Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with President Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed.

The apparent final word that Simpson would be a no-show at a major Republican fund-raiser with Bush and congressional leaders Thursday night came after a day of conflicting reports from her camp and organizers of the event.

The blond star of the film “The Dukes of Hazzard” still plans to visit Washington Thursday to lobby members of Congress on behalf of Operation Smile, a non-profit venture offering free plastic surgery for disadvantaged children overseas with facial deformities.

People close to Simpson said she declined a request to appear that same evening at the gala fund-raiser of the National Republican Congressional Committee — even after she was offered some private face time with Bush — because Operation Smile is a non-partisan group.

“It just feels wrong,” one Simpson insider told Reuters Wednesday, adding that the actress keeps her political views private. “She would love to meet the president and talk about Operation Smile … but she can’t do it at a fund-raiser for the Republican Party.”

NRCC spokesman Carl Forti said he was surprised at Simpson’s position.

“It’s never been a problem for Bono,” he said, referring to the U2 rock star who has met regularly with political leaders of all stripes to promote various causes, including Third World debt relief. “I find it hard to believe she would pass up an opportunity to lobby the president on behalf of Operation Smile.”

Although Simpson’s publicists insisted she never had planned to attend the fund-raiser, Forti said the actress initially accepted the NRCC invitation when it was extended on Tuesday night, only to change her mind the next evening.

Forti said the Republican group had even arranged for Simpson to dine at one of the head tables with House Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. The NRCC hopes the $2,500-per-plate dinner event will raise $7.5 million for Republican candidates in the congressional midterm elections in November.

Simpson, 25, a Texas native who started out singing in her church choir, became a star on the Christian music circuit as a teenager and crossed over to the pop mainstream with her major-label debut album “Sweet Kisses” in 1999.

She became an overnight MTV sensation in 2003 as co-star of a reality show chronicling her first year of wedlock with fellow pop vocalist Nick Lachey, but she filed for divorce in December after three stormy years of marriage.

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Click graphic to view all the pictures

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Jessica Simpson has had it with her ex-hubby’s womanizing and has clammed up, refusing to even talk to her soon to be ex husband Nick Lachey.

A report claims she has exploded over the reports of all of Nick’s new women and is set to cut off communication for good.

Michael Glynn cites sources that say Jess went “ballistic” when she saw so many pictures of Nick with so many women and has even heard stories of Nick picking up women on the streets of LA.

Well – they are headed for divorce.

A friend cited by the National Enquirer details:

“Jessica is so angry and seems to be so full of hatred toward Nick right now that she doesn’t care to see or speak to him again. She was ready to accept Nick finding one girl to date – but not fifty.”

The article cites the list that includes Dancing with the Stars and bother Drew’s partner Cheryl Burke to Charmed beauty Alyssa Milano to the much rumored romance with Laguna Beach cutie Kristin Cavalleri.

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Singer Jessica Simpson will be following in her idol Angelina Jolie’s footsteps later this month (MAR06), when she lobbies members of Congress on behalf of a children’s charity.

The star will head to Washington, DC to speak with lawmakers about Operation Smile, an organisation that provides surgery for children with facial abnormalities.

Simpson visited Africa last year (05) as a guest of the charity group.

A source close to the organisation confirms, “She’s in the phase of her life now where she wants to use her celebrity for good.

“She’s flying in on her own dime. This is her Angelina moment.” Meanwhile the singer-turned-actress has hinted she is ready to abandon her music career for good, despite being contracted to release another three records.

The With You hitmaker made her acting debut in last year’s (05) The Dukes Of Hazzard and is now keen to pursue a Hollywood career.

However, Sony music insists the starlet is contracted for at least another three discs.

Simpson says, “Music will always be my passion, but I don’t have to do it professionally. It’s just not really about that for me anymore.

“I feel like I don’t have to look at it as a career. I can just rest in it and just be.”

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I just added pictures from W Magazine. Jessica looks absolutely amazing! Click the graphic below to view the pictures. Entire interview after the jump thanks to Just Jared.

At 16, two years before she released her first album and began dating her soon-to-be ex-husband, Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson got her own checkbook. "She bounced all the checks, so we thought it best to wait a while," says her mother, Tina Simpson, who swiftly confiscated it. "She has not ever had one since. Funny, huh?" Now, almost a decade later—having made millions and become a household name based largely on that ditzy blond persona—Simpson is finally ready to try again.

"She asked the other day for a checkbook, and I looked at her like she was kidding," says her assistant and friend CaCee Cobb. "When I met Jess she didn’t know how to do anything for herself, because her parents and then Nick always did everything for her." The two proceeded to spend an afternoon debating color schemes and background patterns, and soon Simpson, like most 25-year-old women, will be able to sign checks for herself. It might seem like a small step, but for Simpson it’s a symbol of her new desire for independence.

"I just feel alive. I feel free. I feel like I can do anything and there’s nobody to answer to but myself," says Simpson. "It’s been hard, but I’ve finally come to the realization that it’s okay to not be perfect. I really am in a comfortable place."

Anyone who has picked up a tabloid in the last six months would be surprised to hear that. Simpson is in the midst of a messy divorce, and, week after week, her distraught face has appeared on the cover of the gossips under headlines exclaiming SPLIT! DETAILS ON JESSICA AND NICK’S LAST DAYS—AND HOW HER EGO, PARTYING, AND DAD DROVE THEM APART and NEW CHEATING BOMBSHELL! SCANDAL! SHE WAS WITH ANOTHER MAN WHILE MARRIED.

(more…)

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For a couple on the outs, it sure appears that Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey speak to each other a lot.  The pair apparently have now decided to behave like adults when it comes to dividing up their loot, but with so much at stake – including their relationship- emotions can sometimes run pretty high.

Star People Notes that a Nick Lachey phone call caused Jessica Simpson to break down in tears.

Jessica Simpson, 25, burst into tears while dining with a dozen friends at Santa Fe’s Old House restaurant on Feb. 15.

“Jessica was in a good mood, and then suddenly in the middle of dinner she got a mystery call and she completely changed,” a source tells Star People. “She got tense and burst out crying right there in front of everyone!

Then she ran out the door. Everyone looked at each other and assumed it was a call from Nick [Lachey].”

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Before the Jessica Simpson Nick Lachey divorce gets really ugly, Jess has decided to call a truce to try to keep the dissolution of the marriage civil.

The sexy blonde made the first move and picked up the phone and called soon to be ex hubby Nick Lachey in an effort to keep the animosity at a workable level.

The phone call went well reports Life & Style.

Nick told Jessica that his earlier court papers claiming he wanted support was only to get her attention and to get her pop Joe Simpson out of the settlement talks according to the article.

Nick wanted an apology, but also apparently didn’t want to go down in history as “the guy who fleeced you,” Nick said, according to Jess’ pal.

She later explained to her friend at the end of the call that she felt relieved to have cleared the air — but also somewhat sad.

“Talking to Nick, I felt really secure,” she told her friend.  “I miss that.”

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Jessica Simpson is furious her reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica left her with a dumb blonde image – because she was only following a script.

Jessica Simpson – now newly single following the split from Nick Lachey – blames show bosses for making her look stupid.

Throughout the run of Newlyweds Jessica Simpson seemed to epitomize the stereotypical dumb blonde, notably when she asked whether the Chicken of the Sea tuna she was eating was chicken or fish, and when she thought that buffalo wings were made from actual buffalo.

Jessica Simpson’s apparent stupidity helped make the show a huge hit, making the average rating for each episode about 1.4 million viewers. (The gaffe was also a running joke in a Pizza Hut commercial, where she was shown to be annoyed at having her intelligence mocked again.)

When introduced to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Jessica Simpson responded: “You’ve done a nice job decorating the White House”.

Jessica Simpson insists that her sometimes astounding lack of intelligence is simply an act she has parlayed into various commercial, television and film endorsements.

“People should know there was a script of sorts and I just
played that role,” Jessica Simpson says.

“I am nothing like that character.” 

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Jessica Simpson and Adam Levine reportedly have cooled a bit, and a report says that Adam was not ready for the spotlight of being Jess’s high-profile boyfriend.  The sexy Maroon 5 lead singer reportedly even claimed that Jessica was nothing more than “a hook up.”

Will Jessica ever find love? 

Life & Style asks that very question and reports that just when Jess thought it was safe to take a dip in the dating pool, she got bit by a sharknamed Adam.

The report claims that Jessica, 25, harbored a major crush on the notorious ladies’ man, but when their romance was confirmed in several reports on Feb. 15, it crumbled as quickly as it began.

“Jessica was not up to having another relationship in the glare of the spotlight,” says an insider close to Jess, who adds that she¹s crushed because “she thought they had a chance.” Adam was quick to rationalize the split. “She’s hot, but there was nothing more than a hookup there,” Adam told an insider on Feb. 16.

“It was fun, but it’s over.”

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Jessica Simpson has reportedly signed an incredible multi-million deal to sray with her recording label. Simpson signed an astounding $35 million deal to remain with Columbia Records, the label she’s been with since 1998, according to the Toronto Fashion Monitor.
“Jessica Simpson is one of the most consistent, hard-working artists we have on our roster,” a spokesman for the label tells the Hollywood Reporter. “She really has earned this deal. But this wasn’t an exchange of money for guaranteed anything.”
 

“I am so excited with this new deal and I’m looking forward to finishing my upcoming album,” Jessica Simpson said in a statement. “Columbia has been my home since the beginning of my career. I am happy to be continuing the relationship and I look forward to working on new things with my extended family.”

Jessica Simpson’s enormous contract now makes her the youngest artist ever to have such earning power.

Simpson will reportedly release four new albums and one greatest-hits compilation, and according to the contract, will get $8 million up front. However, since her divorce with Nick Lachey is not finalized yet, he could end up with half of that dough.

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