During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live last week, Nick Lachey confirmed rumors that he and his ex-wife, Jessica Simpson, were on the same flight to Hawaii in late March. Nick told Andy Cohen that his family and Jessica were seated in first class and that they had a cordial conversation. Nick noted that he and his wife Vanessa were sitting with their three children and that Jessica was sitting with her mother, Tina Simpson. Jessica’s three children were seated in coach with Jessica’s estranged husband, Eric Johnson. People on social media latched onto the fact that Jessica was sitting in a different cabin class than her kids and questioned why.
Jessica had a flight out of LAX this week. Paparazzi at the airport asked about her family’s seating arrangements. Jessica gave a simple explanation: She wasn’t the one who bought the tickets. The entire trip was a gift from her mom. From Page Six:
Jessica Simpson explained why she was a few degrees away from her children on a recent flight.
The “With You” singer set the record straight after her ex-husband, Nick Lachey, claimed she sat in first class while her kids flew economy on a six-hour flight, telling photogs Wednesday at LAX, “My mom bought those tickets.”
She reiterated, “It was my mom’s treat for us to go to Hawaii.”
As Simpson began to go through security, the photog asked if her kids would sit with her if she were the one who purchased the tickets, to which she replied, “Of course!”
I don’t think Jessica owed anyone an explanation. People would have kept asking her about it, so I understand why she engaged with the paps and answered the question. Her reason makes sense. It’s Tina’s money and she can decide how to spend it. There are so many reasons why she’d only pay for Jessica to sit with her. They could have planned on using some of the time to work on Jessica Simpson Collection business. Maybe there weren’t enough seats left in first class because the Lacheys were taking up five of them. They could have wanted some peace and quiet. It’s not like the kids, who are 14, 12, and seven, were seated in coach by themselves for the six-and-a-half hour flight. They were with their father.
It was really generous of Tina to take the entire family, including Eric, to Hawaii, though. My grandparents used to take us on family vacations when I was younger, and they are some of my favorite memories from growing up. I hope the Simpson-Johnson family had a nice, relaxing trip.
photos credit: Crash/MediaPunch/INSTARimages, Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon and via Instagram
What happened to “I’ll never get lip fillers again?” …
She has had so much work done it hurts to look at her.
Totally agree!
The pic here is one of the better ones I’ve seen of her lately. At least the hair color and lips are slightly less jarring?
She has the same thing that Erin Moriarty has in that the lip fillers have changed her speech. It always sounds like it’s hard for them to form words properly. 🙁
@Kitten, I was FLOORED by Erin’s mouth/face when I started Season 5 of The Boys! It’s so distracting while watching.
She’s Streisanding it now. I didn’t see a problem in the first place
It sounds more like that photographer was shaming her.
I hate that this even became a thing and I doubt her kids GAF that they weren’t in first class with her. I wonder if she regrets being cordial to Lachey since he basically turned around and served up this (non) scandal to the press.
@kitten that’s how I feel. For many years I blissfully enjoyed ambivalence as my dominant emotion about Nick. But since Nick and Mrs. Lachey have forced their mediocrity on us for so many LIB seasons that ambivalence has turned to active dislike. This whole thing seems very shady and he needs a new therapist if he’s still working so hard to position himself as the good guy compared to his ex of two decades ago.
This is the aspect of celebrity that sucks to me. Attention is such a commodity that even on topics that are stupid, inane or private, you are expected to play the “Yes and” game to make use of every moment of attention coming your way.
And she really needs to lay off the lip fillers.
Exactly! If they don’t answer the questions they are considered rude or withholding but if they do answer questions than every word is analyzed to death by strangers on the internet and it takes on a life of it’s own.
I couldn’t handle that! How lucky we are to live our (nonwealthy but) private lives.
Nick Lachey will never give up any chance to say something nasty about Jessica. He is a bitter man. There was no reason for any of this to be public, it’s not like anyone would ask him if he saw Jessica on a flight and where were her children sitting. He just couldn’t wait once he had an opportunity to bash her.
Those lip fillers are tragic.
Well, you’re wrong about this instance.
He was asked by Andy Cohen if the rumor was true about Nick & Jessica being a flight to Hawaii together. Nick answered Andy’s questions about it and Nick wasn’t being a jerk in answering Andy’s questions.
Go watch the clip.
They do pre-interviews for Andy Cohen’s show. It was brought up because Nick wanted to talk about it.
