Showbiz

Ashlee Simpson, Pete Wentz engaged

Published Thursday, Apr 10 2008, 10:41 BST | By Simon Reynolds

Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz are engaged to be married.

Ashlee, the popstar sister of Jessica Simpson, announced her engagement to Fall Out Boy bassist Wentz in a statement on the website Friendsorenemies.com.

"We know there has been a lot of speculation recently about Pete and I, and we wanted our fans to be the first to know, because you guys are the best," Simpson said.

"Yes, we are thrilled to share that we are happily engaged. Thank you for all of your support and well wishes - it means the world to us. We consider this to be a very private matter, and we wanted to be the first to tell you and to hear it straight from us."

Simpson's father Joe told People he was "totally happy" and "so excited to have Pete as part of [our] family".

Ashlee recently told the newspaper: "I think the first day that we met that we were attracted to each other."

The pair were first rumoured to be dating in 2006.