Jessica Simpson has an extraordinary new interview in Bustle. She’s in her 40s now, timeless yet always changing. She’s been sober for six years, she’s had three children and seen her weight fluctuations splashed all over the tabloids for years. She’s happily married and contemplating a return to music. Gen Z loves her now – TikTokers have discovered Newlyweds and they’re obsessed. In 2021, Jessica and her mom Tina bought back Jessica’s eponymous clothing line, and now they fully own everything and they’re trying to expand it. In some ways, Jessica is struggling for money, over-leveraged and in debt. In other ways, this is the most successful she’s ever been, because she’s betting on herself and coming out on top as an author, entertainer and fashion mogul. Some highlights from Bustle:
The rumors that she’s on Ozempic: “Oh Lord. I mean, it is not” — Ozempic, she means — “it’s willpower. I’m like, do people want me to be drinking again? Because that’s when I was heavier. Or they want me to be having another baby? My body can’t do it.” The scrutiny “hurts… Am I going to let the negativity derail me? No, I’m too old for that. I am too connected to myself right now to let that derail me. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.”
Her weight fluctuations: “I am fortunate to have been every size. For [my] brand, understanding the women [who buy our products], and for my psyche.”
New generations discovering her. “It boggles my mind that I’ve stayed relevant and that people are curious because I have not entertained. I have not entertained at all.”
She’s considering a move to Nashville to reboot her music career: “I’m doing this as a mother now, as a wife. I was a wife last time, but this is a very different marriage. And they’ve never seen me do this.” Perform, you mean? She nods. “I have my daughter taking a private plane with North West to go see Katy Perry in Vegas. And inside I’m like, She was supposed to see me first. Then I’m like, This is not competitive, Jessica. Let your daughter enjoy Katy Perry. But there’s moments that make me want to do it — for them to see that color of me.”
She doesn’t regret buying back her company: “I talked to my mom in-depth about it and I was like, I think it’s time for us to do this on our own. We either sink with the ship, or we jump and hope to find a lifesaver. And really that lifesaver was ourselves.” I ask Jessica if she ever regretted buying back the company. “No,” she says, admitting: “I did have to ask my mother for money not too long ago.” She isn’t kidding.
When she found her power: “What gave me control was people seeing me vulnerable on Newlyweds. My power is in my vulnerability.” Reality shows are famously manufactured, but, when it came to Newlyweds, she says: “That’s me.”
That “Movie Star” essay, a blind item about her affair in the early-’00s: One prominent gossip column pieced the clues together — the actor was religious and wore denim to an awards show — and surmised Mark Wahlberg was the most likely suspect. I ask if she’s heard from Wahlberg since the story came out. She laughs — like a deafening, throw-back-your-head-and-cackle laugh — before saying she would absolutely not confirm the subject’s identity. “There’s a lot of Catholics out there,” she offers.
Her alcoholism: She has more to say as an artist, she explains, but she has been “muted” by alcohol, which she gave up in 2017. “It dumbed down my creativity,” she says. It made me more insecure. When people say it gives you liquid courage, it absolutely does not. It just makes me hold back instead of letting go.”
She is about to embark on a new docuseries: It’s a collaboration with people previously involved with Newlyweds. The series will chronicle her return to music. “We’re about to start shopping it around,” she says. Talking to the producer, she says, “I felt like it was the first conversation we ever had, because everything was always through my dad.” (What would the new music sound like? “I am genre-less,” she says.)
In the piece, she also jokes about probably having to sell off the jewelry she’s wearing because she doesn’t want to borrow money from her mom again, and how she was recently shopping in Louis Vuitton and they had to call her mother to authorize her purchases. I sincerely hope Jessica is okay financially, my God. While I think her move to Nashville and this new docuseries is mostly about wanting to record and create new music, I would also imagine that she simply needs the revenue stream. I’m not sure music is the way to go though, but the docuseries could be profitable for her.
