Remember when Jessica Simpson literally aired her dirty laundry on TV? Well, now a Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica producer is spilling all the details about her experience working behind the camera with the singer and her then-husband, Nick Lachey, on their ’00s MTV reality series.
In an interview with Complex published on Monday, July 10, Sue Kolinsky opened up about the former couple’s hit show, Simpson’s “dumb blonde” act and what it was like working with the stars in the months leading up to their high-profile divorce.
“You could feel there was tension between the two of them,” the three-time Emmy-nominated producer claimed to the website. “They were very different people. He was a blue collar guy — he did a lot of things himself, like he and his brother [Drew Lachey] 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 [Joe Simpson] thought maybe she was too young. Her father was very involved in her life.”
Kolinsky, who also worked on The Osbournes and Top Chef, admitted that she had no idea who Simpson, 37, was prior to joining the crew. However, she knew the show would be a success and ultimately stayed on for all three seasons.
The producer had plenty of fun on set, too, particularly when the series played up the “With You” singer’s oft-naïve personality. “There were times when we were like, ‘Hm, does she really not know what this means?'” Kolinsky recalled to Complex. “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.”
Simpson and Lachey divorced in 2006 after four years of marriage. She went on to marry former NFL star Eric Johnson in 2014, and welcomed two children, Maxwell, 5, and Ace, 4. Lachey wed Vanessa Minnillo in 2011, and they are parents of Camden, 4, Brooklyn, 2, and Phoenix, 6 months.
