Jessica Simpson is taking part in a women’s conference in California this week. Sure. Why not? As much as I mock Jess, I guess she does stand for a successful female entrepreneur – her clothing line makes a ton of money, and apparently the clothes aren’t bad quality or anything. Beyond that, though, would you want Jess speaking at your conference for and about women? Eh. Anyway, USA Today got an interview with Jess during the conference, and she talked about her lover Eric Johnson, as well as her ex-husband Nick Lachey, and how they ran into each other last week.
Jessica Simpson seems really happy these days.
“I am,” she told USA TODAY’s Ann Oldenburg Monday night in an interview at the Women’s Conference in Long Beach, Calif.
Should we thank her football player boyfriend Eric Johnson for that? “He definitely makes me very happy. He brings out a lot of light in me and makes me very comfortable being who I am. It’s nice to be with somebody who praises you for the right reasons.”
A turning point was her celebrating her 30th birthday in July. “I love being 30. The moment I turned 30, I really did feel a switch in my life. I was in Capri and I was with my boyfriend and my family and my friends, and I just felt this coming of age moment, this moment where I really just felt the happiest I’ve ever been and I love the woman inside of me.”
But she doesn’t seem to be feeling the clock ticking and isn’t thinking about a wedding. “Wedding? Right now I’m focused on my precious nephew and godson.” However, she adds, “I am from the south so I’ve definitely dreamed of being married my whole life and having children, so hopefully that’s in my future.”
Not even bumping into her ex, Nick Lachey last week in Hollywood could dampen her good mood. “He was at the same restaurant,” she confirms. “I didn’t speak to him.”
What she wants to speak about is self-esteem. She will appear at a Dove-sponsored session on Tuesday that includes Gayle King and Katherine Schwarzenegger talking about building self-esteem in young women.
“I went through a really hard time, a couple years back with people just harping on the pressure of how to look perfect – obviously using me and my weight. It was a tabloid frenzy,” says Simpson. And she’s still scrutinized. “I feel like people are constantly curious as to how much I weigh or what I look like or what I wear.”
It would be impossible not to notice it, she says. “There’s no way you’re not going to be affected by the ugly things people say about you. It’s very hurtful. It definitely brings up a lot of your own insecurities. It takes a great family and wonderful friends – and love definitely helps, too – to get through it.”
Her response was to do The Price of Beauty TV show for VH1, which explored beauty around the world. And now she’s working on a new incarnation of that focusing on facing your fears. “It is a lot about self esteem, about finding yourself in a different way. A lot of it has to deal with fear — facing your fears and knowing if you face that fear it will make you better as a person. It will be a challenge for women around the world. I will face the fear with them.”
She says she’s “pulling it together” now, and while she isn’t ready to announce a network or air date, she says, “We already have offers from all around.”
Ask her what she’s afraid of and she says, “There’s a lot of things I’m afraid of.” Such as sky diving and stand-up comedy, she says, too thing she’ll attempt on the show. But before that, Simpson says she has just recorded her second holiday album, Happy Christmas, which will be carried exclusively by Macy’s and will be out Nov. 23. So for Thanksgiving, we should look for her on a float at the Macy’s Day Parade.
“It’ll be my first Thanksgiving in New York,” she says. And she plans to have a nice traditional dinner. “We’re getting a stove and an oven put in our hotel room. I will be cooking. After riding on the float for hours.”
After our chat, Simpson sat with Maria Shriver and Oprah Winfrey Show contributor Ali Wentworth for a similar discussion on the main stage. She brought up the fear show and mentioned sky diving to them, too, to which Wentworth replied: “I’ve gone sky diving!”
“Did you pee?” asked Simpson, stunning Wentworth for a second. “I’m afraid I’m going to pee my pants.” Said Wentworth: “I’m not going with you, then.”
In that discussion, Wentworth asked what a day of pampering is like for Simpson. “A good pampering day for me would be vegging out on the couch, eating whatever the heck I want to eat and watching all my TV shows.”
Normally, a pet might be snuggled up with her, but, she says, “Unfortunately, my little Daisy was taken by a coyote earlier this year. I’m not ready to get another dog yet.”
