Producer shares what really went on behind the scenes of Newlyweds.

For a little while, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey were the all-American dream couple who invited us into their homes via reality TV. Then their marriage went the way most celebrity romances go – straight to Divorceville.

Re-watching the three seasons of the musical couple’s TV show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica only tells us so much about the couple, but one of the show’s producer has given us an insight into what really went on behind the scenes.

Producer Sue Kolinsky told Complex that Jessica and Nick really were who they appeared to be – and it was those differences that were their downfall in the end.

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“You could feel there was tension between the two of them. They were very different people,” Kolinsky said.

“He was a blue-collar guy — he did a lot of things himself, like he and his brother would build things. He was frugal, and she had excessive taste. In the end they weren’t suited for each other. The only thing they really had in common was their music.

“She was really young; I think he’s seven years older than her. He wanted a family, and her father thought maybe she was too young … Her father was very involved in her life.”

As for Jessica’s “dumb blonde” moments, that had viewers either sitting in disbelief or mocking her mercilessly Kolinsky says they were all real and unscripted.

Including the time the pop star, who is now married to Eric Johnson and has two kids, famously asked if the tuna she was eating was fish or chicken.

"There were times when we were like, 'hmm, does she really not know what this means?'" Kolinsky told the magazine.

"I truly believe the whole 'chicken and fish' situation was accurate. She really did not know. I remember there was a scene where there was a dead mouse by their pool and it had been dead for a while. Nick said, "it’s in rigor mortis" and Jessica said, ‘Riga-what?’ I truly believe she didn’t know what that meant."

The LA-based producer looked back fondly at her time on the show, which premiered four years before Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

"It was a whole new genre... Plus, they were perfect because they were polar opposites, they were beautiful, and without even realising it, they were very funny."

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