Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's 'TV-perfect' marriage ended in divorce. This is their life now.

MTV's reality show Newlyweds was... iconic.

The show began in 2003 and made household names out of pop star Jessica Simpson and 98 Degrees boy band member, Nick Lachey.

It was beloved mostly because of Simpson's 'blonde-bimbo' persona (chicken or fish anyone?) and Lachey's patient explanations of... pretty much everything.

After three seasons, the show ended and just a few months later, the couple announced they were getting divorced after just three years of marriage.

Watch: Ask Mia Anything | My Wedding Day. Story continues below.

While the short-lived couple are hard to forget, both have since remarried, had families, and successful careers. They've also both had their fair share of controversies.

Here's what the lives of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey look like now.

Jessica Simpson.

Relationships.

The couple's 2002 wedding was immortalised in the opening credits of Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica until everything fell apart.

In November 2005, the stars announced their separation and Simpson filed for divorce the month after. Their divorce was then finalised in 2006.

While the couple's split was painfully public, Simpson doesn't regret sharing their relationship with the world.

"I don't regret that at all. I mean, if anything, it was great TV," she said on The Real in 2022. "It was very real, and Nick and I actually had a lot of fun."

That's not to say they haven't shared some subtle digs at one another over the years.

Lachey said on Love Is Blind season three in 2022 that marriage "is always better the second time".

Simpson went on to have a couple of high-profile romances, including one with musician John Mayer, who memorably described the singer as "sexual napalm".

In her memoir, Open Book, Simpson also admitted to an "emotional affair" with Jackass star, Johnny Knoxville when they were co-starring in Dukes of Hazzard.

Still married to Lachey at the time, Simpson recalled that she "felt a force" the first time she met Knoxville, who was also married at the time.

"First off, we were both married, so this wasn't going to get physical," she wrote.

"But to me, an emotional affair was worse than a physical one. It's funny, I know, because I had placed such an emphasis on sex by not having it before marriage. After I actually had sex, I understood that the emotional part was what mattered. And Johnny and I had that, which seemed far more of a betrayal to my marriage than sex."

Simpson went on to meet husband retired NFL player Eric Johnson who she married in July 2014. The couple have three children together: Maxwell, now 10, Ace, nine, and Birdie, four.

Jessica Simpson and her family pictured at an event in 2020. Image: Getty.

Memoir.

In the tell-all book mentioned above, Simpson also detailed the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, her addiction to diet pills when she was pressured to lose weight as a young pop star, and her alcoholism, which led her to quit booze entirely after she hit "rock bottom" at a Halloween party in 2017.

Simpson recounted that morning, saying that her and Johnson were on their way to a school assembly for their daughter, Maxwell.

“It was 7:30 in the morning and I’d already had a drink,” she wrote.

After the assembly, Simpson and her husband went home to prepare for the Halloween party they were hosting at their house.

When Johnson asked her if she wanted to get the kids ready, Simpson realised she wasn't in the right state of mind to help.

“I was terrified of letting them see me in that shape,” she wrote. “I am ashamed to say that I don’t know who got them into their costumes that night.”

Jessica Simpson and her children, Maxwell, Ace and Birdie. Image: Instagram/@jessicasimpson.

With the support of her family, friends and a team of doctors, Simpson has twice-weekly therapy and has remained sober since that day.

"When I finally said I needed help, it was like I was that little girl that found her calling again in life," Simpson told People. "I found direction, and that was to walk straight ahead with no fear."

"Honesty is hard, but it's the most rewarding thing we have. And getting to the other side of fear is beautiful."

Recent controversies.

Despite Simpson's well-documented recovery, a video she posted in November last year sparked concern among fans.

The now 42-year-old posted a Pottery Barn ad to her Instagram, which amassed thousands of unsolicited comments picking apart Simpson's behaviour and appearance, suggesting the singer was unwell and slurring her speech.

Simpson appeared to respond to the commentary on Instagram, uploading a video passionately belting out her song 'Party of One' with an emphasis on the "I don’t give a f**k about you" line.

"I needed to be in my studio today because this is where I ground myself and heal," she began in her lengthy caption.

"As much as I have learned to block out destructive noise… people's comments and judgements can still hurt deeply with their incessant nagging 'you will never be good enough.'"

Jessica Simpson. Image: Instagram/@jessicasimpson.

Billionaire status.

Prior to having to pay an eye-watering $12 million settlement to Lachey, Simpson told her father who was acting as her legal representation, to give him whatever he wanted.

"There was no price on freedom," Simpson wrote in her memoir, and that's what she was getting: freedom.

Her father was reluctant but Simpson promised him she would make the money back. "And then I did," she wrote. "Give or take a billion."

In 2005, the singer and actor launched The Jessica Simpson Collection, a fashion line that became a clothing empire.

In 2014, the Collection reportedly earned $1 billion in annual sales and the company is worth a billion dollars today, making it the most successful celebrity licensing brand ever.