Given all the discussion of weight and body image, Shriver asked Simpson about the role of food in her life. “When I’m hungry, I’ll eat,” said Simpson. “When I’m not hungry, I won’t. I’m not really that much of a calorie counter, but I do think about it. I make sure I’m working out to make sure I feel good about myself.”
She then admitted, “I’m from Texas, I like everything fried, which is the really unfortunate thing. My relationship with food? I want it when I’m sad. When I’m happy, I don’t think much about it. But I do like to go out on a date for a good dining experience. It’s important not to say, ‘I can’t have this’ because then I obsess about it.”
Did she ever think about just packing it up and going home to Texas during moments of pain in the spotlight? “Heck, yeah!” said Simpson. “Many times I wanted to surrender and give up. But I have a calling in my life. And if I have to go throught that scrutiny, I will.” Calling? “I just want to be a part of changing the world. Is that too much to ask?”
[From USA Today]
My favorite part is when Jessica saying that she doesn’t want to sky dive because she’s afraid she’ll pee. Classic Jessica! At least she knows herself well enough to know that she’s not always in control over her body’s farting, burping, barfing and pissing. I imagine she goes through every day thinking “Will this be the day that I shart on myself?”
My second favorite part is where she’s trying to act like she’s not thinking about marriage at all, and then she backtracks and admits that it’s what she really wants because she’s a Southern girl. Oh, Jess. We know you want to get married. There’s no shame in it!
She’s still a ditz & not my favorite “celeb”, but she isn’t fake and manipulative like Leann Rimes. Kaiser you are overdue on a story about her & her taking over Brandi’s boys.
I don’t know about her clothes but I must say her shoe line is amazing. I don’t think there is to much I could learn from Jessica but I am sure someone will benefit? *shrugs* Seriously I really don’t know what anyone could learn from Jess other than what NOT to do and if you want to get to the core of her success you need the team who put all her lines together. Those are the people I wanna talk with.
No mention of exercise, just eating. I wonder what she has against really being healthy. She hasn’t quite gotten the body/mind thing down yet. She’s funny.
I luv Jess she seems cool and down to earth, i also like her show ‘True Beauty’ with her bffs .
Maria Shriver looks like Predator. Someone inject her with whatever’s in Lohan’s lips to make her look human again. Please!
I DO love her shoes, but as for changing the world…She is making the world a dumber place….
It’s hard to believe she’s the age she is; Everything about her screams nineteen year old to me. I don’t know that she’s ever “done” or “been” anything that gives her a voice to speak to other women either.
She is really just making the world a fatter place!
I gotta say, her new stylist is much better than ken paves. Im glad they had a bitchfight. She looks good here. better than usual. It is shocking to me that I like her clothes and shoes line. I honestly didnt think itd be good, but it is, the shoes especially.
She is dumb, but a harmless dumb. A likeable dumb.
If she pees I bet John Mayer will be waiting for her on the ground.
Candy, she said she makes sure she’s working out to feel good about herself. Working out=exercise.
Its too bad she lets the nasty comments get to her but I don’t blame her. And still people continue to go at her even right after reading that. Like her or hate her, she’s a human being.
How anyone would want to hear a person who is proud of intentionally blanking their ex in a restaurant lecture about self-esteem is beyond me. The more she changes the more she stays the same.
“I am from the south so I’ve definitely dreamed of being married my whole life and having children, so hopefully that’s in my future.”
What the hell does being Southern have to do with getting married & having kids? NOTHING! I’m married & preggo but my being Southern has fuck all to do with either.
That fuckery aside, I rather like Jess. She seems far more down to earth than she gets credit. I mean, she is a space cadet for sure, but she is comfortable with it & doesn’t put on airs like so many other celebs.
Whomever she is with she says makes her feel good about who she is. This is something that should come from her alone, not a man. She will never be truly happy if she expects someone else to make her happy. All that is a personal choice that has nothing to do with being single or with a man.
Seriously, WHY is she going to be on the Macy’s float? she’s been OVER for the past 5 years. Nobody cares about her anymore.
Her fame peaked when she was on Newlyweds.
Self Esteem? Jessica does not have any self esteem, if she did she would not need a man to make her feel better about her self.
Then drop off the planet, Jessica. That would change everyone’s world for the better.
her fan base would be??????? agreed that she peaked @ newlyweds.
