Vanessa Minnillo has been showing off an impressive pair of $40,000 diamond stud earrings that boyfriend Nick Lachey gave her. The backstory is that the earrings were sort of a "shut up" present. They were NOT the gift Vanessa wanted. She has been hoping for a diamond RING - an engagement ring, to be exact. Nick doesn't consider himself ready for that commitment just yet, so he presented her with the earrings to buy himself some time.

Entertainment Tonight producers were thrilled beyond words when host Vanessa Minnillo started dating Jessica Simpson's exhusband Nick Lachey. The couple's photos were plastered all over magazines and papers and it was great publicity for the show. Vanessa became a hot commodity in the celebrity world. Proximity to Nick gave her career a giant boost , just like he did for Kristin Cavallari. But there's a downside, too. Word has leaked out that Jessica will no longer be cooperating with ET - doing interviews or whatever. Her scoops will go elsewhere.

Does Nick Lachey realize he was USED like a puppet, for publicity?
Kristin Cavallari cleverly orchestrated and faked the whole "romance" with Nick Lachay to make herself more famous. (Apparently she got tired of yelling "Don't you know who I AM?" and having people answer "No." She's NOT as sweet as she looks.)
How did she succeed in becoming a household name and permanent fixture on the fashion pages? (And WITHOUT the help of a publicist!) Her boyfriend Brody Jenner , whom she pretended split from, was in on the whole scheme and spilled the beans.
IA buddy of Brody's ran into him at a bar and was overheard asking. "So what happened between you and Kristin? Brody proceeded to reveal that he and Kristin NEVER split up- they just pretended to. Kristin wanted to boost her career and when she encountered newly single Nick Lachey at an event she exchanged phone numbers. She told Brody she wanted to be photographed with Nick to stir up publicity and to please be understanding. Brody knows she's an ambitious actress and told her to do what she had to do.
Kristin called Nick and managed to get him to take her out to dinner and she continued calling him and found out where he was going many nights. She'd show up and plop down next to him or walk out beside him , always making sure photographers were snapping. She had friends leak info about the fake romance and the gossip magazines fell for it. Easygoing Nick was amused by the publicized romance and just laughed it off. When Kristin had milked it for all it was worth, she announced she was returning to Brody "to work things out."