Jessica Simpson’s Daughter Maxwell Is BFFs With “Great Kid” North West

From reality TV fame to booming fashion empires, Jessica Simpson and Kim Kardashian have plenty in common, and apparently the same is true for their daughters. Speaking to Us Weekly on April 14, Simpson revealed that Kardashian and Kanye West’s 8-year-old, North, is one of 9-year-old Maxwell’s “best friends.” The “With You” singer even shared that her husband, Eric Johnson, “just recently” coached North and Maxwell’s basketball team.

“She is amazing. She is a great kid, and she will be a part of a change in this world,” Simpson gushed of North, noting that it’s “fun” living in the same Los Angeles neighborhood as the Skims co-founder and her family. Ultimately, their proximity “makes it easy” for the girls to spend time together, added Simpson, who’s also mom to Ace, 8, and Birdie, 3. In fact, North’s siblings — Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 2 — also joined her at Birdie’s Barbie-themed party at Simpson’s Hidden Hills home in March.

Having starred on MTV’s Newlyweds from 2003 to 2005 with ex-husband Nick Lachey, Simpson also praised Kardashian and her family for staying “the same” while filming E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians for 20 seasons. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know how y’all could do this all the time,’” the Open Book author told Us. “I could only last three seasons [on Newlyweds], but they’re so open and they’ve always remained the same. … That’s really hard to do, and they’re powerhouses.”

Though Simpson didn’t mention their shared ex — Kardashian was briefly linked to Lachey in 2006 — another thing both women have in common is the fat-shaming they endured during their pregnancies. “I felt for Kim — I knew exactly what she was going through,” Simpson told Us in 2013. “I send a lot of love her way, and I know she’ll come back with a bang.”

That’s when their friendship began, according to OK! Magazine, which reported that Kardashian took Simpson’s kind comments to heart. Their mutual former connection to the Love Is Blind and The Ultimatum co-host was likely a non-issue, however, considering Lachey has said it would be “a little bit of a liberal use of the term” to call Kardashian his ex. The pair went on a movie date to see The Da Vinci Code in 2006, but she “left about halfway through and went to the restroom and then shockingly there were 25 paparazzi when we left the theater,” the former 98 Degrees singer recalled on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2019. “I think there were other things in play on our little rendezvous.”

Despite intimating that the reality star had tipped off photographers, Lachey — who also once dressed up as Kardashian’s ex-husband Kris Humphries for Halloween — still said that she “couldn’t be a nicer girl,” though they “don’t keep in touch anymore.” Instead, Kardashian and Simpson struck up a friendship, which has now apparently extended to a new generation.