When popstar Jessica Simpson announced the end of her decade-long marriage to football player Eric Johnson on January 14, her eagle-eyed fans weren’t all too surprised.

The singer and business mogul, 44, and the retired NFL player, 45, had reportedly been living separately for months, and Simpson alluded to the situation’s many layers in her public statement.

“Eric and I have been living separately navigating a painful situation in our marriage,” she told People. “Our children come first, and we are focusing on what is best for them. We are grateful for all of the love and support that has been coming our way, and appreciate privacy right now as we work through this as a family.”

In June 2024, Simpson—a big poster on Instagram—failed to mark the couple’s 10-year wedding anniversary. Soon after, she posted pictures without her wedding band. While both of these things did not confirm trouble in paradise, Simpson’s cryptic post in November certainly did.

“Interviews in my Nashville music room where I unearthed my singular magic,” she wrote at the time. “This comeback is personal, it’s an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve.”

The couple met in 2010 and famously became engaged a few months later. In 2012, they welcomed their daughter, Maxwell, and in 2013, their son, Ace. In 2014, they were married and five years later, welcomed another daughter, Birdie.

Simpson was previously married to Nick Lachey from 2002 to 2006. The pair starred in the hit reality television series Newlyweds, which is a favourite viewing past time of every millennial you know.

“It breaks my heart that I couldn’t make Jessica happy. I wanted to be everything to my wife,” Lachey admitted of his first marriage breakdown in Rolling Stone in April 2006. “I wanted her to look at me with love in her eyes, the way she did at the beginning, and have her feel like I was the most wonderful, awe-inspiring man on the planet. And when that stopped, it was the worst feeling in the world.”

We guess we’ll have to wait to hear Simpson’s new music to know what really happened between her and Johnson. Watch this space.