Jessica Simpson’s memoir hits stores next week, but excerpts and revelations from the book have already leaked. In one part of Open Book, Simpson reveals that she had sex with 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey one last time after they divorced. The former celebrity power couple split in 2005 after just three years of marriage.
According to the book, Lachey and Simpson filed for divorce in November 2005. Lachey wanted to keep the marriage going and suggested they go to marriage counseling. Simpson, who was 25 at the time, refused, reports Radar Online. The divorce was finalized in 2006.
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The early days of Simpson and Lachey’s marriage were chronicled in the reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, which aired on MTV from 2003 to 2005. In Open Book, Simpson also wrote about how she felt after seeing Lachey criticize her in a documentary about his 2006 album.
“I watched him portray himself as a victim, casting me as this selfish person,” Simpson wrote. “He then mentioned that the door was still open for us to get back together. I kept pulling the blanket up over my face to hide because [because] I felt so exposed. It was so disrespectful and [he] dragged me back into his orbit when I was just starting to leave it [the relationship].”
Simpson was angry about seeing Lachey “breaking down in front of the world” and putting the responsibility of the divorce on her shoulders.
“I felt responsible,” she wrote. “How many times are women made to feel responsible for the actions of men? I know now that I wasn’t, but back then, it felt like I needed to fix him.”
After she saw the film, she invited Lachey over to tell him how she felt about it in person.
“He rang the bell, and out of reflex I hugged him. I meant it, too. Despite my anger, I missed him,” Simpson wrote. She then struggled with how to react, seeing Lachey hurt so much.
“I didn’t know any other way to make it better, so I slept with him,” Simpson wrote.
She felt “no connection” after that night, which gave her “confirmation that this man was not my husband anymore.”
Lachey did not spend the whole night with Simpson, and was “relieved.”
“I could feel his hate,” Simpson wrote. “The whole situation was very dark. I didn’t want the energy in my home. When he walked out the door, I knew I would never see him again.”
In the book, Simpson also discusses her drug and alcohol abuse and detailed her kiss with Justin Timberlake after her divorce. She also claimed she was drunk during an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2017.
Simpson is now married to Eric Johnson, with whom she shares three children.
Open Book is out on Feb. 4.
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