Jessica Simpson Flew First Class While Her Kids Sat In Coach — And Ran Into Ex-Husband Nick Lachey Onboard

Late ’90s/early 2000s icon Jessica Simpson ran into her first husband on a flight to Hawaii. It was the first time the pair had seen each other since their divorce 20 years ago.

The ex, former boy band singer Nich Lachey, reports that her kids – from her second marriage, which just ended – were seated in coach while she flew first class with her mom.

“It was strangely okay,” Nick confessed. “It’s been 20 years. We hadn’t seen each other in those 20 years, then spent six-and-a-half hours on a flight to Hawaii together. When I say spent, [it was] in the same vicinity. Everyone was very cordial, very respectful.”

Jessica Simpson via Wikimedia Commons

It seems Simpson’s kids were in back with her estranged second husband.

• Jessica Simpson was married to Lachey from 2002 – 2006
  
• And former NFL tight end Eric Johnson from 2014 – 2025. Her kids are with Johnson and are 14, 11, and 7.

Nick Lachey ran into his ex Jessica Simpson on a flight to Hawaii #WWHL pic.twitter.com/c7zRRM2pWc

— Watch What Happens Live! (@BravoWWHL) May 14, 2026

What do we think of Jessica Simpson flying up front to Hawaii while her kids fly coach? I can understand:

1. Not wanting to travel with the ex, she hasn’t even wanted to speak to her first husband in 20 years it seems!
   
2. Preferring to save money by having four members of the family in back and only buying two seats up front.
   
3. Is it a good or bad message this is sending the kids? At least they aren’t left unsupervised, they’re with the estranged second husband, their dad!

When you leave your kids in coach while you fly business class, other passengers may not like it very much. On one flight, the passengers took revenge by teaching the kids naughty phrases.

Sometimes parents send the kids to the back to ‘teach the kids a lesson’ and not spoil them, but they’re spoiling… the other passengers. Parents get a break, and randos are left to parent. Here, though, the kids were with their dad.

I generally believe that it’s ok for spouses to split up, if one upgrade clears you don’t want someone you love stuck in coach! You want to split up for selfless reasons, think Gift of the Magi. That’s different husbands who fly business class while their wives fly coach.

The Washington Post‘s relationship columnist has covered the issue, telling a woman whose boyfriend flies up front while he pays for her to fly coach that she should dump him: “His wife sat alone in coach: His epitaph writes itself.” But they’re already getting divorced!

When it’s young kids, sit in the same cabin so you can parent, and remember that it’s fine for kids to fly business class because quiet kids belong there more than disruptive adults do.

(HT: Paul H.)