Jessica in Love! – Glamour June 2008

She’s getting serious with quarterback Tony Romo–and she says she’s finally found herself too: Even if they break up tomorrow, she swears, “he still deserves all the accolades for bringing me back to who I am.” Turn the page to read more on her love life, her new country album and why she couldn’t care less what the gossips have to say.
By Josh Patner

Jessica Simpson just can’t seem to catch a break from the tabloids. Recently she was labeled a “stalker” in the blogosphere after allegedly trying to get in touch with exes John Mayer and Nick Lachey. When it was announced that Blonde Ambition, her much awaited film with Luke Wilson, was not getting a major theatrical release, one weekly suggested that she should “stick with reality television.” And who can ever forget “jersey-gate”? In December 2007 Jessica shows up at a Dallas Cowboys game in a pink version of boyfriend Tony Romo’s jersey. Romo plays the worst game of his career, and disappointed fans say she jinxed him.

But the Jessica I meet is happy and relaxed–impervious, it seems, to all the bold-faced banter–a result, maybe, of having left the paparazzi-infected streets of Los Angeles behind for a while to happily divide her time between Nashville, where she’s been recording the country album she’s always wanted to make [out this fall], and Dallas, where she grew up and is currently nesting with Romo, whom she credits with making her strong again.

“What he’s done for me is irreplaceable,” Simpson says about her newfound confidence. Wearing a printed, off-the-shoulder peasant dress and stacked heels, she settles into a booth at her favorite Dallas bistro. (Romo is off playing golf but shows up at the end of the interview to greet her with a big purple and green stuffed animal. Jessica is clearly delighted.) It’s obvious that the down-home comforts of Dallas are doing her right: Simpson is in control, adorable and ready to move on. Fortified by a glass of chardonnay, she sets the record straight on coping with the tabloids, her acting career and, of course, her new, happy life with Romo. “It feels like forever,” she says about the months they’ve been together. “I love this guy. Can you feel it?” You can’t help but feel it.

GLAMOUR: It’s so fun to meet Jessica Simpson! What are you working on now?

Jessica Simpson: I have been in the studio, writing and recording an album in Nashville. It’s country. I should have done this a long time ago. I fought with my label three years ago about it. This time I said I wouldn’t make another album unless it’s country. I wrote it with some of the most talented songwriters from there.

GLAMOUR: How do you write?

JS: I cowrite. That’s why I lived in Nashville. I think what [the songwriters] liked was that I was open. They thought Jessica Simpson was going to be what they read about in tabloids. That’s not me.

GLAMOUR: Let’s talk about the tabloids. On the one hand, it’s the name of the game. On the other hand, where is the privacy? Do you read them?

JS: I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t want to see Tony and me in the pictures. It is good airplane reading if you throw it away when you get off; I’m good at that. I am not the type of person who believes everything she reads, but I like to look at photos and see what people are wearing. That’s interesting to me. Do I read the stories? Not really. I try not to read blogs. The comments are extremely harsh.

GLAMOUR: Don’t they bounce off you?

JS: They do bounce off me.

GLAMOUR: But they didn’t always?

JS: No. I’ve become a pretty tough cookie, though, after having a divorce. I think that I’ve persevered through a lot of talk.

GLAMOUR: I read Page Six [in the New York Post] every day, and there is that daily Jessica Simpson item. I wake up with you! How could you generate that much information?

JS: Honestly, I don’t know. What was really upsetting to me was when I went over to Kuwait for a MySpace event. MSNBC [online] did this whole thing on me and how I flew private and my hair and makeup cost $16,000, and made it seem like I charged a fee to come!

GLAMOUR: So tell us the truth now.

JS: I stayed in the barracks, wore flip-flops in the shower–I roughed it like a soldier.

GLAMOUR: You flew commercial?

JS: Yes.

GLAMOUR: And you didn’t bill the government for your hair and makeup?

JS: No. Are you kidding me? No way.

GLAMOUR: So how does that feel to hear things like that?

JS: It hurts. It takes away from why I’m there–just to be able to sign stuff that [soldiers] can send home to their families. To make them smile. I wore my Daisy Dukes. All of the guys were so cute. They were like, “Thank you for wearing your Daisy Dukes.”

