Jessica Simpson has built herself a pretty solid career. Despite not being a very good singer, she managed to leverage the celebrity she achieved as an early 2000s pop singer into a $1 billion clothing and accessories business, so it’s clear she’s doing pretty well. She also seems like a pretty decent person, and an honest one, at that. While visiting the NYSE last week, a reporter for CNBC asked Jessica what her biggest financial mistake has been, to which she replied, “The biggest money mistakes? I don’t know. For some reason I thought of my first marriage.” Oh, snap!
Her first marriage was, as you’ll remember, to Nick Lachey. Given that Nick was also moderately “famous” at the time from the travesty that was 98 Degrees, you would imagine their split would have been pretty simple because they had their own money and whatnot. Not so, unfortunately – turns out Jess paid him upwards of $12 million in their divorce settlement, so no wonder she considers it a major mistake.
Here’s what “a source” told Radar Online (via The Mirror):
“The real story is that Jessica paid Nick $12 million in the divorce.
“That is what she meant when she said her first marriage was her biggest money mistake!”
“The reality is that her dad, Joe, refused to let Jess sign a pre-nup as Nick was worth more when they got married!”
“Nick got more from her than he got from his entire music career,” the source added.
Yikes. All’s well that ends well, obviously, since Jess is raking it in now, but that still sucks. There’s no chance on God’s green earth I would ever marry as a celebrity without a pre-nup. I don’t care how much I loved the person or seriously thought it was going to last forever. Shit happens, and gotta protect that cash flow.