Jessica Simpson Reveals Dark Details About Twisted Romance With John Mayer: 'It Was A Punch In The Gut'
Feb. 4 2020, Updated 4:39 p.m. ET
Jessica Simpson is accusing ex John Mayer of being "manipulative" throughout the duration of their relationship, including the time he asked her parents' for the singer's hand in marriage so she'd breakup with her boyfriend at the time.
In her latest memoir, "Open Book," exclusively obtained by RadarOnline.com ahead of its February 4 release, the fashion designer, 39, admits to being on a wild rollercoaster while she was with womanizer Mayer.
The two dated on and off since the summer of 2006, up until Mayer's infamous 2010 Playboy interview, where he referred to Simpson as a "sexual napalm."
"The February interview in Playboy sealed it. He talked about me by name in the most degrading terms. You can look it up, because I had to be asked about those quotes in every interview I did for about two or three years."
Simpson admitted that before the Playboy interview, she kept running back to him. At one point, she even gave up her career to go on tour with him in Australia.
"Again and again he told me he was obsessed with me, sexually and emotionally. The connection was so strong that he made me feel seductive, and he spoke about sex and my body in a way that made me feel powerful, at least physically."
The singer admits Mayer's "focus" on her was the "opposite" of her marriage with Nick Lachey.
Scroll for more on the story and to find out about Mayer's alleged emotional manipulation on Simpson.
Hot & Cold
"I would get up to go to the bathroom, and John would ask, 'Where are you going?' While I was married, my ex-husband couldn't be bothered to figure out what city I was in. It felt safe to be desired. I know John would never cheat on me, and that confidence was a new feeling for me."
Despite this, Simpson never felt secure in the relationship, noting how often Mayer would breakup with her via email.
"Sometimes it was out of the blue, other times I knew it was coming, because my light would start to go dim. John loved me when I was shining, and he'd draw strength and inspiration to write from that light," Simpson explained.
"He'd dump me, then come back saying he had discovered he loved me after all. I always saw it as him mercifully taking me in from the cold. Every time John returned, I thought it was a continuation of a love story, while my friends saw a guy coming back for sex with some foolish girl."
Simpson admitted to having to go to therapy over her relationship with Mayer. It was then that her therapist gave her a few truth bombs.
"I told my therapist this story a few months back, about John breaking up with me right before I went onstage.
"That's not love," Simpson recalled her therapist saying. "You know that, right? I mean, he never loved you...He was obsessed with you. Love and obsession are so different. One is healthy, one is not.'"
"She said it so casually, like this was something I should have figured out a long time ago," Simpson described. "I felt a dagger, right in my heart again. I was still protective of him."
Trouble’s Brewing
Fans know Simpson started dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo, soon after she and Mayer had called it quits.
The two dated for two years before Mayer would get in the way again.
One night before her birthday, Simpson describes a moment Romo saw a text come through from Mayer on the pop star's cell phone.
"Tony confronted me with it immediately," she said, adding Romo accused her of seeing the artist "behind his back."
Simpson claims in her book "I hadn't cheated on Tony at all," but the football pro didn't believe her and "within that second, he broke up with me right there."
Bad Behavior
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Mayer ultimately "got what he wanted from Simpson's breakup with Romo — to make her come crawling back to him. "I wouldn't be with him because of Tony, and now Tony was gone. I lost my feeling of agency in my life once again and felt I should just give in and be with John. He had promised forever in my parents' backyard. Who was I to argue?"
"I went to John's house quickly. Driving over, I felt like I was in the closing scenes of sweeping, epic love story, and the dark romantic hero had beaten out the star quarterback."
Simpson admitted, however, that when she went to his house, it was anything but romantic, but rather a "a punch in the gut."
"He 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. And it fell on my head."
Tsk, Tsk!
Simpson explained in her bombshell new memoir how she had felt that he had used her as "material" for songs.
"Sometimes a breakup was so out of the blue that it seemed to come just as we were finally getting somewhere. Now I knew the truth. I was a pet bird."
"To think that every single time I lay on the ground, broken and bewildered, he took his time walking over. Observing me to jot down notes and hum a new song of heartbreak."
I’m Done!
It was soon after that the Playboy interview would come out and she knew it would be over for good — there would be no more running back to him.
"I didn't accept his apology. I deleted all his contact information from my phone. I was done with this man in a way I never thought was possible. When he reached out to me, I changed my number and changed my email. Delete."
"I am grateful he removed himself from my life so spectacularly. It cleared the way for destiny to knock on my door."
Life Goes On
And indeed, it did. Shortly thereafter the blonde bombshell would meet her now husband, Eric Johnson. The two would go on to have three children together, Maxwell, 7, Ace, 6, and Birdie, 10 months old.