Jessica Simpson wouldn’t change anything about her marriage to ex-husband Nick Lachey … besides the fact that she didn’t protect her finances.
“I wish I would’ve signed a prenup,” the 39-year-old fashion designer admits in a sneak peek of the Thursday, February 6, episode of The Dr. Oz Show. “The funny thing is that Nick wanted me to sign a prenup but I was so offended. I’m like, ‘But we’re going to be together for the rest of our lives. We’re saying our vows to God and in front of all of our family and friends. This is never going to end,’ and we didn’t sign a prenup.”
In her new memoir, Open Book, Simpson detailed how she felt when Lachey, 46, came to her with a prenuptial agreement before their October 2002 nuptials.
“As we got closer to the wedding, he casually mentioned that maybe we should talk about getting a prenup. Part of the tabloid mythology of our marriage is my dad played hardball and refused,” Simpson wrote. “No, this was an intimate discussion between a man and his soon-to-be wife. Which is to say that I exploded.”
After the “With You” songstress refused to sign, Lachey dropped the idea. “[Nick and his team] had no inkling that I was going to leave our marriage with much more earnings than him,” she wrote. “And more important, we knew our marriage would never end.”
Simpson and the “I Don’t Hate You Anymore” singer called it quits in November 2005 after three years of marriage. According to the author, Lachey and her dad, Joe Simpson, argued over their divorce settlement for months before the paperwork was finalized.
“If it sounds crazy that I can’t remember [the amount of money that he wanted], it was crazy to me that we had that kind of money to fight over after just three seasons of a show,” she wrote, referring to MTV’s Newlyweds. “We were both blessed by God, but Nick had a better lawyer.”
In the end, Jessica paid Lachey what he asked for, promising Joe that she would make all the money back. “And then I did. Give or take a billion,” she quipped in the book, referring to her successful fashion collection, which Forbes estimated makes $1 billion a year in retail in 2014.
The “Sweetest Sin” singer previously called her first marriage her biggest money mistake during an appearance on CNBC’s Closing Bell in September 2015.
