Do Joe Simpson and his kicky blond highlights no longer inspire the same deference in his daughters and ex-son-in-law as they once did? Not only are Jessica and Ashlee rumored to be pulling away from their once all-powerful dad-manager-puppetmaster but Nick Lachey is also now scoring zingers at his expense.

Us Weekly claims the Simpson sisters are fed up with Joe over his controlling and "obnoxious" ways.

One purported "Father Knows Breast, er, Best" example: Joe, who once boasted, "Jessica never tries to be sexy, she just is sexy ... She's got double D's; you can't cover those suckers up," supposedly chose an MTV meeting to overshare a story about how he helped her pick out her very first bra.

"It creeps everyone out," a mole tells the magazine. "And he thinks he knows what he's doing, and that he's doing the best for his kids."

Now, Jessica and Ashlee "are taking the reins" from the man who guided them to fame, fortune and truckloads of tabloid covers, say "Simpson insiders."

"Back in the day, if Joe wanted Jess anywhere, he'd just order her to come," a snitch tells the mag, "but that clearly isn't the case now."

Jessica's alleged independence play comes just weeks after her official divorce from Lachey, who earlier this year admitted to Rolling Stone, "I don't pretend to understand Joe ... I don't know if he ever liked me. To this day I couldn't say. It was painful."

Which might explain why, during an interview with an Australian radio station this week (he's Down Under plugging his "What's Left of Me" album), Nick admitted that, given the choice, he'd prefer to spend quantity time with the cloven-hoofed ruler of the underworld instead of his former Baptist minister father-in-law.

During a rapid-fire Q&A, Lachey was cheekily asked if he'd "rather be trapped on a desert island" with Joe or "Satan, Prince of Darkness."

He paused for just a second or two before responding, "I might take my chances with Satan, Prince of Darkness."

By the by, Lachey, who came off as both charming and self-deprecating in the sit-down despite -- or perhaps because of -- the Joe dig, refused to refer to his "ex-wife" by name, even when expressly asked.

"I can't do that," he admitted. "My therapist says it's not healthy."