@JOANNE:
Sorry babe, you’re wrong about that. From Google:
“Key Details About WWHL-
Guest Prep:No Pre-Interviews: Unlike most talk shows where guests discuss topics with producers beforehand, WWHL guests walk on stage without having practiced their stories, which allows Cohen to go “anywhere” with the conversation.
The Only Prep: According to Andy Cohen, the only question guests are typically asked in advance is what drink they would like waiting for them at the bar.
Live Atmosphere: Because the show is live (Sunday–Thursday), it relies on the “without-a-net” format to stand out.The “After-Show”: Guests often engage in a 10-minute, online-only “after-show” following the main broadcast, which is also not pre-scripted.”
I used to watch his show quite frequently (but it became tiresome to me and I don’t care much for RH of Whatever Place drama)
It’s obvious that his show does NOT conduct pre interviews by the reactions of his guests to some of the bold questions he asks. That’s part of what made his show stand out, initially.
@CHEEKIMPLANT…I love it when people come through with receipts. People think they can just lie on Beyonces Internet because most people are too lazy to look anything up.
It kind of is a problem, though. Isn’t Jessica (and her mom, to a certain degree, because she manages the business) worth a lot of money? She could have easily upgraded her entire family to first class. And it says something about what their less-monied dad (and them, derivatively) is “worth” in the eyes of the grandmother and their mom.
It could have been everything you’re saying….But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe there just weren’t enough seats left in First Class for all of them to take that particular flight. I have booked for family before and this exact thing happened. So we had to decide who got the last couple of seats in the higher class of service and who rode in coach. It was not about the money or anything else but about the schedule and wanting to get someplace in a certain timing. They could well afford to fly everyone in First, but it just wasn’t available.
People always make a little nasty turn where it’s not needed. Why is everyone so quick to throw shade at Jessica? Why is Nick even discussing Jessica’s family arrangements? It was none of his business. He could have left it at, “Yes. I saw her on the flight.” Saying any more about it, and answering any more questions about it was just rude and nasty. – It was a choice- an unnecessary choice.
She said that her mother bought the tickets; she notably didn’t say any of the above (no more seats, the scheduling, the husband wanted to sit in coach, so the kids sat with him, etc.). It was “my mom bought the tickets as a gift.” And the mom’s gift was to put the ex in coach.
@Mumster. My point is less about ‘Why are the husband and kids in coach?”, and more about , “Why do we even know this information?”
It could have very well been that Jessica and/or her mother decided to put the estranged husband in coach to put him in his place. But why do we even know about this? Why is Nick Lachey even discussing it? Why is he putting Jessica’s business all in the street? Just because Andy Cohen asks you a question, doesn’t mean you have to answer it.
Nick wouldn’t like it if Jessica did the same to him. If/when she repays this little favor of his, he has no reason to be upset. He’s brought it on himself.
There’s a saying: “Don’t start no sh-t, won’t be no sh-t. ” I’m petty. If you start it, I’m going to finish it. If I was Jessica, I’d be sure to drop some little nugget about Nick the next time the paparazzi caught up with me. But perhaps she’s a better woman than I am.
I don’t think it’s a problem. The expectation to get up in arms about Jessica Simpson flying first class is weird to me, but maybe this decade has so much worse celebrity gossip to hear about this issue of flying first class isn’t even registering with me.
No. It is very WEIRD they had that seating arrangement.
Right? I thought I was in the twilight zone with these comments.
My first thought was that it was an instance of showing the ex-husband “his place.” I imagine the comments would be different if a man sat in first class while his kids and stay-at-home ex wife sat in the main cabin.
That’s what I thought, too. Tina’s way of punishing him.
I agree with other comments here, I have never and would never purchase tickets in a different class from my kids. We always sit together.
But I’ve never gone through a divorces so, whatever.
Men sit it business/first and leave the wife and kids down the back on long international flights ( think Australia or NZ to Europe so 2 x 10 to 12hr flights often back to back) ALL THE TIME. la to hi that’s nothing. They’re kids, they don’t need business class.
Nick didn’t have to answer any question Andy Cohen asked. As a celebrity, he knows this. I don’t consider it a problem at all that Dad took care of the kids while Mom sat up front with her mom. There is no scandal or wrong-doing here. Only an ex-husband who shares gossip about his ex-wife of 20 years for no reason whatsoever (to get his name back into circulation?) I’m sure Andy only wanted Nick because he could gossip nastily about Jessica.