FORTY & FABULOUS!
Jessica Simpson
On the eve of her 40th, Jessica Simpson was feeling nostalgic: The singer slipped into a pair of True Religion jeans she hadn’t worn in 14 years. “I figured since I’m in the final hours of my 30s, I’d give them another try,” she wrote on Instagram. They fit like a glove, which is par for the course in her
life these days: The pop star, fashion mogul and newly published memoir author has finally, after years of ups and downs, found her happy, comfort
able place. “Had you told her 20 years ago that this would be her life, she wouldn’t have believed it,” an insider tells Us. After years of discipline, hard work and a little bit of luck, Simpson’s 30s were filled with glorious landmarks and changes (see sidebar), from marrying Eric Johnson in 2014 and welcoming kids Maxwell, 8, Ace, 7, and Birdie, 1, to facing tougher stuff like her alcoholism and childhood abuse, which she wrote about in Open Book
(released in February). The autobio “has been selling like crazy during quarantine,” another source tells
Us. “People from all over the world have been sending their love and praise.”
After the catharsis of telling her story, “Jessica’s happier than ever,” says the insider — and no one’s more surprised than Simpson herself:
“She definitely had a few moments we all have on big birthdays, like, ‘I can’t believe I’m 40,’” a source
close to Simpson tells Us. “But as she’s getting older, she feels really good and
is happy with what she’s accomplished.”
To fête the big 4-0, Simpson celebrated “at her favorite place,” a third source tells Us — at home
in L.A. with her husband, kiddos, parents and younger sister, Ashlee.
“Family’s everything to Jessica,” says the insider,
adding that “nothing makes her happier than being a mom and watch
ing her children grow.”
BACK TO BASICS
The first stop in her new decade is somewhere she’s familiar with: the recording studio. Simpson — who released her first album, Sweet Kisses, in 1999 at just 19 years old, and her most recent record, Happy Christmas, in 2010 — “will record more music,” says the insider. “She doesn’t miss the Hollywood scene, but she does miss performing live.”
Occasionally, the star — who in 2003, along with
her husband at the time, Nick Lachey, helped pioneer the reality-TV genre
with the hit Newlyweds — “gets offered TV projects and reality shows [but] passes on all of them,” adds the insider.
That’s just not where her head is at right now. “She doesn’t want to change a thing in her life,” says the insider — and with her adorable family, it’s easy to see why. “Jess has always judged success by the amount of love in her life,” says the insider, and on that front, “she’s hit the jackpot.”