Many fans had to pick up their jaws off the floor when Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson separated — but Jessica’s sister, Ashlee Simpson, was not one of them.
The “Pieces of Me” singer, 33, shared her reaction to the news during a no-holds-barred round of “Plead the Fifth” on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Tuesday, September 4.
“On a scale of 0 to 10, how surprised were you by the split of Nick Lachey and your sister?” host Andy Cohen asked. “Ten being the most surprised.”
Ashlee smiled and glanced over at her husband and Ashlee+Evan costar, Evan Ross, before responding, “Um, a five.” She then nodded her head and chuckled as a visibly intrigued Cohen, 50, told her she was “good at this” game.
Jessica and Lachey announced in November 2005 that they had called it quits after three years of marriage. They finalized their high-profile divorce the following June.
The fashion designer, 38, went on to marry Eric Johnson in 2014, and they welcomed two children: Maxwell, 6, and Ace, 5. The 98 Degrees member, 44, wed Vanessa Lachey in 2011, and they share three kids: Camden, 5, Brooklyn, 3, and Phoenix, 20 months.
Ashlee was not the only person who picked up on the behind-the-scenes drama between Jessica and Lachey leading up to their divorce. Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica producer Sue Kolinsky told Complex in July 2017 that she “could feel there was tension” on the set of the couple’s MTV reality series, which aired from 2003 to 2005.
“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,” Kolinsky told the website. “In the end they weren’t suited for each other. The only thing they really had in common was their music. … He wanted a family, and her father [Joe Simpson] thought maybe she was too young.”
Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen airs on Bravo Sundays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. ET.
