Jessica Simpson Is ‘Ready to Start Fresh’ Amid Marriage Woes With Husband Eric Johnson

For weeks, speculation has been mounting about the status of Jessica Simpson’s marriage to Eric Johnson. Then the singer-actress, who’s been recording a new album — her first in 14 years — in Tennessee since last year, raised new questions with a cryptic November 11 Instagram post. “Interviews in my Nashville music room where I unearthed my singular magic,” she captioned a series of photos showing her writhing around in a velvet chair and wearing black platform boots and a dress hiked up to reveal the tops of her thighs. “This comeback is personal,” she added. “It’s an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve.”

Fans went wild. “Is this j simp saying she’s single?” wrote one commenter, while another stated, “I think her photos have been saying that for months.” An insider exclusively tells In Touch that Jessica, 44, has been spending weeks at a time away from Eric, 45, as she records in Nashville. The fashion brand mogul — who shares Maxwell, 12, Ace, 11 and Birdie, 5, with Eric — also hasn’t been wearing her wedding ring in public (see sidebar) or in recent social media posts. And on November 12, Eric, too, was photographed without his wedding band while out in L.A. After 14 years together and a decade of marriage, says the insider, Jessica and Eric “have just grown apart.”

The retired NFL player also hasn’t appeared on his wife’s Instagram grid since Jessica posted pics from their kids’ spring break in April. There have been other signs, too, claims the insider, who says it’s become increasingly apparent that the former MTV star and the ex-San Francisco 49ers tight end don’t share the same ambitions or affinity for the spotlight. “Lately, Jessica has been reevaluating her happiness, her marriage and her business empire,” says the insider, “and she is ready to start fresh.”

Clues Pointing to Marriage Woes

She hasn’t given up easily. “They tried couples counseling, which worked for a while, but then things went back to the way they were,” says the insider, who believes Jessica and Eric have been on this trajectory for a while now. “They don’t spend nearly as much time together as they used to. The spark is just gone.”

Jessica will always be grateful to Eric for standing by her when she was struggling with alcohol addiction, says the insider, but the truth is “she has changed a lot of her thinking and priorities since she got sober [in 2017].” Though Eric has “always been supportive and is an amazing father,” adds the insider, “he and Jessica have had to have some really difficult conversations, including about the status of their relationship.”

Then comes TMZ’s report that two people directly connected to Jessica have spoken with two divorce lawyers in the past two months. “The writing is on the wall,” says the insider. “The more time that passes, the clearer it gets that it’s over.”