Ashlee Simpson, former shadow of big sister Jessica Simpson, and now to lover Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, has apparently been getting up to some unprotected "la la" with her fiancé. Internet sources and tabloids claim that the couple's recent engagement announcement has been triggered by Ashlee's having a bun in the oven, with a close family source confirming the pregnancy to People Magazine, and divulging that the pair are planning to get hitched at a friend's place in La Jolla, San Diego. In true cliché celeb style, Ashlee circled around these rumours on MTV's TRL last week, confirming suspicions that she does in fact have something to hide. Ashlee used that old favourite word "inappropriate" in implying to the audience that she wasn't pregnant. "I just think that's an inappropriate question to ask a woman," she said. "For me to have to answer something I didn't ever want to respond to ... and I think that when people deny [reports], it's probably because it's something they want to keep personal." She then went on to divert that her new album is her "baby". Never mind the "inappropriate", how about "unoriginal"?! But if pregnancy is an inappropriate question to ask a woman, then is it also inappropriate to sell the answers to such said questions to a trashy tabloid magazine? Enter Poppa Joe. Ashlee's manager/father/pimp thinks that like any good breeding animal, his daughter's insemination is for sale, reportedly bartering the story to all the weeklies for $US1 million. Coincidently, the story would be published around the same time as her upcoming album's release. But unfortunately for Poppa, he seems to be suffering an extreme case of delusional self-promotional behaviour. Defamer reported that "Joe is asking them to pony up $1 million to put Ashlee on the cover...sadly, there is some interest - but not for anything close to $1 million." Sources have told New York Magazine that Ashlee would be lucky to get $60,000 for an exclusive cover story, even one that includes juicy information about a pregnancy and shotgun wedding. Realistically, despite the fact that they have tried to not comment on the rumours, the cat is out of proverbial bag. The public is also said to be in a saturated "celebrity pregnancy market", meaning most of us are over caring who is pregnant, and most likely, will just assume everyone is until proven otherwise. Once again, it's another case of Hollywood commerce - and like the prostitutes that line Hollywood and Vine, the personal life, privacy and soul are all available for sale at the right price. On that understanding, the only "inappropriate" questions nowadays are those asked without payment. Ashlee Simpson is one of those young Hollywood stars' whom people love to hate. But after exposing her singing misadventures on the MTV reality hit "The Ashlee Simpson Show", she's also arguably annoying to point that it makes her endearing. This is the most obvious explanation as to why she is still producing her brand of music and in the public eye. Unfortunately for her, however, endearing is not enough to make her worth a million dollars, despite her daddy's views to the contrary. In the meantime, she could always resort to the vacuous pursuits of the fellow faintly-talented. Perhaps starting her own fashion line and staging cheesy photo ops with the paparazzi would work, if we weren't already also getting fagged out on that one... thanks, Heidi.

Copyright : MTV Australia