Ashlee Nicolle Ross is a songwriter, singer and actress. She is the younger sister of actress and singer Jessica Simpson and she began her career as a backup dancer for her sister’s performances. The singer has also appeared in commercials, TV shows and movies. She became interested in acting and made her acting debut in the family drama 7th Heaven. But her breakthrough TV appearance was on the reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica televised on the MTV channel. This show depicts the life of her sister Jessica and Nick Lachey who was her husband at the time.
For more on Ashlee Simpson’s life, take a look at the details below.
Background information
Ashlee Simpson was born in Waco, Texas. Her parents’ names are Tina Ann and Joseph Truett “Joe” Simpson. Her father worked as a psychologist and later became a Baptist youth minister. Her older sister is Jessica Simpson. Both sisters went to Prairie Creek Elementary located in Richardson, Texas, and it is also where the sisters grew up. At age three, Ashlee learned classical ballet. Then she attended the School of American Ballet located in New York at the age of eleven.
Ashlee also suffered from an eating disorder at that age which she received treatment for. When Jessica had a good singing career, the family moved to Los Angeles, California. Their father worked as an agent for them and they grew in their individual careers. Jessica continued to sing and around this time Ashlee appeared in TV commercials.
Profession and achievements
Jessica’s debut album titled Sweet Kisses became popular so Ashlee worked as a backup dancer for her sister. Then she preferred to make her comedy debut so she starred in Malcolm in the Middle for one episode. She also got a small role in Rob Schneider’s comedy film “The Hot Chick”. Ashlee also appeared in forty episodes of 7th Heaven as Cecilia Smith. She also did not lose sight of her singing talents since she was part of the album “School’s Out! Christmas”.
The song was released on Radio Disney Jingle Jams. Then she did the song “Just Let Me Cry” for the movie Freaky Friday. To find a record company, she made many demos and eventually signed with Geffen Records for her debut album.
Discovery
There was an announcement from the reality series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. This story showed the life of the newlyweds. The show received a lot of public attention and the Simpson sisters became very famous. Then Ashlee came on a spin-off series The Ashlee Simpson Show to tone down the comparison between her and her older sister. The series depicted her recording all the albums. On the show, she dyed her hair brown and it also got some media attention. At the same time, she entered Ryan Cabrera’s music video “On the Way Down” which was her debut single.
She came on as the musician’s love interest and the two started a romantic relationship after that. Her album with songwriter Kara DioGuardi titled “Pieces of Me” became a big hit. It is on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for popularity. Then in 2004, she appeared as a guest on the famous show Saturday Night Live. She performed her albums on the show, but it was revealed that she was lip-synching all the time. This act was met with huge backlash, but she shared in one of the interviews that she cannot sing on stage due to acid reflux disease.
She also said about this event that she made a complete fool of herself. After this event on Saturday Night Live, she released two albums “Shadow” and “La La”. Both did not meet with the same reception as the first song but many critics praised it. She received Teen Choice awards for her singing, then received the Billboard Award for New Artist of the Year.
She starred in a movie called Undiscover but it was a commercial and critical failure. She hosted and performed at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards and also won ‘Best Female Artist’ for her single Boyfriend. In 2009, she went into television full time and starred in Melrose Place as Violet Foster.
But she exited the show after twelve episodes because the directors wrote her character off. She then became part of his Chicago production in the Broadway musical and performed in numerous shows. Ashlee voiced the character of Strelka in an animated film Space Dogs Adventure to the Moon. Currently, she is working on new albums.
Private life
Ashlee was in a relationship with several men in her life before her marriage. First, she dated Josh Henderson in 2002, but they ended the relationship in 2003. Many saw her kissing and holding hands with Carson Daly, but their love life was brief. Then she met Ryan Cabrera and dated him for a year, then they broke up but remained friends. Braxton Olita is the band member she dated for a year. She went on vacation with him to Hawaii for ten days but broke up after that.
She became engaged to Pete Wentz and married him at her parents’ home. They have a boy but divorced in 2011. Then after a brief relationship, she married Evan Ross from 2013. They got married and now live with their daughter Jagger Snow on an estate in Connecticut.
Ashlee Simpson net worth
Ashlee Simpson’s net worth estimate is $15 million. Most of the amount comes from her singing and acting career. She owns assets such as the Beverly Hills mansion worth $4,500,000. It shows that Ashlee Simpson is a wealthy woman. She has also appeared in many popular magazines and TV shows.
Featured image via: Getty Images, Other images via: Instagram/ashleesimpsonross
