Jessica Simpson

Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American singer, actress, television personality and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and beauty products, and designed fragrances, shoes, and handbags for women. She has devoted time to philanthropic efforts including Operation Smile and a USO-hosted tour for troops stationed overseas.

She has achieved seven Billboard Top 40 hits, three gold and two multi-platinum Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified studio albums, four of which have reached the top 10 on the US Billboard 200.Simpson starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. She ventured into the country music market in 2008 and released Do You Know.

Simpson has a total of records sales in Australia of more than 426,000 copies and was ranked No. 113 on the 1000 artists chart of Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Decade Charts (1980–2010). In 2009, Billboard named Simpson as the 95th overall best Artists of the Decade.Simpson also was ranked at number 86 on Billboard 200 Artists, based on album sales.

Early life

Jessica Ann Simpson was born in Abilene, Texas, as the daughter of Tina Ann (née Drew), a homemaker, and Joe Truett Simpson, a minister and psychologist. She has a younger sister Ashlee, who is also a singer. As a child, Simpson began singing at her local Baptist church. At age twelve, she unsuccessfully auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club.While attending J.J. Pearce High School, she signed to Proclaim Records, a minor Gospel music record label.

 She recorded an album, Jessica, but Proclaim went bankrupt and the album was never officially released except for a small pressing funded by her grandmother. This small pressing gained her minor attention and she gave concerts with other acts such as Kirk Franklin, God's Property, and CeCe Winans. Simpson left high school at age sixteen (she later earned her GED), and after Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola heard Jessica, she was signed to the label.

Personal life
Marriage to Nick Lachey

She began dating 98 Degrees group member Nick Lachey in 1999. After dating for two years, the couple cooled their relationship. After the September 11 attacks, the couple reconciled. Simpson stated, "After 9/11, I knew that I never ever wanted to be away from Nick ever for the rest of my life." On October 26, 2002, Simpson married Nick Lachey.

 She famously announced she had remained a virgin until her marriage.In November 2005, after months of tabloid speculation, Simpson and Lachey announced they were separating. Simpson filed for divorce on December 16, 2005, citing "irreconcilable differences."The couple's divorce was publicized worldwide and was reportedly finalized on June 30, 2006.

Simpson told Jane magazine in October 2006 that she knew her marriage to Lachey was over when he refused to join her on a charity trip to Africa, even though it was on their third wedding anniversary.

The couple sold their Calabasas mansion, in which Newlyweds was filmed, to Malcolm in the Middle star Justin Berfield for an undisclosed amount. On February 6, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Simpson said she was stung when her ex-husband jumped back into dating after their high-profile breakup. "Oh, it hurt me," the 26-year-old singer-actress says in an interview in the March issue of Elle. "Two or three weeks later? Yeah, I'd say it kind of hurt me.