Jessica Simpson

Every era needs its own ditzy-blond bombshell, and for the first decade of this millennium, the title goes to Jessica Simpson. The Texas-born pop singer became a household name when she starred in the MTV reality show Newlyweds with her then husband, former boybander Nick Lachey. The bubbly beauty famously asked, "Is this chicken or is this tuna?" about a can of Chicken of the Sea tuna on the show, turning her into a pop culture sensation.

On the day before Thanksgiving in 2005, the reality TV power couple separated and later divorced. Simpson eventually rebounded with John Mayer, played the field with Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo and plans to marry former footballer Eric Johnson – but her real steady is dadager Joe, who guides Simpson and younger sister Ashlee's multi-hyphenated careers.



Jessica Simpson's fiancé went to great lengths to hide her three-stone ruby engagement ring.

"He had the ring in his shoe at my house somewhere," Jessica Simpson said on SIRIUS XM's The Morning Mash Up in an interview airing Dec. 2. "I was like: Why hide it in a shoe? But it worked. I had no idea."

Almost as surprising as Eric Johnson's Nov. 11 proposal was that Simpson's family didn't spill the beans.

"He had talked to my mom and dad and my sister three weeks before he asked me," she says. "I can't believe all the Simpsons kept a secret."

The singer was in the middle of watching Parenthood when Johnson, 31, asked her to pause the show so he could pop the question.

"He got down on his knee and I had to sit down on it because I was so shocked," said Simpson, 31. "I was … short of breath. It was definitely one of those moments where I've never felt that way before, ever."

Simpson, who has a new holiday album Happy Christmas coming out, is looking forward to getting back into the studio to make another pop record, but admits that "music is definitely my number two priority next to love."