Singer Jessica Simpson, 44, announced her separation from husband Eric Johnson, 45, on January 14.
The singer began dating the former NFL player in January 2010, and they announced their engagement in November of that year before tying the knot on July 5, 2014. They share daughter Maxwell, 12, son Ace, 11 and daughter Birdie, five. An insider has now spoken out, and claimed that protecting her sobriety was one of the main reasons Jessica had to call it quits on her relationship, with the pop star having been sober since October 2017.
A source shared that while Jessica has “grown” since marrying Eric, her husband hasn’t developed alongside her. “Eric likes to take the credit for Jessica getting sober and turning her life around and, while he was supportive of her and her journey, she did this herself. He didn’t baby sit her,” they claimed.
The insider added that Jessica didn’t want it to come to divorce, Eric had been “extremely absent” for a couple of years, and with the “spark gone, staying together for the kids no longer made sense“. The insider claimed the couple tried a number of avenues to get their marriage back on track including counselling, spiritual healing, tantric exercises, but “it didn’t work”. Alongside worrying for the relationship, fears for Jessica’s own health rose.
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jessicasimpson/Instagram)“She has been sober for seven years now and their fighting and the stress was causing her friends to fear she would relapse. She needed to walk away from this,” they told the Daily Mail describing the singer as “fragile” but “not broken.”
Jessica shared a statement on Tuesday announcing the end of her marriage. The star wrote: “Our children come first, and we are focusing on what is best for them. We are grateful for all of the love and support that has been coming our way, and appreciate privacy right now as we work through this as a family."
While the statement confirmed Jessica’s split from Eric, fans spotted signs that it may have been over months ago. Back in November, the star shared a string of snaps posing in a white lace dress and a black fur coat on Instagram. However, fans soon noticed that her wedding ring was noticeably absent from her hand.
If that weren’t enough, Jessica added a very cryptic caption to the shots. She wrote: “Interviews in my Nashville music room where I unearthed my singular magic. This comeback is personal, it’s an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve.“
In the comment section, fans soon took the lack of ring and mysterious message to mean an end of her romance. “Ohhh someone is NOT PLAYING anymore, girls!!! Take notes!!,“ one fan wrote, with another saying: “I'm so sorry you went through what you did.“ Another asked: “Are you talking about your husband?“
Eric was Jessica’s second husband, after she previously got divorced from Nick Lachey, 51. The couple became the talk of Hollywood following their whirlwind romance and October 2002 wedding, and even landed their own reality show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, which gave fans a very in-depth look into their relationship between 2003 and 2005. However, Jessica filed for divorce in December 2005, and later revealed that their relationship took its toll due to her own insecurities as well as the pressures from the public.
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