@Jacq: ha ha!
she is looking better, but she is still styled badly. curvy girls need to be a bit more polished than super-skinny girls, otherwise we look frumpy. if she would maybe wear more fitted, slightly retro clothes she would look much better. the clothing styles from the 40s and 50s knew how to work with women’s curves.
“How anyone would want to hear a person who is proud of intentionally blanking their ex in a restaurant lecture about self-esteem is beyond me.”
A little harsh, don’t you think? They broke up years ago. He could have just as easily walked over to her table to say hello, so I guess he “blanked” her, too. Maybe, since they went to all the trouble of divorcing, they would prefer to not socialize with one another. I hardly see any rudeness here.
I’d like to know what she ends up cooking in the hotel room. You would need sinks & utensils, etc to do up a real dinner. Maybe she’ll just warm something up. If the room is even wired for appliances.
You know she’s going to burn that damn hotel down to the ground. Happy Thanksgiving.
16 17 and Marjalane I can’t do any better; I assume at this women’s conference there might be some actual old school feminists – wonder what they think of this Robert Einstein where psychobabble meets pneumatic silliness; I agree with other posters, at least she isn’t pretentiously annoying like some other celebs, WHoopi, etc.
To answer #15….
I suspect Jessica is going to ride on a float for Macy’s… since they have carried her shoe line from the beginning. She has been part of their holiday commercials for the last few years. I am surprise it took this long for her to be in NYC for Thanksgiving.
She is harmless and does tries to be a decent person.
Which is more than I can say for the other tabloid girls. Can anyone say that about Lohan? Or any of the Kardashian girls?
Does making the world stupider count?
I don’t know how you can diss an ex that you were married to and had a tv show with. It seems that there may be some residual angst not yet dealt with on both sides if neither had the balls to be courteous and say hello. Very immature. Unless they weren’t aware of each other being there.
Jess is lying if she says she works out. Unless she counts having sex. She’s such a funny bubblehead. And lazy. All she ever talks about is eating.
#11 How do you know what working out means to her? Working out for some people is raising their arm to feed their face, no? She says that because it sounds good. She probably means sex which I don’t count as working out, as evidenced by her chunky monkey bod. That being said, I’m kind of amused by her. She’s very down to earth and likable. Really felt bad when her dog was snatched by a coyote. That would have sent me to a mental ward.
She makes me want to puke. Gag!
This is my first comment here… I think she has a lot of courage to stand up in the face of ridicule. I have a body type similar to hers and think she does the best she can to flatter it while being trying to be fashionable. Today’s fashions don’t always flatter shorter girls with curves, believe me. And she’s not fat – she’s just not anorexic anymore like she probably was when she first hit the scene. I think she is a natural beauty who seems sweet on the inside and doesn’t mean any harm. And if she’s stupid, who cares, like someone else said – at least she’s being herself and not being fake to please other people.
PrettyLights, Jessica IS fake, she always has been and she always will be.
She morphs into whatever her current BF wants her to be.
The article says: “Shriver asked Simpson about the role of food in her life. “When I’m hungry, I’ll eat,” said Simpson. “When I’m not hungry, I won’t.
Later it says: “My relationship with food? I want it when I’m sad. When I’m happy, I don’t think much about it.”
That seems like a contradiction unless she is actually hungry every time she is happy or sad. I could care less about Jessica’s weight or IQ, what annoys me is that she constantly contradicts herself. It’s OK for people to go on and on about her “hot” body that she flaunted in the Dukes video but now that she has gained, people shouldn’t make comments. She wants to help girls build their self esteem yet she used to be underweight (back at the end of her marriage) and was flaunting her body in a bikini. And she is saying the same things about this boyfriend as she did with Tony Romo and it seems that every few years she feels as though she has “come into her own”. She is the worst role model for self-esteem. Why not pick a young star like Rachel McAdams, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman….the type of women I would want my daughter to look up to.
@SammyHammy, please read commet #26. Saying a brief hello to someone in a restaurant to whom you were once married to and to whom you partially owe your fame due to a reality program based upon said marriage to that person is not ‘socializing’ it is merely demonstrating some maturity and good manners. Just because he didn’t do it, two wrongs don’t make a right and all. All she showed by making that comment is that she still isn’t over it. Yay for self-esteem!