It doesn't matter if her next relationship is with a star or a schmo -- Jessica Simpson says her Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica experience taught her to keep her love life on the down-low.

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"I let people in on who I am and how I react to my husband," Simpson said in the March issue of Elle. "That's a big deal. Celebrities don't do that. So I think they brought me down just because I stopped talking and because I have not spoken -- and will not speak -- about my divorce. And I think people feel like I owe them my reality right now."

It was Simpson's "reality" that got her into this mess to begin with, as she co-starred with ex-husband Nick Lachey in their own MTV reality series almost immediately following their October 2002 wedding.  After they separated in November 2005 amidst various rumors they had already lost interest in each other, Simpson said she still thought there was hope for her marriage to Lachey... until she watched Rachel McAdam's The Notebook film?

"It's a great love story," Simpson told Elle.  "[The movie itself was] not what sealed it. I just figured out the statement. It was about that moment of desperation. I needed to breathe."

The couple eventually filed for divorce, and Lachey was seen shortly thereafter with another MTV reality show star -- Laguna Beach star Kristin Cavallari.

"Oh, it hurt me," Simpson told Elle. "Two or three weeks later? Yeah, I'd say it kind of hurt me."

Despite Lachey's current relationship with Entertainment Tonight correspondent Vanessa Minnillo, the 26-year-old Simpson said she still stays in touch with her 33-year-old ex-husband.  "He's so much a part of my life, how could I not be?," she told Elle.  "Any guy who's going to be with me from this day forward has to understand that."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
Christopher Rocchio is an entertainment reporter for Reality TV World and has covered the reality TV genre for several years.