Jessica Simpson is shedding the pressure to be perfect during her revived music career.
“It feels good to be back on stage in my 40s. I missed all of my 30s, so this really to me, feels like I’m me again,” Simpson, 45, said during a concert in Pennsylvania on Thursday, June 11, per footage obtained by Us Weekly. “I feel like walking onstage is almost more comfortable than my living room at home, and it’s such a beautiful feeling.”
She continued, “When I first started signing, I was, to everyone at the record label, supposed to be this pop star. There was Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera … and I had to follow in their footsteps. I really thought I was signed just because of my voice, then it was like, ‘OK, you need to lose 15 pounds.’”
Simpson, who was a teenager at the time, claimed that she only weighed 115 pounds.
“To tell a 17-year-old that is a lot,” she mused. “The second record, I [was told] needed to have a six-pack, which was definitely not going to happen. I’m just not built that way, you know? There were just all these things that I had to be to be ‘Jessica Simpson’ or the version of Jessica Simpson they believed I should be to be successful. I always felt like a failure, like, I was never good enough.”
Simpson struggled with her weight for several years but has since learned to make peace with her body.
“I don’t really look at it as, like, a weight loss journey. I think it’s a journey of empowerment and self-love and acceptance,” Simpson exclusively told Us in 2022. “It’s one of those things [where] it’s like, we all want what we can’t have. We all want the body type that we aren’t [and] that we can’t change.”
The pop star added at the time, “It’s about accepting and loving ourselves for who we are. For me, I have done that at every size [and] I just feel every woman should be celebrated.”
That same month, Simpson confirmed via Instagram that she had gained and lost 100 pounds three times since having kids. (Simpson shares daughters Maxwell and Birdie and son Ace with estranged husband Eric Johnson.)
“It’s about setting small goals for yourself, and then eventually, the impossible is possible,” Simpson told Us of her slimdown. “I was so proud of myself and I was proud of the resilience no matter what people say. … I think that the positive comments about [my weight loss journey] are what I hold onto and it’s the reason why I posted [the Instagram photo] — for that one person to go in and feel better about themselves and to work really hard. ‘Cause when you work really hard to look and feel the way that you do in a very happy moment, especially with your children, it is very empowering and it made me so emotional.”
Janet Mayer/startraksphoto.com Jessica Simpson has heard the rumors about her weight loss — and she has plenty of thoughts. During an interview with Bustle, which was published on Wednesday, July 5, the singer, 42, addressed social media comments calling her “too skinny” and theories about her using Ozempic to help with weight management. “Oh Lord […]
As Simpson began recording music again last year, she wanted to “do this [her] way.”
“I want to write the whole thing, I have so many thoughts [and] I have so much to say, but I also have so much to be present for this time,” she said on Thursday. “Just showing up is a beautiful thing, and I really appreciate y’all having me here tonight as the real Jessica Simpson.”
