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

Mar. 15, 2025

Joe Simpson, Jessica Simpson and Tina Simpson attend Jessica Simpson Collection presentation Spring 2016 New York Fashion Week on September 9, 2015.Photo:Desiree Navarro/WireImage

Desiree Navarro/WireImage

Jessica Simpsonand her family are no strangers to the public eye.

“It’s been like a family effort,” Tina toldThe New York Timesabout her and Joe’s involvement in Jessica’s and her younger sisterAshlee 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 inher 2020 memoirOpen 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 sharedon Instagramin February 2023. “I am proud of usfor 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 Simpson’s parents Joe Simpson and Tina Simpson.L. Cohen/WireImage

L. Cohen/WireImage

Jessica wrote about how her parents first met in her 2020 memoirOpen 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

Joe Simpson and Tina Simpson at an event celebrating Jessica Simpson.Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

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 toVanity 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 inOpen Book.

They share two daughters

Jessica Simpson and Ashlee Simpson with parents Joe Simpson and Tina Simpson at the Palm Court at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

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 memoirOpen 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

Joe Simpson and Jessica Simpson.Jeff Snyder/FilmMagic

Jeff Snyder/FilmMagic

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 toOpen 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 Simpson, Tina Simpson and Jessica Simpson during LionsGate’s “Employee of the Month” Los Angeles premiere.M. Caulfield/WireImage

M. Caulfield/WireImage

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 Timesreported.

He spoke about balancing his professional and personal relationship with his daughters toTheNew York Timesin 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 toCNN.

“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

Joe Simpson, Jessica Simpson and Tina Simpson backstage before the Jessica Simpson Swimwear Show on July 14, 2007 in Miami Beach, Florida.Kevin Mazur/WireImage

“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 inOpen Book, revealing thatJoe told her about itshortly before she delivered her first child,daughter Maxwell Drew.

A few years later, Tina’s boyfriend, entrepreneur Jon Goldstein,proposed to herin June 2015.

Jessica fired Joe as her manager in 2012

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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

According to her memoirOpen 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 Simpson and Tina Simpson celebrate “Open Book” on February 05, 2020 in New York City.Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kevin Mazur/Getty

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 inOpen 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 meto be able to take over complete ownership of my brand,” Jessica toldFootwear Newsin 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 havelearned how to juggletheir relationship and business.

“It’s a real joy and also challenging to work alongside your daughter,” Tina toldBustlein 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

Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson with their kids Maxwell, Birdie and Ace.Jessica Simpson Instagram

Jessica Simpson Instagram

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

Jessica and her estranged husband,Eric Johnson, share three children: daughters Maxwell “Maxi” Drew and Birdie Mae and a son named Ace Knute. The couple announced theirdecision to spliton Jan. 13.

“Eric and I have been living separately navigating a painful situation in our marriage,” Simpson told PEOPLE in a statement. “Our children come first, and we are focusing on what is best for them.”

Younger sister Ashlee is also amom of three. She shares a son namedBronxwith her ex-husbandPete Wentz. Almost a decade later, Ashlee and husbandEvan Rosswelcomed daughter Jagger Snow and sonZiggy 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.

Joe was diagnosed with cancer twice

Jessica Simpson and her dad Joe Simpson.Jessica Simpson Instagram

The Simpson family patriarch has had cancer two separate times over the past decade. First, in 2016, Joe wasdiagnosed 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 seriesASHLEE+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 anInstagram 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

Tina Simpson, Jessica Simpson and Joe Simpson arrive at Operation Smile’s 8th Annual Smile Gala on October 2, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

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 lifeall 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 ablack-and-white pictureof the two.

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

source: people.com