February 20th, 2008 | posted by Joanna | 
Last weekend I flew to Los Angeles to watch Kevin Love and the UCLA Bruins avenge last month's loss to USC. The game was
about as exciting as a Tupperware party, but the trip was still worth it because it gave me the chance to re-connect with
my good friend, Cacee Cobb.
Cacee and I spent many a night drinking Big O's at George's during our days at Baylor and remained close until she moved to Los Angeles about five years ago to become Jessica Simpson's assistant. Even though our line of communication had broken down, I'd always get irritated with the way Cacee was portrayed on "The Newlyweds" and with the inaccurate stories and cheap shots directed at her by gossip magazines.
Anyone who truly knows Cacee will tell you she's impossible not to like. Much like the missus, she's as positive and upbeat of a person as I've ever been around, and it's obvious that she's an extremely loyal friend who is driven in her career. A buddy of mine back in college once described Cacee as "a breath of fresh air." I'm sure you'll agree after reading this interview.
KOTR: First things first: Bring me up to date on what you've been doing since leaving your job as Jessica's assistant.
CACEE: OK, well, basically, I wanted to get back into the music industry, so I'm back working with Sony Music, which is where I got my start years ago. I've been given the opportunity to work with Jessica on her new record. Jessica wanted to make another record and she told her label that she wanted to make it with me. So they put me on the project and it's been great. I'm working with so many wonderful songwriters, publishers, producers … it's been an amazing experience. She knows this is my passion and that this is what I love doing. But she also knows that I've always believed in her. We've been through so much together – both good and bad. We make a great team and we want to make a great record together.
KOTR: When will the record be released, and can you give me any hints as to what it may sound like?
CACEE: Release dates change all the time, so nothing is set in stone. I know she's really excited about it. She's going back to her roots and is making a country record. She's always wanted to make a record like this, but I don't think the timing has been right until now. We've been living in Nashville and words can't even describe how great that place is. The energy, the people. We love it! It's going to be a great record. She deserves it.
KOTR: What do you mean by that?
CACEE: I just mean that she's a sweet person who's been through a lot the last few years. All the while, she stayed above the gossip and has always taken the high road. She deserves for something good to come her way. Some people really haven't given her a break. We live in a world where people want to say mean things and bring people down.
KOTR: Are you referring to the situation with her boyfriend, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo? A lot of fans and media said she was "bad luck" after a few of his subpar performances, including a season-ending playoff loss to the Giants.
CACEE: Exactly. It's sad. She's a proud Texan, yet people there are calling her Yoko Romo. At first it was really shocking and funny then it just became sad. When I'm with her I joke with her and call her Yoko. You have to laugh about it, because it really is absurd. She and Tony are so great together. Anyone that has said rude stuff would feel bad if they could be around them and see how great they are as a couple. It's mean to him, too. For a state that's so fanatic about the Cowboys … I mean, seriously, that's their quarterback. It's terrible.
KOTR: I understand Tony spent some time in Los Angeles about a week after Dallas' playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Tell me about your dinner with him, Jessica and your boyfriend, "Scrubs" star Donald Faison.
CACEE: Tony came out to L.A. and we went out one night. Donald was so excited he was coming because he wanted to wear his New York Giants sweatshirt - and he did. He actually wore it to dinner. I said, 'Tony, I have to apologize. Donald is a huge New York fan.' We didn't watch the Super Bowl together. Personally (laughing), I don't think he wanted to have to listen to Donald.
KOTR: Sounds as if Jessica and Tony aren't the only happy couple these days. Tell me how you met Donald.
CACEE: I was at Zach Braff's birthday party and he was there. I was leaving the bar and he was coming to the bar and we took a picture together. That was about it. Out here in L.A. you run into the same people all the time. Everytime I saw Zach he kept saying, 'My friend really thinks you're cute. You should go out with him sometime.' But I just wasn't into it. I didn't want to date anyone. For the next year, every single time he saw me he asked me for my number. I'd say, "No, I'm sorry. Maybe next time."
KOTR: But eventually you caved in, right?