GLAMOUR: Doesn’t it feel glamorous to walk out onstage in front of cheering troops, with your Dukes and blond hair?

JS: I wore a T-shirt and jeans shorts and cowboy boots. It’s glamour to me; it was glamour to them. They liked it.

GLAMOUR: Speaking of glamorous things, I heard you were a panelist for Glamour’s “50 Most Glamorous” list. Who did you pick?

JS: Cate Blanchett–it’s the way she carries herself. And I love Dolly Parton. I think she’s glamorous all the time.

GLAMOUR: Back to the tabloids: People still talk about that time you showed up at Tony’s game wearing the pink Cowboys jersey and he played terribly. What’s that all about?

JS: I don’t know–other than me wearing my man’s jersey and cheering him on. And him not playing the way he would’ve hoped and all of a sudden I’m to blame.

GLAMOUR: Why take it out on you?

JS: Because everybody takes everything out on me! [Laughs.] But that was ludicrous. I don’t understand why they think that I would be a distraction to Tony. Do they really think he can see way far up in that box? No. He’s the most focused person I’ve ever dated. I love Dallas. I love the Cowboys. I grew up watching Troy Aikman and all of the quarterbacks, Roger Staubach…. The great thing about Dallas is there’s no paparazzi.

GLAMOUR: Really?

JS: I’ve been here for a week and a half, and I’ve not had one camera in my face.

GLAMOUR: I wonder why.

JS: In L.A. it’s a business. [Tony and I] were photographed the other night at a [Dallas] Mavericks game. I was praying for them to win. We played the Lakers, who were the number-two seed at the time. I can’t believe I talk like that about sports!

GLAMOUR: It rolls right off your tongue.

JS: There are a lot of people in my past who might faint to hear me talk like that.

GLAMOUR: Where did you meet Tony? Was it a blind date, or were you at a party?

JS: No. The cute story is that my family and I were watching a Cowboys game. I was going through my divorce and–Tony would die if I told you this–but [on television there was a story] about him. They said his celebrity dream crush was Jessica Simpson.

GLAMOUR: And you hadn’t met him yet?

JS: My family was like, “Did you just hear that?” His picture came up and I’m like, He’s really cute. Then I heard [that I was his crush], and I’m like, Oh my gosh!

GLAMOUR: And you’d never met him?

JS: No. I didn’t meet him for a year and a half after that.

GLAMOUR: How did your first date come about?

JS: One of my best friends played on a basketball team with Tony. He introduced Tony to my dad, and they hung out. Then Tony e-mailed my dad, “Cute date,” when we were at the Country Music Awards [last November], because we were sitting next to each other in the audience and I guess we made a camera shot. My dad was like, “Look what Tony said.” I said, “Give him my e-mail address. We’ll see if he’s good with words.” Then he e-mailed me, and we flirted over e-mail and on the phone. We got to know each other by talking, which I think is the best way. We set up our first date on November 20. Today is our four-month anniversary, but it seems like we’ve been together for so much longer. I said five months to him today, and [Tony] goes, “Baby, that hurts my feelings that you don’t even know.”

GLAMOUR: Usually it’s the guy who doesn’t know.

JS: I know. I guess I’m a dude that way.

GLAMOUR: So you talked over the phone, you e-mailed…

JS: And then he asked me on a date, so we went on a date here in Dallas.

GLAMOUR: He picked you up?

JS: No. My grandfather’s a huge [Cowboys] fan, so [Tony] said, “Come to Dallas–I want your family to go to the Thanksgiving game.” So I drove [from the airport] to the hotel with my family, and he was right behind us. I said, “Dad, go out there and hug him first.” I had butterflies that you would not imagine. I wanted to puke in the cup holder.

GLAMOUR: So cute, the cup holder.

JS: It took me forever to put together an outfit to fly in because I knew I was going to see him when I landed.

GLAMOUR: Wait–so you went on the date with your family?

