How Jessica Simpson Regained Confidence After Her Messy Divorce From Nick Lachey

Jessica Simpson is giving the scoop on what helped her reconnect with herself following her 2005 split from ex-husband Nick Lachey.

In an interview published on Tuesday, December 5, the mother-of-three — who is now married to Eric Johnson — explained that changing up her hairstyle gave her a huge boost in confidence.

“I chopped it all off,” the 43-year-old shared. “I was going through a divorce. I just wanted to wear something that was very me.”

The pop sensation looked back on the moment, recalling the short blonde bob, which she famously wore with a purple dress in 2006 during album promotion for A Public Affair.

“And then I wore a Jessica Simpson Collection boot,” she noted. “I just thought it was fun that you could fold them over, you know? Maybe that will come back one day, but it’s a little Renaissance or something.”

Simpson and Lachey began dating in 1998, when the singer was only 18 years old. Just three years later, the couple tied the knot in October 2002.

The pair's relationship was broadcasted for the whole world on their reality TV show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, which ran from August 2003 to March 2005. Shortly after the series ended, Simpson filed for divorce.

In the blonde beauty’s 2020 memoir, Open Book, Simpson detailed her relationship with Lachey.

“The thing about falling in love with someone in a boyband is that you’re not alone,” she stated about the 98 Degrees member. “There are a lot of girls out there who had already complied all the details on Nick Lachey.”

She also described how she wanted her marriage to Lachey to appear to be “perfect” while cameras were rolling.

“I didn’t mind if I looked dumb, but I wanted people to see the fairy tale in Nick. In us,” Simpson wrote. “I had the Instagram-girlfriend syndrome before it was a thing, and I wanted the world to see my husband in the best light because I was hopelessly in love with him.”

However, the star admitted she felt like she was playing a character on the show.

“We had become actors in our own lives, playing ourselves,” she penned. “Worse, we slowly started acting out our parts even when cameras weren’t rolling.”

By the final season of the program, Simpson was “sick of lying,” noting Lachey told the crew to “stop rolling” so often that the last episode was simply clips cut together.

“It was bizarre, and I never watched it,” she confessed. “We finished our run and fulfilled the contract.”

Despite the difficult time filming, Simpson had no regrets.

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“I mean, if anything, it was great TV. It was very real, and Nick and I actually had a lot of fun,” she said. “We got to do a lot of things we might not have done otherwise.”

Footwear News interviewed Simpson.