Too far? Jessica Simpson reacted to her ex-husband, Nick Lachey, joking about her dad Joe Simpson‘s sexuality and made it clear she doesn’t like it when her family is a punchline.
Jessica, 39, shared her reaction in a sneak peek of the Friday, February 7, episode of SiriusXM’s Town Hall, hosted by Andy Cohen.
“I’d heard about it [the joke],” the “With You” singer says in the clip. “That was low and that’s not for him to talk about by any means because he’s not connected with us at all anymore.”
She added that she was “very pissed” about Lachey’s remarks. “He was just bitter and he was just trying to take a dig,” Jessica tells Cohen, 51.
The 98 Degrees member, 46, appeared on the January 28 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen where he poked fun at the 61-year-old former minister during the game Plead the Fifth.
“The best thing about not having Joe Simpson anymore as a father-in-law is I don’t have to play grab-ass under the table on Easter Sunday,” Lachey told the Bravo personality adding, “It may not be [funny] tomorrow, but it is tonight.”
In her memoir, Open Book, Jessica detailed when her father brought a male model as a guest to her wedding to Eric Johnson in 2014.
“My father called me three days before we left for the wedding to tell me he was bringing his friend Jonathan, a young model he often shot for his new photography business,” the “Irresistible” songstress wrote. “‘He wasn’t on the list,’ I said. There was a pause. I reminded myself that I needed to accept my father for who he was as he worked it out in real-time.”
Joe denied dating the male model after they were spotted together in Miami in February 2014. “More mis-information in the news,” he tweeted. “The guy in the pics is my modeling Client. He was in Miami taking agency meetings. That’s it!!”
However, Jessica told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published on Wednesday, February 5, that she didn’t feel it was her place to comment on Joe’s sexuality.
“That’s not something we talk about. That’s not my story to tell,” Jessica told the publication.
The Employee of the Month star’s parents split in 2012 after 34 years of marriage. Jessica explained in her memoir that she was caught off guard by the news — which she found out while pregnant with her eldest daughter, Maxwell, and in the hospital — and, ultimately, she sided with her mother, Tina Simpson.
“They had been married for thirty four years, and I had a hard time being around them together since they’d stop loving each other,” she penned. “I was blindsided by this news, which triggered his natural salesmanship. He pitched it to me as a positive thing, ‘You gave me the confidence … You gave me the way out.’ Great, I thought to myself, ‘I broke my own heart.’”
As for Lachey, Jessica called the singer her “first love” in her book and wrote about the ups and downs of their marriage, which lasted from 2002 to 2006. The Kentucky native told Us Weekly on Saturday, February 1, that despite being a key factor in the book, he and his wife of eight years, Vanessa Lachey, haven’t read the memoir.
“Well, no, I have not read a single word,” he admitted. “Both of us have not read the book, and no, she did not reach out before it was published.”
Unlock the secrets to being the best version of you. From keeping those New Year’s resolutions, to staying mindful about your mental health and tackling issues that rarely get talked about. Listen to The Secrets to a Healthier, Happier You in 2020 below.
