybe get some intimate solace. We heard from People last week that her family was really worried about her and that she wasn’t handling things well. Simpson would do well to just accept Nick’s friendship and advice and not hit the sheets with Mayer, if that’s even a possibility. There are plenty of guys who would be thrilled to date her, but she needs to get her bearings first and reach a place where she doesn’t need a man in her life in order to feel normal.

It looks like Nick has moved on anyway. He was spotted out with a lovely blonde on what looked like a date in Sherman Oaks, CA yesterday. Only one agency has the photos so maybe the one photographer got lucky and found him and he wasn’t looking for publicity.

Credit: Fame Pictures

Just when I’ve grown to expect the worst, the most immature, the most gratuitous behavior from celebrities, I get a surprise. It was a nice little interview with Nick Lachey in People Magazine. Remember, for much of last week, the tabloids were playing a little back-and-forth game about whether Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey would or could get back together, now that they’re both single at the same time. It was even US Weekly’s cover story last week, that’s how crazy it had gotten. Nick took himself over to People to give his first quote about the whole juicy story. Instead of saying something like, “Dude, I tried to warn Tony,” Nick was very gracious. All he says about Jessica is that he wishes her “the best, as I’ve always done.” Aw… nice.

Although Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, former spouses and stars of the reality show Newlyweds, now find themselves suddenly single at the same time, Lachey insists there is no reunion planned.

“I think it’s fun storytelling, but there’s very little truth to any of it,” the singer told PEOPLE at a party at Dusk at the Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City Saturday night. “I certainly have heard about her breakup and I wish her the best, as I’ve always done. Aside from that, there really is nothing to say.”

So has he reached out to his ex-wife since her sudden split with Tony Romo? “I haven’t talked to her in probably two years,” Lachey says. “I wish her happiness. That’s where it pretty much ends.”

As for his own recent breakup with girlfriend of three years, Vanessa Minnillo, Lachey doesn’t seem to be too torn up over it. “I’m in a good place,” he says. “I’ve learned, through years of not only being in this business, but being in relationships, that you have to take it as it goes. With every experience, you learn something about your life, and you try to take that and move on and be a better person because of it. We’ll see what happens.”

Lachey has been focusing on his music lately. His new album, Coming up for Air, will be released this October, and the first single will come out next month. “It’s reflective of a lot of different sides of me. It’s still pop but it’s a little more produced. It’s weird because music has changed so much, and as you get older, you have to see where the music scene is going but at the same time be true to who you are. I can’t really go out and do what I used to do, it’s just a different game.”

While he has no plans for a return to reality television, he doesn’t rule it out. “I would never do it the way it was done with us – with people living in your house, essentially, and having 24-hour access to your life, in your home. That, to me, was not a healthy way to go about it. But I think that anyone that kinda denies the success of reality TV is kidding themselves.”

[From People]

Alright, Nick sort of used that interview as a way to promote his new album, but that doesn’t negate his general kindness. He could have been really rude to or about Jessica, and I’m glad he didn’t go down that road.

Meanwhile, People Magazine is still all over the Jessica/Tony split story. They were the first to break the news of the split, and I think that People is pretty much the official mouthpiece for the Simpson family. I’m judging that solely on last week’s People piece that told Jessica’s side of the story, without actually doing an interview with her. Most of the quotes sound like they came from Papa Joe Simpson, honestly. However, late Friday, People put up a story about how Jessica has been laying low post-split. The fact that it’s People Magazine pointing out that Jessica is laying low… well, it’s a nice little public relations conundrum. In any case, they’re really painting Jessica as utterly devastated, with quotes like “She is still with her family. She is surrounding herself with a network of support.” Meanwhile, Tony Romo is banging anything with two legs and a pulse. Sigh. Poor Jessica.

Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson are shown out together in August, 2005. He is shown alone in the header on 7/18/09. Credit: WENN.com

People Magazine has a story up about how Jessica Simpson is “sad, mad and confused” following her split with Tony Romo. It’s not an interview with Jessica, the quotes are only from a “Simpson family friend” and a “source”. Considering it’s People, I’d say this is the sanctioned version of how Jessica is feeling. The “family friend” is probably Joe Simpson, for all I know.

Anyway, it turns out that Jessica was really “blindsided” by Tony, and she is now just laying low with her family. They also make a big deal about this whole idea that Jessica was just trying to be what she thought Tony wanted her to be – “the perfect mold of the perfect football girlfriend”. Yuck. This whole idea of girlfriend-perfection supposedly played on Jessica’s insecurities, which I tend to believe. People makes her sound just utterly devastated, so I do feel for my poor little dumb kitten. However, the “source” does get in a juicy body slam against Nick Lachey, saying that there is too much “bad blood” between Nick and Joe for Jessica and Nick to ever try to reconcile, which totally shoots US Weekly’s cover out of the water. And now I’m thinking People’s source really is Joe Simpson.

While Tony Romo is reveling in his renewed membership to the Singles-R-Us Club, Jessica Simpson is having a hard time coming to grips with being dumped a day before her 29th birthday.

“Jessica was really blindsided,” says a Simpson family friend. “She’s sad, mad, and confused. Her emotions are all over the place.”

Another source close to Simpson tells PEOPLE that “it’s been difficult lately” for the pair, who first started dating in November, 2007.

“Dating her comes along with her celebrity and press – that’s not easy for anyone,” says Simpson’s family friend. “But she and Tony seemingly had it figured out. They rolled with the punches and focused on each other. They just lost sight of that at the end.”

Since the sudden split, Simpson has been laying low. “She is holding up okay,” says the Simpson source. “She is with her family. They are – as always – very supportive of her.”

The one thing the family will not support: The thought of Simpson reconciling with her ex-husband Nick Lachey, who recently split from his girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo. “It won’t happen,” says a source. “They have no respect for him. Jessica has no respect for him. There is way too much bad blood between Nick and Joe for Jessica to even think about it.”

The Simpson clan, however, was upset to see Romo go. “Everyone really liked him,” says the Simpson family friend. Adds another source close to the Simpsons: “He wanted this perfect mold of the perfect football girlfriend. People don’t realize that Jessica has been worn down by Hollywood. She has insecurities and inner demons that she struggles with. She’s not some upbeat blond cheerleader that people want her to be.”

But Simpson is, if nothing else, strong. “She’s gone through heartache before,” says a source. “She wants someone who is on the same page that she is. If she has to move on for that, she will.”

[From People]

Don’t they make Jessica just sound miserable? If it was someone else, someone a bit smarter, I would think that this version was being put out to garner some sympathy, play the victim. But I totally by that Jessica is probably more devastated than this sanctioned version. Maybe Jessica, for her next dating escapade, should go for someone totally outside of the trappings of celebrity. No singers, no actors, no athletes. Just a nice church-going businessman or someone like that. You know who might be nice for her? Some young, upstart Texas politician. I could totally see Jessica as a political wife.

Jessica Simpson is shown performing on 3/8/09. Credit: WENN.com