The One VERY Bleak Reason Jessica Simpson Finally Split From Ex-NFL Star Eric Johnson Revealed — After Her Years of Counseling, Tantric Healing and Spiritual Exercises
Jan. 15 2025, Published 2:30 p.m. ET
Jessica Simpson walked away from husband Eric Johnson over fears the strain of salvaging their 10-year marriage could break her sobriety.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the reality star, 44, desperately tried to save their relationship by turning to counseling, spiritual healing, and tantric exercises.
But The Dukes of Hazzard star, who was forced to flee her Hidden Hills mansion this week, grew tired of making the effort as Johnson, 45, became progressively more "absent" in recent years.
A source said: "Jessica has grown, and Eric has not. For her, staying for the kids was not enough.
"Eric likes to take the credit for Jessica getting sober and turning her life around and, while he was supportive of her and her journey, she did this herself. He didn't babysit her."
"He has been extremely absent for the past couple years. The spark was completely gone, and she tried her best to avoid a divorce.
"They did counselling. It didn't work. They did spiritual healing, tantric exercises, everything. It didn't work."
The final straw came when friends started to voice their fears Simpson, who recently celebrated being alcohol-free for seven years, could relapse.
The source added: "She has been sober for seven years now and their fighting and the stress was causing her friends to fear she would relapse. She needed to walk away from this. She is fragile, but she is not broken."
The singer wed former NFL star Johnson in 2014. They share kids Maxwell, 1;, Ace, 11; and Birdie Mae, five.
She has talked openly about her journey to sobriety which began in 2017 after she realzed how much she was missing out on with her children.
Speaking in 2020, Simpson said: "I was at a place where I was literally spiraling with the alcohol and I was missing out on moments with my children, and then they were seeing me and they were very confused."
Simpson announced their split this week in a statement, which read: "Eric and I have been living separately navigating a painful situation in our marriage.
"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."
The news came just days after she listed her Hidden Hills mansion for $17.9million, knocking nearly $5million off of the asking price since they first put it on the market in September 2023.
Speculation her relationship was on the rocks had been growing in recent months, with Simpson fueling the talk when she shared pictures without her wedding rings and cryptically told fans her musical comeback will address how she has put up "with everything I did not deserve."
"Interviews in my Nashville music room where I unearthed my singular magic," she wrote on Instagram in November.
"This comeback is personal, it's an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve."