The Moment
Jessica Simpson just quietly solved one of the messiest parts of divorce season: the holidays.
In a new airport video shot at LAX the day after Thanksgiving, Jessica tells a paparazzi photographer that she spent the holiday with her estranged husband, former NFL player Eric Johnson. Not awkwardly in shifts, not trading off days. The man had a seat at her mom Tina’s dinner table.
Jessica Simpson Reveals She Spent Thanksgiving with Her Estranged Husband https://t.co/DIYjQxgK8V pic.twitter.com/EH4VcltvXv
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 28, 2025
Why? Because, as Jessica explains, Eric is the father of their three kids – Maxwell, Ace Knute, and Birdie Mae – and co-parenting doesn’t take a holiday. She makes it sound like there was never a question he’d be there.
In the clip, she also jokes about who did most of the cooking, and casually teases work projects she has coming up. No drama, no tears, no “sources close to the situation” whispering in the background. Just a woman who seems determined to keep the family unit intact, even if the marriage itself is on ice.
The Take
I’m going to say the quiet part out loud: this is how grown-ups divorce.
Jessica and Eric reportedly called it quits back in January, after more than a decade together and three kids. In celebrity years, that is basically a silver anniversary. The easy route would’ve been separate turkey days, separate photos, and some vague “making new traditions” caption on social media.
Instead, she brought him to her mom’s house. That is not nothing. Inviting your ex to a family holiday is like putting your emotional life under fluorescent lighting – every crack shows. If you’re not solid in your choice to put the kids first, it will fall apart before the cranberry sauce hits the table.
What I love here is the message: the relationship may be over, but the family isn’t. For everyone who’s ever had to pack a suitcase every other Thanksgiving as a kid, that hits.
And let’s be honest, this is also very on-brand for Jessica 2.0 – the one who wrote a brutally honest memoir, admitted past struggles, and has leaned hard into being a present mom. You can feel the post-therapy energy all over this. Not in a woo-woo way, just in a “the kids’ nervous systems matter more than my pride” way.
If the old-school Hollywood model was scorched-earth divorce – public mudslinging, competing beach photo ops, and mysterious “unfollow” sprees – Jessica is doing the opposite. She’s turning her split into a group project: Mom, Dad, kids, Nana, and a side of stuffing.
Is it a little idealized? Maybe. We don’t know what happens when the cameras are off, and not every ex deserves an invite to your mother’s house. But as a cultural picture of divorce in 2025, this is powerful. It’s the difference between “broken home” and “restructured home.”
Receipts
Confirmed:
- In a video recorded at LAX and published on November 28, 2025, Jessica Simpson says she spent Thanksgiving with estranged husband Eric Johnson at her mother’s house, emphasizing that he is the father of their three children and there was never any doubt he would be there.
- Jessica and Eric share three kids together: Maxwell, Ace Knute, and Birdie Mae, a fact she has discussed in multiple interviews and in her memoir.
- They have publicly been described as estranged and reported as having split earlier in the year, though neither has given a blow-by-blow account of the separation.
Unverified / Context, Not Confirmed in the Clip:
- The exact legal status of their marriage (whether a formal divorce filing has happened) has not been detailed by Jessica in the Thanksgiving video.
- Any assumptions about tension, behind-the-scenes arguments, or financial arrangements are pure speculation and not supported by her own on-record comments.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you lost track of Jessica Simpson after the reality TV era, here’s the quick refresher. She rose to fame as a pop singer in the late ’90s and early 2000s, then became a household name again with her early-2000s reality show about her first marriage to Nick Lachey. After that very public split, she eventually found a more private life with Eric Johnson, whom she married in 2014 after several years together.
They built a family far from the tabloid chaos: three kids, a big life in Los Angeles, and Jessica’s successful fashion and lifestyle business. In her 2020 memoir, she opened up about everything from body image to addiction to love – and came off like someone determined not to repeat old patterns. Reports in early 2025 said she and Eric had quietly separated, but they’ve kept details close to the vest, focusing publicly on parenting and work.
What’s Next
So where does this Thanksgiving peace summit leave them?
From what Jessica says in the LAX video, it sounds like we should expect more of the same: shared family moments, even if the romance chapter is closed. She hints at new work projects, which likely means more public appearances, more interviews, and more chances to define the “new normal” on her own terms.
What I’ll be watching for:
- Holiday pattern-setting: If Christmas or next Thanksgiving looks similar – shared family time with Eric in the picture – that sends a strong message that this isn’t a one-off, it’s their post-split template.
- Her own words in long form: A future interview, podcast sit-down, or even another book where she lays out her philosophy on divorce and co-parenting would land with a lot of women navigating the same thing.
- Boundaries in public: Jessica has gotten good at sharing just enough without overexposing her kids. How she continues that balancing act as “amicable exes” becomes part of her public identity will matter.
For now, though, she’s given us one clear image: a Thanksgiving table where the parents are still on the same side, even if they’re no longer on the same team romantically. In a culture that loves a messy breakup, that might be the most radical move of all.
Your turn: If you were in Jessica’s shoes, would you invite an estranged ex to a big family holiday for the kids’ sake, or is that one emotional hurdle too far?
Sources: Paparazzi video of Jessica Simpson speaking at LAX published November 28, 2025; Jessica Simpson memoir “Open Book” (2020) and prior public interviews about her family and marriage.
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