JS: No. We went up to the room to check in, and Tony went with me. So [my family] leaves [for dinner], and Tony and I were just sitting there. I’m like, “What do we do right now? It feels so weird. Should I just hold the phone to my ear and talk to you?”

GLAMOUR: You were used to that.

JS: And I was so nervous. Before we met [at the hotel], I was like, “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m so scared to see you.”

GLAMOUR: I’m nervous now!

JS: And he told me then, “[Let's] just stay on the phone. Right when we see each other, we’ll lock eyes and then hang up.” So that’s what we did. So on our first date–I’ve never told anybody this, wow!–we’re sitting there [at the hotel restaurant] just talking. He goes like this across the table. [Simpson leans her head across the table and puckers up.] I go, “What are you doing?” He goes, “Nothing,” and starts pouting. I said, “Were you just trying to kiss me in front of all these people?” He goes, “Maybe.” I’m like, “Try it again.” I was taken aback by someone wanting to kiss me in public. Because normally people are ashamed. Maybe not ashamed but…

GLAMOUR: Intimidated?

JS: They just want to keep it private. The fact that this guy, on our first date, in the first 10 minutes of dinner, wanted to lean over the table and say, This is my girl and I want to kiss her–our first kiss in front of everybody–was awesome.

GLAMOUR: He went for it!

JS: Yeah. And then I was like, “Do it again.” He said no. I was like, “Fine, I will.”

GLAMOUR: Jessica Simpson!

JS: Yeah. I’m a go-getter.

GLAMOUR: So, athletes or musicians?

JS: Being a musician–it’s easier for me to date an athlete. There’s too much competition [with a musician]. There’s too much know-it-all pop star.

GLAMOUR: You’ve learned more about sports since you’ve been with Tony?

JS: Yes. And life.

GLAMOUR: In what sense?

JS: He’s a motivational speaker. Because he’s a quarterback, a leader. He keeps his team focused. What he’s done for me is irreplaceable. I wrote a song for him called “Back in My Old Boots.” I feel like I’m walking back in my old boots. Jessica Simpson didn’t lose herself along the way.

GLAMOUR: What a sweet thing to say about someone.

JS: He reintroduced me to myself. I thought that I had to be deeper, more profound and more artsy. You change with the guys you date. [I thought] I had to be more intellectual. Come on–just be yourself! Tony taught me that because he loves me [as me]. He made me feel comfortable [being myself] again.

GLAMOUR: Are athletes the new It Guy to date?

JS: I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s ironic that I fell in love with a man I thought I would never be interested in because he’s an athlete. I was always, An athlete? Heck no. Because it reminded me of being married. This article could come out and Tony and I could be broken up, but he still deserves all the accolades for bringing me back to who I am.

GLAMOUR: And you’re in love?

JS: I’m in love, yeah. Big time. It’s only four months. I can’t believe it. It feels like forever. I love this guy. Can you feel it?

GLAMOUR: Yes, I can! Music versus acting: Which do you prefer?

JS: Well, I’ve done four movies. I’ve done seven albums. So I feel like music has always been a part of my life; acting is something I’m learning. It’s fun to do a small film that might be released to DVD not because it’s a horrible film, but because it’s an independent film.

GLAMOUR: I love your honesty, Jessica.

JS: For people to say Employee of the Month was a flop is ludicrous. We made the money back–that’s not a flop. For people to say The Dukes of Hazzard was a flop–it opened to $30 million! If these movies are flops, why would I still make them?

GLAMOUR: What’s different about Jessica Simpson two years ago to today?

JS: Now I beat myself up in the studio because I know that a lot of people are expecting me to fail.

GLAMOUR: That’s a lot to live under. People think Jessica Simpson: gorgeous body, face, smile, millions of dollars.

JS: That’s not what I care about. I care about what people think of my heart, my music, my passion.

GLAMOUR: So you’re working away…

JS: I’m working, and there are moments when you can cry out of fear. But then I overcome it. That’s why my mom cried to me over the phone two nights ago. She’d heard some of my new songs, and she was like, “Baby, you’re back. You’re back.”

GLAMOUR: Is that exciting?

JS: Yeah. To hear that from your mom, all women want to hear that from their mom–there’s nothing like it.