If you, like me, tore through Jessica Simpson's Open Book, then you probably, also like me, have—in addition to an axe to grind with John Mayer—a newfound fascination with her life. From glitter cups and a billion-dollar empire to Newlyweds and Johnny Knoxville (yep), the memoir delivers juicy accounts and never-before heard takes.
And while Simpson's real estate moves aren't as riveting as, say, a Ryan Gosling-Justin Timberlake tween love triangle, her homes play a major part in the story of her life. Between the Calabasas mansion we peeked inside during the Nick Lachey Newlyweds days and the sprawling Hidden Hills estate she currently lives in with her family of five, Simpson waxes poetic about the first home that was simply hers: the Beverly Hills cottage.
After her divorce from Lachey, Simpson writes how she never had a home of her own or really control of her own life; she went from living with her parents, who managed her career, to living with Lachey in a marriage that quickly soured as she became more and more self-actualized. So, her first home after the divorce was a pretty big deal, and Simpson goes on and on about the so-called fairy-tale ‘cottage’. As a reader, you get the sense that Simpson's hiding out post-divorce in an ivy-covered hobbit house tucked in lush Beverly Hills.
And so, like any engaged reader, I Googled it. And I discovered two major things.
