All About Jessica Simpson's Dad Joe Simpson and Mom Tina Ann Simpson

Jessica Simpson’s parents, Joe and Tina Ann Simpson, divorced in 2012 after 34 years of marriage

Jessica Simpson and her family are no strangers to the public eye.

Her parents, Tina Ann Simpson and Joe Simpson, were by the “Irresistible” singer’s side as she launched her career in the late 1990s — with Joe serving as her manager and Tina as her stylist. They also frequently appeared with Jessica and her ex-husband Nick Lachey on Newlyweds, the MTV reality show that ran for three seasons from 2003 to 2005.

“It's been like a family effort,” Tina told The New York Times about her and Joe’s involvement in Jessica’s and her younger sister Ashlee Simpson Ross’ careers.

Still, the Simpson family has also had its share of turmoil over the years: There have been divorces, career bumps in the road and rifts among the family — all of which Jessica chronicled in her 2020 memoir Open Book.

Jessica’s relationship with her father, Joe, became particularly painful following her parents’ split in 2012 after 34 years of marriage. However, the multi-hyphenate has come to a peaceful place with both her dad and mom in recent years.

“My beautiful family together forevermore,” Jessica wrote alongside a rare family photo she shared on Instagram in February 2023. “I am proud of us for all that we have accomplished unconventionally with pure honesty. I love each of you exactly as you are…unconditionally, completely, fully, entirely, and endlessly.”

From their relationship beginnings in a Baptist church to their time spent in Hollywood, here is everything to know about Jessica Simpson’s dad Joe Simpson and mom Tina Ann Simpson.

They met at church in Texas

Jessica wrote about how her parents first met in her 2020 memoir Open Book. The singer revealed that her mother first met Joe when she was just 17 years old, and he began working as the youth minister at her church in McGregor, Texas, to help pay for college.

“His first night on the job, he went back to Baylor, told his roommate he met the girl he was gonna marry, and broke up with the Tri Delt sorority girl he’d been seeing,” Jessica wrote about her father.

Despite his initial feelings, it took Joe six months to ask Tina out on their first date, and he sought permission from their pastor first. According to Jessica’s retelling, the pastor told Joe that the youth committee chairman — who was Tina’s mother — had to approve first.

“Nana said yes, which surprised everyone,” Jessica wrote.

They were married in 1978

Tina and Joe didn’t date long before they tied the knot. The former couple wed in Texas in August 1978; Tina was 18, and Joe was 20 at the time, according to Vanity Fair.

“Mom was the youngest of three girls and had the most drive to start a life away from home. And there was Joe, who believed that since all things were possible in Christ, why not dream big? They married right away," Jessica wrote about her parents’ relationship in Open Book.

They share two daughters

Nearly two years after they said “I do,” Tina and Joe welcomed their first child, Jessica, on July 10, 1980. However, the pregnancy was a surprise and the result of failed contraception, Jessica revealed in her memoir Open Book.

“I was an accident, but it really did just reinforce the idea that God sent me here for a reason,” she wrote. “During Sex Ed in school, they told us all to use condoms. ‘They’re 99 percent effective.’ I stood up. ‘I’m the one percent,’ I yelled, ‘so it can happen to you!’ ”

Four years later, on Oct. 3, 1984, Tina gave birth to the couple’s second daughter, Ashlee.

Joe worked as a minister

During Jessica and Ashlee’s childhood, Joe was as a Baptist minister throughout Texas.

“He’d make people weep, holding up their hands as they listened to him share the word in a way they had never heard,” Jessica wrote about her father’s work as a preacher. “Even as a kid I could feel the energy of change in the room when my dad was working.”

Though Tina was primarily a homemaker when Jessica and Ashlee were young, she was also involved in the church.

At one point, she started a company called Heavenly Bodies, which ran an aerobics class called “Jump for Jesus” outside of the church, according to Open Book. Tina even made her own workout video that the family sold while attending Baptist conferences.

“They were in the business of changing lives,” Jessica penned.

Joe and Tina were involved in Jessica and Ashlee’s entertainment careers

Joe abandoned his career as a minister to help Jessica pursue her dreams of being a singer. After Columbia Records signed Jessica to a record deal in 1997, Joe resigned from his job at the church to become her manager, The New York Times reported.

The former preacher went on to guide Jessica and Ashlee’s music and television careers, pitching their reality shows Newlyweds and The Ashlee Simpson Show to MTV and serving as a producer on both.

He spoke about balancing his professional and personal relationship with his daughters to The New York Times in 2004.

“Would I do anything to help them get to their dream? Absolutely,” Joe said. “But would I do something for my benefit as opposed to theirs? Never. My first responsibility is to be a father, before I’m a manager, before I’m an executive producer.”

He added, “It’s complicated, but it’s worked so far.”

Tina was also involved in her daughters’ careers, traveling with them when they toured and overseeing their wardrobe, according to CNN.

“It’s cool because we’re all there and create some stability,” Tina told the outlet in 2005.

Tina and Joe split in 2012 after 34 years of marriage

In September 2012, Tina filed for divorce from Joe, her husband of 34 years, citing “discord or conflict of personalities,” according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE at the time.

