Jessica Simpson gives a whole new meaning to being an “open book” in her new memoir, Open Book, which released today, February 4. In a bombshell confession, the fashion designer, 39, reveals for the first time that Tony Romo ended their two-year relationship in 2009 after he thought Jessica cheated on him with her ex at the time, John Mayer. While the author denies cheating on the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, 39, she admits that she wasn’t completely honest with him about an encounter she had with the singer.
Jessica begins to explain that her ex, John had started to contact her again. Nonetheless, she admittedly always told Tony when the singer reached out to her. But, it was in 2009 that she ran into John at her parents house and didn’t tell Tony. Instead, the athlete found an email from John to Jessica, and broke things off in July of that year.
“[Tony] accused me of seeing John behind his back,” Jessica writes, admitting, “I hadn’t cheated on Tony at all, but I could not lie and say I hadn’t even seen him. ‘Nothing happened,’ I said,” she explains. “Tony didn’t believe that for a second. And within that second, he broke up with me right there. Two years, gone with an email.”
Despite the dramatics, the news never went public as to why Jessica and Tony split.
“I could trust that Tony would never tell the press that John Mayer caused the breakup. It would imply that he wasn’t enough for me,” she writes. Eventually, “Tony soon realized I was telling the truth. Of course I didn’t cheat on him. But, our breakup had been so ugly that it shocked me into realizing it had been necessary.”
Following their breakup, Jessica goes on to admit that John kept coming back for more.
“[John] had said all these things, practically asking my parents for my hand in marriage while I was in a serious relationship. Swearing to me up and down that he was a changed man. Now here I was, ready to pledge my love back, and to kiss him as the curtain came down,” she explains. “And it fell on my head… All this time, all those years, he was breaking up with me to torture himself enough to get good material.”
Although Jessica realized the tumultuous cycle she had going on with John, she writes that their encounters weren’t over.
“It felt inevitable to be in love with John, so I continued talking to him for months,” she writes, nonetheless, “I knew now not to let him get close enough to shoot me down again.”
In her new memoir, Jessica also opens up about why her marriage to Nick Lachey ended. The former Newlywed stars wed in 2003 and divorced two years later. The singer has since moved on with husband, NFL tight end Eric Johnson, whom she married in 2014. Together, they have three children — 10-month-old, Birdie Mae, Ace, 6, and Maxwell, 7.