Is nice guy Nick Lachey sweet-talking girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo by bad-mouthing ex-wife Jessica Simpson? That's the accusation being leveled by Us Weekly, which claims the "What's Left of Me" warbler is totally turned on by the novelty of his current squeeze's bodacious brain.
"Nick keeps telling Vanessa the difference between her and Jessica is that she is extremely intelligent," a "Minnillo pal" tartly informs the magazine.
Ouch.
(In Jessica's defense, her mom has claimed she actually has a genius-level 160 IQ, which adds a whole scientific level to that chicken-or-fish debate.)
According to the mag, the MTV talking head -- and sometime Lachey lapdancer -- has several other qualities that make her the Bizarro Jessica, including her enthusiasm for typically testosterone-fueled pursuits.
"She's a guys' girl," says another source. "Jessica was always about going somewhere that was a scene with a big entourage. Vanessa can play darts and chill."
Minnillo, who previously dated Derek Jeter, is also "an avid sports fan," enthuses another insider, with a Lachey confidante adding, "Nick commented on his love for [his hometown NFL team] the Cincinnati Bengals and Vanessa blew him away by running off the team's poor stats. He tells friends, 'It's like talking to your best guy friend, but she's a smoking-hot chick.'"
Not to be left out of the La-Nessa love parade, Life & Style ups the ante by positing that Lachey, who officially reclaimed his single status less than two months ago, is eager to reclaim his newlywed status.
"He told Vanessa that his goal was to get remarried and start a family," a mole alleges to the mag, adding that "he didn't want to continue seeing her unless she was serious about their relationship."
But the source says Vanessa "is all for it. She's eager to be married as well."
As for Jessica, she's opening up about the musical epiphany she experienced in the midst of their tabloid-dissected divorce, revealing to MTV News that last Christmas, she played sister Ashlee a ditty that held deep, personal meaning for her: Patty Griffin's "Let Him Fly," which, conveniently enough, closes out her upcoming release, "A Public Affair."
"We laid there listening to the song and just cried and cried like babies," Jess fesses up. "In a lot of ways, my sister really gave me the strength to pull through this really hard time. And it was just laying there and being with her that got me through it. I knew everything would be OK."
Simpson says "the song is about how sometimes you just have to know when to let something go. And that was that moment. And I had to sing it."
Meanwhile, is Jessica looking to prove she's "got a mind for business and a bod for sin," not to mention the acting chops and audience appeal to carry an entire movie?
The New York Daily News reports Simpson is mulling over whether to star in an update of 1988's "Working Girl," which earned Melanie Griffith an Oscar nod for playing a big-haired, baby-voiced secretary with executive-level dreams.
Confirms her flack to the paper, "It is one of the scripts Jessica is considering."
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