I’m sure by now most of you know that Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey are officially divorced. Following the announcement that the two were no longer legally tied to each other, speculation grew about how each would react at the upcoming Teen Choice Awards—the first public engagement the couple would appear at post divorce.
Various entertainment magazines dubbed the upcoming event “fodder for an awkward moment.” Awkward not only because Simpson is scheduled to co-host the award show and Lachey is a nominee, but because Lachey’s new squeeze, Vanessa Minnillo is also a nominee and will likely stroll the red carpet on the arm of her new beau. “OH, how would Simpson handle it,” queried magazine editors?
Well, they didn’t have to wait until the August 20 event to find out. A preview of the big night occurred a few days ago when the newly divorced couple had a “three’s-a-crowd moment” at a trendy L.A. nightclub. PEOPLE magazine reports that Simpson was having a “grand time” partying at the hotspot with a group of friends when Lachey and Minnillo arrived hand-in-hand.
“Jessica’s rhythm totally changed. She was silent and stopped moving,” a fellow club-goer told the magazine. “It looked like she was going to shoot out a laser beam and incinerate them.” Lachey, on the other hand, “never broke a sweat,” another witness told PEOPLE.
Friends of the couple say that Lachey came over to chat and give his ex a hug. “Let’s face it, it’s going to be a little awkward, but they both handled it well,” says a source close to Lachey. “They behaved like two people moving on.” However, moving on apparently doesn’t mean moving to a private spot to engage in an intimate moment. According to a Simpson pal, while Simpson bears no hostility towards her ex she was “nonetheless disturbed when Lachey engaged in a ‘heavy make-out session’ with Minnillo. She didn’t need to see (that).”
What I don’t understand is how these three can run into each other in a city as large as L.A. When I broke up with my college boyfriend during my sophomore year I walked around campus and didn’t run into the guy again until the day before I graduated. In addition, I don’t understand the media hype surrounding the award show and the appearance by the newly divorced couple. These individuals are in their 20’s and 30’s respectively (adults by all accounts), what is the press expecting will happen simply as a result of the couple being in the same venue at the same time? What do you think?