CACEE: Yeah, and I'm so happy I did. He called a few days later and we went out to dinner and had the best time. We've been together ever since. It's been two years now. I can't believe it took me so long to go out with him. He's the best guy ever. He's my best friend. He's passionate. He's hyper. He's outgoing. He makes me laugh. The big key is that we support each other. Whenever you're in a relationship you always root each other on. But this is on a whole different level. We bring out the best in each other.
KOTR: Along with being an outstanding basketball player, I understand Donald is pretty passionate when it comes to following sports.
CACEE: Uh, that's an understatement. He's borderline freakish. Take hockey, for instance: He never watches it, but he's so smart he could probably tell you about any good player in the league. His favorite sport is basketball – and especially the Knicks. He wears Knicks t-shirts everywhere. I'm being serious: If the Knicks lose, I'm like, 'See you tomorrow.' The day is ruined. Unfortunately they're the worst team in the league.
He also loves Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. And there's a guy that plays for the Lakers, Derek Fisher. He loves him – I think more as a person than anything. I know he likes Nate Robinson a lot, too.
KOTR: You're a sports fan, too, correct?
CACEE: Oh God, yes. You're forgetting that I went to high school with LaDainian Tomlinson. We were office workers together at Marlin High School. I was a few years older than him. He was the skinniest boy ever, but he was so nice and he had the biggest smile. Everyone loved him, but then he ended up transferring to University High.
KOTR: One more thing about Donald: I'm officially stunned that your man starred in "Remember the Titans" – one of the greatest sports flicks of all time – yet you haven't even seen the movie.
CACEE: (Laughing) I've seen parts of it. Honestly, I love 'Scrubs' and I love everyone on the show, but I haven't seen a lot of that, either. A girl that works at the Coffee Bean wanted the season set of DVDs. Donald kept forgetting to take them to her so I gave her all of mine. I hadn't even opened them.
KOTR: Switching gears a bit … Having grown up in Texas, how have you liked living in Los Angeles?
CACEE: I used to get offended at first. I'm from a town of 2,500 people. I grew up hugging people when I met them! Then I moved out here and I'd wave at a stranger on the street and they wouldn't wave back and I'd think, 'God, everyone out here is so rude.' Then I realized that wasn't the case at all. Everyone is actually really nice.
KOTR: Even the paparazzi? As Jessica's BFF, I'm sure you've had some run-ins with them.
CACEE: Obviously, if you live in L.A. you know the places where the paparazzi hang out. That's the one thing that kind of baffles me. If you're going to go and blast the paparazzi in the magazines, then don't (be a hypocrite) and go where they hang out. Don't walk up and down Robertson Boulevard trying to get your picture taken.
The whole paparazzi situation can be really dangerous. I hit a photographer with my car one time. He wouldn't get out of the way and he was on the hood of my car. I said, 'If you don't move I'm going to run over you.' He wouldn't move, so he ended up on the ground. He got up and spit a huge lugee on my window and slammed his camera into the hood of my car. I filed charges against him and they arrested him.
Just the other day Britney Spears ran through a red light and 30 cars followed her. The whole thing could've killed someone. Donald came and picked me up and he was all distraught. He said, 'Britney Spears almost ran me over.' Some things about Hollywood I'll never understand.
KOTR: Like Britney Spears, for instance?
CACEE: I really don't have anything to say about Britney Spears that hasn't been said already, but I don't think that dating paparazzi is really going to help her problems.
KOTR: What about gossip magazines? How much attention do you pay to them?
CACEE: Obviously it used to be so annoying when I worked for Jessica and she was going through her divorce (from Nick Lachey). They can really tear people apart. When I first moved out here I read those magazines, but then I got in the mix and saw how it worked, and I was devastated because I could see that so much of the stuff that was being reported just wasn't true. Once I figured it all out, there were so many instances with Jessica that would be written about, and I'd think, 'I was there. That's not how it went down at all.
Sometimes magazines will hire people to follow you around and sit close to you at restaurants so they can eaves drop. I've even seen them use little kids. They would come up to Jessica at restaurants, ask for an autograph and then say, 'What are you going to do the rest of the day? Where were you before you came here?'
