With her new memoir, Open Book, officially on bookstands on Tuesday, pop singer and reality TV legend Jessica Simpson is revealing all about her past struggles with alcoholism, her celebrity exes, and more.
Now, Simpson has opened up to BuzzFeed News about when she knew her MTV reality show Newlyweds with ex Nick Lachey needed to come to an end.
“We just kind of had fun with it until the end, until we started having marital problems, and I just can’t lie to people,” Simpson told BuzzFeed News’ morning show AM to DM in an interview set to air on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
“I felt like I was being a phony, and I didn’t want to continue on with that," she said. "It wasn’t real anymore. It wasn’t reality. It wasn’t who we were. There was lots of eye-rolling, and that was real stuff.”
Still, she doesn’t blame the show, which ran for three seasons between 2003 and 2005, for ending her marriage.
“I don’t believe that the show was what tore our marriage apart,” she said. “Nick and I were very great at being together publicly and on camera.”
She also told BuzzFeed News she had no regrets about doing the show.
“That was my way to connect with people,” Simpson said. “I don’t know why I would ever regret it.”
Simpson and Lachey officially divorced in 2006 after less than four years of marriage.
In her new book, she writes that their marriage was damaged, in part, by each of their respective career insecurities.
During her AM to DM interview, Simpson was unaware that Lachey and his new wife, Vanessa, had a new dating show, Love Is Blind, but she said she wished the couple well.
“It’s been so many years since we’ve been divorced,” she said. “I’m at that stage in my life where I’m so happy for him. I’m glad that he found happiness. I’m glad that he has joy and it wasn’t all just pain."
"You can see that it was meant to be," she added. "We had other lives that were waiting for us.”
Watch the full interview with Jessica Simpson on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET live on Twitter on AM to DM.