Fashion Star judge Jessica Simpson is always in the gossip pages, but last week it was because of her parents’ divorce settlement that made the headlines rather than Jessica herself.
Jessica is a woman of many talents. Not only is she an actress and judge on the hit show Fashion Star, but also has a successful clothing label – The Jessica Simpson Collection – that she runs with her mother. Other claims to fame include featuring on flash poker game The Dukes of Hazzard Hold’Em, and following the birth of baby girl Maxwell last year, she signed a $4million deal with Weightwatchers, with a personal pledge to lose 23kg. She’s now expecting her second child with fiancé Eric Johnson.
Her parents Tina and Joe Simpson have now finally ended a 34 year marriage, dividing their assets evenly between them.
It’s been hinted at that the cause of the split is down to Joe – a Baptist minister – actually coming out of the closet to his family a few months ago and admitting that he is gay. This rumour was probably started because when Joe was arrested for driving under the influence, there was allegedly someone else in the car with him – his twenty year old boyfriend.
However, the Simpsons have made a statement that their split is amicable and that there is no third party involved.
Joe and Tina will split the profits from Joe’s management of their two daughters’ careers as well as those from the clothing range business Tina shares with Jessica. Fortunately, as they have two homes neither of them will have to lose the roof over their head. Tina will keep the house in Waco, Texas, along with her Range Rover and Porsche while Joe will keep his Sherman Oaks mansion and his two Mercedes.
Joe will also provide Tina with an undisclosed sum from a JP Morgan Chase bank account. Both of Jessica’s parents are named as beneficiaries for Jessica’s life insurance policy originally taken out by Joe.
For the moment, that seems to be the end of the Simpson divorce saga – which should be a relief to Tina, who allegedly was so sick of the squabbling over the money that she had already offered to give Joe $100 million of her $300 million fortune, but he apparently he wanted more.