By Sheri

JESSICA SIMPSON AND ERIC JOHNSON IN ITALY

What a way to spend your 30th birthday – all low-key and lovey-dovey with your new boyfriend in Italy as well as in the company of a few old friends. That’s how Jessica Simpson did it as she turned the big 3 Oh on Saturday, July 10. Her friends and sweetie, Eric Johnson, surprised Simpson with a cake and the tone for the Italian trip was laid back just the way Jessica wanted it. She had commented to press that she wanted to get away to Italy to relax and apparently it was mission accomplished.

I guess she needed a break from filming the second season of her reality show, The Price Of Beauty. (I have to fess up that I haven’t seen the show yet. The one time I had the chance to catch it I passed on it for something else and I can’t even remember what!) Hey, though, I admire the woman! I’ve seen the way she stands up for herself and admire her for the way she handled the “chubby” remarks she so rudely received.  People can just be so judgmental and just mental..

Simpson’s fallen for another footballer this time, so hopefully the romance will end better than it did with Tony Romo. Interestingly, Romo broke up with Jessica on her birthday last year and now here she is on her birthday this year with a new football guy.

Eric Johnson, 30, hasn’t actually played football officially since 2008 due to an ankle injury the free agent suffered. Johnson’s played for the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints. Apparently the word on the street is that Johnson is a nice guy who won’t hurt Jessica… (hopefully, he won’t embarrass her by announcing she’s “sexual napalm” either like that ass clown John Mayer did!)