I can't even fathom how annoying it would be for someone like her who has to deal with it regularly.
KOTR: How did you and Jessica meet, anyway? Some "publications" have said you were childhood friends.
CACEE: (Laughing) That, as you know, isn't true at all. It's just coincidental that we're both from Texas. When I was in college (at North Texas) I started working at Sony's Southwest branch in Dallas. I was working part time for my cousin, Teresa LaBarbera-Whites. She's the one that signed Jessica and Destiny's Child when they were young and first breaking in. She discovered them.
So I started working on Jessica's records. I worked on two of them before we even met. I would book studios and book travel and deal with different aspects of scheduling and planning and other stuff.
Then, after we met, we built a phone friendship while I was still working at Sony. I think she just liked working with me on a day-to-day basis, so she offered me a job as her road manager. So I still lived in Dallas, but I would meet her in other cities and travel with her and handle all of her shows and appearances.
KOTR: I've got to think those were good times.
CACEE: It was a blast. I'd travel everywhere with her. Basically, she and I flew around the country together, just the two of us. It was great because, early on, she wasn't at the level where she needed security, so it was just us.
I remember the first night I ever went to work with her, I met her in Atlanta. She was going to do a radio show the next day and I was a little nervous. I knew her but I didn't have a close relationship with her. We got to the hotel late, and they only had one room with one bed. So we ended up having to share a bed in this small-ass hotel room the first night we ever hung out.
Early on, before she got famous, rather than spend money on hotel rooms, the record label would just fly us on red-eyes every day. We'd brush our teeth and wash our face in airport bathrooms. It was crazy. One time we went four days without a hotel room. We were changing and showering at the venues. It was weird but I loved it. It was a great experience.
KOTR: Why did you decide to move from Dallas to Los Angeles?
CACEE: After her travel schedule slowed down she said, 'Why don't you move out here to Los Angeles and be my assistant until we figure something else out.' That's how it all started.
Everyone thinks that I lived with Jessica and Nick for such a long time, but it wasn't like that. I did stay there for a little bit, but when I moved out here I was only going to be here for a couple of months and then we were going on tour for four months, so it was like, 'Why would I want to go rent an apartment when I'm going to be gone for the next four months?' So I camped out there for awhile, but we were hardly ever home.
KOTR: So the MTV show "Newlyweds" wasn't exactly the most accurate portrayal of you?
CACEE: Uh, no. The show made it look like I didn't do anything. I remember walking down the street in Hershey, Pennsylvania and this family walked by. All of a sudden, from across the street, this mother hollered, "FIND A HOME!" I can laugh about it now, but that day it made me tear up. It would really bother me.
I even remember my dad saying, 'Why don't you change your clothes. You wear that same sweatshirt everyday.' But it wasn't like that. They take that one shot of you sitting on the couch and they put it on every episode, which makes it look like all I do is lie on the couch.
KOTR: Anything else about the show irritate you?
CACEE: They made it look like Nick and I hated each other. We never hated each other. He was like my brother.
KOTR: Some of the tabloids insinuated that, at one point, you and Nick had a "thing" going. One publication printed a picture of you "flirting" with him in a swimming pool.
CACEE: Yeah, but what that picture didn't show was Jessica sitting on the edge of the pool about five feet away, dangling her feet in the water. We were just horsing around, and she was right there. All of that was ridiculous.
KOTR: Do you still talk with Nick?
CACEE: If I run into him, obviously, I'll speak to him. We keep in touch, but very sporadically. We're not 'buddies.' We don't call each other and shoot the (bull).
KOTR: I seem to remember him introducing you to his buddy, Matt Leinart. The two of you dated during his final season at USC, correct?
CACEE: He was a lot younger than me. I don't know what I was thinking. (Laughing) He's great, though. I had the best time going to all the games and watching him play. He was so good, but he never walked around acting like he was better than anyone. In the end, he ended up becoming more of a friend. Then it somehow turned into me giving him advice on other girls! Donald always teases me. He's like, 'You dated an athlete!' I have to remind him and say, "Babe, you're an athlete, too."
Source: here.