After over a year of hints and hedging around the subject, Joe Simpson has confirmed that his younger daughter Ashlee Simpson had a nose job in May 2006 - but it wasn’t just an aesthetic thing.

Joe told Fox News recently he played no part in Ashlee’s decision: “[The] girls have their own ideas. Anyway, there was a real problem with her breathing and that was cured.”

He added that he equally has little say in his daughters love lives: “I don’t tell my girls who to date or marry or what to do.”

And despite stories to the contrary at the time, he didn’t play any part in Jessica Simpson’s decision to marry now ex-husband Nick Lachey: “I have nothing against Nick. But they got married very young.”

“I told Jessica, ‘You’re going to hit an age when it’s all going to be clear to you — life that is — and you’ll know what you want to do.’”

But no matter what, unlike some other celebrity families, he and his wife Tina are always there for the girls: “We have a real family. You can’t just put these kids out in the world and they’re on their own.”

“I can remember a time when Jessica was singing at Madison Square Garden and her outfit ripped before she went on. We were there for her.”