Joe Simpson Didn't Feel Respected

13 September 2015

Jessica and Ashlee Simpson's father didn't feel "respected" as their manager.

Joe Simpson with Jessica and Tina

Joe Simpson - who was a psychologist before his daughters' careers took off - has revealed how he felt people failed to acknowledge him for his own merits and simply recognised him as their dad or manager.

Speaking to the New York Daily News, Joe - now a fashion photographer - said: "For the last 16 years or 17 years, I've been 'Ashlee Simpson's father' or 'Jessica Simpson's father'. Every time, my adjective is, 'Jessica Simpson's father, Joe Simpson.'

"I started out being respected [as a psychologist], then of course no one respects a father/manager, so I had no respect and I would just like to be respected as a photographer; someone to say, 'Wow, look -- he does have talent.' "

Joe divorced Jessica and Ashlee's mother Tina in 2012 and turned to photography, which he previously had dabbled in, at the suggestion of his therapist.

Now he has photographed the likes of models Rachel Hunter and Jessica White, and even won praise from Ashlee, 30, who heard that Jessica was a fan of his work.

He recalled: "[Ashlee] said, 'Dad, I just wanted to tell you I was proud of you.' I was crying. I did something that was not about building my children's business, that they respected."