"This empire that I've built is not just me, it's my mother and a lot of my very dear friends. I really think with the brand, it's my name; it's authentic, fashionable, affordable and accessible," she told Stellar magazine in 2020.

"I have been a size two and I've been a size 14 and every size in-between, and I wanted to feel cute at every size and embrace the body that I have in that moment."

"People can say whatever the heck they want to say about me. I really don't care because they're probably walking on my name already. My logo is likely to be on the bottom of their shoes."

Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. Image: Getty.

Nick Lachey.

Nick Lachey has lived a far more private life than Simpson since they split, but has recently made headlines for a rare comment he made about their divorce.

Relationships.

Lachey recently shared a glimpse into his relationship with Simpson, saying he understands the fear of marriage, as he deals with his own lingering trauma.

While talking to a contestant on season three of The Ultimatum, Lachey said, "I, too, was previously married, divorced, so I understand the hurt, the scars that exist from that."

The musician said he ultimately put those fears aside, which led him to his second wife, Vanessa Minnillo.

"Don't let your past define your future," Lachey said, per E! News.

"What I truly always wanted in my life, which was to have a beautiful marriage and a beautiful family, if I hadn't retained my belief in that, I wouldn't have ever realised the beautiful life I have with this woman."

Lachey began dating MTV and Entertainment Tonight presenter Vanessa just a year after separating from Simpson, after she appeared in the video for his song What's Left of Me?.

The couple were engaged four years later, and married in June 2011 on Richard Branson's private Necker Island, in the British Virgin Islands.

The couple, who share a birthday (Nick is seven years older), has three children: Camden, 10, Brooklyn, eight, and Phoenix, six.

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo. Image: Getty

His recent comments on The Ultimatum are not the first time Lachey's marriage with Simpson has been referenced on the show.

In 2022, Minnillo said going through Simpson and Lachey's "very public" separation was difficult.

"He was literally in a very public marriage and a very public divorce, and I had to go through all that s*** very publicly and it was very hard for us," she said.

"It wasn't until the moment that he was like, 'I'm gonna let it go,' and I said, 'I'm gonna let it go,' and we truly committed to each other. We literally fell deeper and harder than we ever could."

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A post shared by Nick Lachey (@nicklachey)

Career.

Lachey was part of '90s boy band 98 degrees which took an indefinite hiatus in 2001 to focus on their families, after the environment in the United States post 9/11 took its toll.

The band reunited in 2013 for The Package Tour, a joint bill with New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men and then again in 2021 when the band dropped their first single in eight years, Where Do You Wanna Go.

In between these hiatuses, Lachey enjoyed the success of his own solo career, releasing four albums; SoulO, What's Left of Me, A Father's Lullaby, and Soundtrack of My Life.

After his divorce from Simpson, Lachey put all his emotions into the hit single, “What’s Left of Me,” in February 2006. The track not only found him his future wife, but it ended up being the singer's most successful hit, getting all the way to number six on the Billboard Hot 10.

Lachey also began to build out his career on-screen. After a recurring role on hit show Charmed, the singer found his niche in hosting.

He's hosted NBC's The Sing-Off, co-hosted VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live, Nickelodeon's America's Most Musical Family as well as Netflix's Perfect Match.

Lachey and wife Vanessa both co-host the Netflix shows Love Is Blind and The Ultimatum. His better half gushed about the experience.

"They made literally our dreams come true in terms of being able to work together, being able to spend time together, making our marriage stronger ultimately in the end," Vanessa told CBS.

In 2021, Lachey won the fifth season of The Masked Singer besting the likes of JoJo, Wiz Khalifa and Hanson for the win.

Nick and Vanessa Lachey with their children. Image: Instagram/@nicklachey.

Controversy.

Nick and Vanessa Lachey found themselves in a bit of hot water earlier last year due to their work hosting Love is Blind with fans calling the Season 4 reunion episode a 'disaster'.

Thousands of tweets came flooding in after the reunion aired, focusing on how awkward the couple were as hosts, as well as a bias that seemed to be there for certain contestants.

It got so bad that a petition to replace them as hosts of the show, previously made by a fan named Libby Cross, was renewed with a new vigour, gaining well over 20,000 signatures in a matter of days.

"There was A LOT wrong with this season’s reunion, and almost all of it led back to hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey," Cross wrote on her petition.

"They seem to be much more concerned with directing as much attention at themselves and their personal lives rather than focusing on the contestants that are actually participating in the experiment."

"The final straw for me was Vanessa pressing the female contestants about when they were going to have kids."

Libby Cross is referring to when Vanessa, sitting with married contestants Chelsea and Kwame Appiah, Tiffany and Brett Brown, and Bliss and Zack Goytowski, asked, “I need to know, who’s going to give me our first Love Is Blind baby?”

“I don’t want to ask if you’re trying because that’s TMI. Obviously, you all are intimate.”

Many fans found this pushing some kind of line, reading into the contestants' reactions as uncomfortable.

Despite this, the couple continue to co-host the shows together, with season three of The Ultimatum having premiered on December 4.

This article was published in April 2023 and has been updated.

Feature Image: Getty

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