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We were admittedly underwhelmed upon hearing that lip sync princess Ashlee Simpson and her guyliner-sporting beau Pete Wentz were planning on tying the knot, but we are somewhat pleased to hear about all the trouble it's causing Papa Joe Simpson. Unsurprisingly, the engagement seems to be the result of Pete "doing the right thing" after knocking up his girlfriend. And in an attempt to turn a sticky situation into a pot of gold, minister-turned-Dadager Joe is allegedly trying desperately to make some quick cash by selling his daughter's story to the weeklies, conveniently timed to coincide with her upcoming album's release:

"'Joe is contacting all the weeklies and asking them to pony up $1 million to put Ashlee on the cover'...Sadly, there is some interest - but not for anything close to $1 million."

So how much is an Ashlee cover worth these days? Apparently just as little as Lindsay Lohan demands for taking her top off on-screen...

As magazine sources tell the NY Post, Simpson will be lucky if she gets $60,000 for a cover story, even one including so-called exclusive revelations about the upcoming shotgun wedding and baby news. Considering the fact that the cat's out of the bag already, Joe may have to wait until the spawn is sprung to use his photography skills towards a big payday. Even Tori Spelling couldn't spark much interest in her backyard belly photos, and at least she has a canonized series under her soon-to-break belt. Perhaps Ashlee should take some advice from her new double date companion Nicole Richie and leave her dad out of the picture. Richie scored a decently paying cover story without any help from her dad; maybe Joe should keep his grubby hands out of the photos-for-cash game and let his kids embarrass themselves on their own?

[Photo credit: Getty]