“It is an amicable split and there is no third party involved,” a rep for the Simpson family told PEOPLE in a statement. “The family appreciates your respect for their privacy at this time.”

Jessica later wrote about her parents’ separation in Open Book, revealing that Joe told her about it shortly before she delivered her first child, daughter Maxwell Drew.

“I was blindsided by this news,” the singer recalled in her memoir. “I took care of my mother. In many ways, she had lost her best friend ... Her everything had become nothing.”

A few years later, Tina's boyfriend, entrepreneur Jon Goldstein, proposed to her in June 2015.

Jessica fired Joe as her manager in 2012

Joe’s professional relationship with his daughter ended in 2012 when Jessica fired him as her manager.

According to her memoir Open Book, Jessica revealed that it was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done” and that it took her five attempts to officially cut professional ties with her dad — who had been managing her since she was 13.

“He would not accept it,” she wrote, adding that she knew she had to “make the move to go forward with ownership of my own career.”

Jessica also shared that she decided to fire Joe despite him thinking otherwise.

“He thought I was following my mother’s wishes, but he had made some bad deals for me,” she wrote. “Just stupid stuff that people promised to him and he believed. Bridges were burned, and I didn’t know how many until I tried to cross them.”

Tina owns The Jessica Simpson Collection with Jessica

Jessica and Tina are business partners, with the mother-daughter duo working together on their clothing business empire, The Jessica Simpson Collection. Tina has collaborated with Jessica on the venture since the earliest days of the business, even building an office for herself above the garage of her house, Jessica recalled in Open Book.

“My mother could execute ideas like none other,” Jessica wrote. “This was her calling.”

In October 2021, they regained complete ownership of Jessica’s namesake brand after its parent company, Sequential Brands Group Inc., filed for bankruptcy. They had previously retained a minority stake (37.5 percent) when Sequential Brands purchased a majority share of the company from the Camuto Group in 2015.

“It means the absolute world to me to be able to take over complete ownership of my brand,” Jessica told Footwear News in 2021. “I know the sky is the limit when my mom, our incredible team and I lock into our customers completely.”

Since launching the collection in 2005 and growing it to a billion-dollar empire, Jessica and Tina have learned how to juggle their relationship and business.

“It’s a real joy and also challenging to work alongside your daughter,” Tina told Bustle in July 2023. “In a good way, not in a negative way. I think we do a really great job of balancing that.”

Tina and Joe have six grandchildren

Tina and Joe have a total of six grandchildren between Jessica and Ashlee.

Jessica and her husband, Eric Johnson, have three children together: Daughters Maxwell “Maxi” Drew and Birdie Mae and a son named Ace Knute.

Younger sister Ashlee is also a mom of three: She shares a son named Bronx with her ex-husband Pete Wentz. Almost a decade later, Ashlee and husband Evan Ross welcomed daughter Jagger Snow and son Ziggy Blu.

Despite their split in 2012, Tina and Joe find ways to spend time with their crew of grandchildren together — even traveling to Aspen in December 2022 for a family ski trip.

Both Jessica and Ashlee attended the trip (which was captured with several snowy Instagram snaps) with their families, as well as Tina, Joe and Jessica’s in-laws.

Related: Jessica Simpson's 3 Kids: All About Maxwell, Ace and Birdie

Joe was diagnosed with cancer twice

The Simpson family patriarch has had cancer two separate times over the past decade. First, in 2016, Joe was diagnosed with prostate cancer — and doctors gave him six months to live without treatment, which included surgery and radiation treatments.

“I remember saying to the doctor, what if I don’t have surgery? He said, ‘In six months you’ll be dead,’ ” Joe recounted on a 2018 episode of the E! reality series ASHLEE+EVAN.

Joe also revealed that he considered foregoing treatment at the time. But “I couldn’t do that to you and your sister, and to my little grandbabies,” he shared.

In May 2017, he learned his cancer was in remission after completing the surgery and radiation. However, in May 2023, Jessica revealed in an Instagram post that her father was diagnosed with cancer for a second time — this time, bone cancer.

Jessica’s oldest child, Maxwell, used her 11th birthday wish to ask for her “Papa Joe’s” recovery, the singer shared in an Instagram post.

“Maxwell’s birthday wish was for her Papa Joe’s bone cancer treatment to work. It did. Thank you, Maxi Drew, for usin’ your wish on our family and most importantly, my Dad,” Jessica wrote in part.

Jessica is close with both of her parents

While Jessica’s relationship with her father hit a rough patch following her parents’ divorce in 2012, the duo have since reconciled.

In 2020, she celebrated Joe with a sentimental Instagram tribute for his birthday, calling him her "heartbeat."

“My entire life all I have ever wanted is to be the brightest light that you ignited within me to shine so that others could be guided into their own personal transcending greatness of being,” Jessica wrote alongside a black-and-white picture of the two.

Jessica has shared equally touching sentiments about her mom, calling Tina her “forever protector” on Mother’s Day in 2022.

In honor of her birthday the year prior, Jessica dedicated a sweet message to Tina on Instagram. “I have been blessed everyday of my life to know you, love you and be loved by you," it read.

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