I hate speculating on the status of Nick and Jessica’s marriage — it’s like a freakin’ game of ping-pong. Just when I thought it’s over, Nick Lachey is fighting off yet another report that he cheated on his wife Jessica Simpson – and this time the accusations come from one of his childhood pals. So much for best friends.
Just last week, Lachey dismissed claims that he recently spent time in an Columbus, Ohio, hotel room passionately kissing a 19-year-old college student.
And now bartender Chad Leslie, one of Lachey’s oldest friends, has stepped forward to allege that the pop hunk got a little too cosy with his then-girlfriend Angela Bartlett, 25, when he was in Cincinnati, Ohio, last month backing his former 98 Degrees bandmate Justin Jeffre’s unsuccessful mayoral campaign.
Leslie tells In Touch Weekly: "Nick and Angela came into the bar where I worked at about 3:30 in the morning. Angela asked for my house keys and said she was going to drop Nick off at the Cincinnatian Hotel, and go back to my place."
But Leslie claims that when he arrived home at 4:30am, Bartlett was nowhere to be seen, so he passed by Lachey’s hotel and saw her car parked outside.
Once getting through to her on her mobile phone after several attempts, Leslie says: "I asked her where she was, and she wouldn’t tell me. I told her, ‘I know you’re upstairs, please come down, I just want my keys so I can go home.’
"(Later) I told her, ‘I need to know what happened in the room.’ She said they opened a bottle of wine and Nick tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away. Obviously, she was trying to hide something. She was in that room for an hour and a half, not answering my calls."
Here’s my top 4 reasons for their split:
1. Her family: Her creepy dad annoys Nick.
2. Her partying: She’s gone from church girl to party girl.
3. The cheating rumors: All kinds of stars claim to have slept with her.
4. Her career: Her career is hot. His is… not.
Our gossipiest say that they actually split two months ago. Before when they had problems, her dad basically forced them to reconcile. It won’t happen this time. Right now the couple is not speaking at all, and Jessica is said to be devastated. Though no papers have been signed, a reconciliation is "out of the question" and divorce is "only a matter of time."