Cover & IG courtesy of Bustle.
Like so many stars who landed fame early, she seems to have a permanent case of arrested development. But I think she might do well with a country music album. I just don’t believe a word she says about her weight, personal life, etc. I feel like she’s always been shady with the truth and there are just so many pictures of her acting and looking unwell. Fingers crossed for a genuinely new chapter for her.
Doesn’t she have an incredibly successful shoe line??? Wasn’t her company one of the first celebrity company to be worth billions?
Also why the heck is she shopping if she’s out of money? You got to budget honey. Wtfffff
I don’t know that her company was ever worth billions – but it did at one time do a billion in sales. I think at some point she sold a majority interest of the Jessica Simpson label to a conglomerate, which went bankrupt a couple of years ago. She then bought back that percentage that she had sold.
Just because a company is “worth” billions does not mean it’s making money (CPA here). Many companies have over-inflated items on their balance sheet (goodwill, patents, etc.) that are intellecual property – a value is ‘assigned’ to them and often that value is wildly over-inflated. A company can also over-value their inventory: A company assigns a value to inventory. As inventory gets older, it needs to be written down or treated as “excess & obsolete” (E&O valuation) and needs to be written down to $0. So a company can hold what they believe to be a $25 dress (at their cost) but it’s really worth $0. Also, a company can have a well-valued balance sheet, but their profit & loss statement is a mess. Sales could be good, but their margins (profit) is bad. Maybe labor was too high, maybe the raw materials usage was much higher than projected.
I am assuming she’s in a tight place for money because she used all of her available cash to buy the company back. I am in great hopes that she & her mom do well and make it the success she knows it can be! I bought many of her piece back in the day and still wear/use them.
@mustang sally that is really interesting. I learned something new today! Thanks!
Her problem with the shoe line. The person that partnered and launched it was Vince Camuto (co-founded Nine West) that made it wildly successful. Vince passed away in 2015. They haven’t been able to find someone like him. The only place I see her shoes now is on the sale racks of Marshalls.
Omg no. I thought that was Jeffree Star and they were collaborating on makeup. I’m not being a dick. I 100% thoight that. Omg. What the hell..
omg, very apt comparison, that’s all I see now. Why is she posing in such an odd way?
She doesn’t look great with her lips over-drawn/lined or with severe makeup. She’s naturally beautiful and is one of those people that looks better with less makeup.
I came here to ask what happened to her face
Since I first laid eyes on Jessica years ago, I was absolutely blown away by her beauty and always have been. Of course it’s her face to do with as she wishes, but it’s tough seeing what she’s done to her once-gorgeous, perfectly proportioned lips 😭
That’s actually an accurate description of the photos above. Some have called her face “gaunt” but I’m not sure I’d go that far. I definitely think she looks very different than she used to. I think she looks harsher, and her face is definitely a lot harder than it used to be. Now, I’m not sure whether that’s because she’s older, lost a lot of weight, or the dark makeup, the pose or what. Even when she was younger, her face looked a lot like her father’s who’s got a bit of a square face. So, now that she’s lost the dewy freshness of youth, plus lost a lot of weight, the strong nose, the angular, square jawline and all the harder features she got from her father have become more pronounced.
I’m afraid I thought it was Starr as well. I think it’s the combination of the over-inflated lips, that big “ol noggin, and the vacant expression.
I do wish her well and hope she finds more successes in the future.
I can totally see that, but, quickly scrolling through, I first thought it was Bella Thorne with blonde hair. I wasn’t even going to click until my brain registered the name a couple of seconds later, haha, because, like others, I do have a soft spot for JS.
It seems strange to me. From what I’ve seen, the people who claim to not be on Ozempic all have the sane gaunt look. I just hope she is doing everything the right and healthy way because she does have daughters and they look up to her as a role model.
I know runners often end up with the gaunt look too. Hopefully it’s just a a bunch of cardio. 😬 it does make me wonder though…
I like her. I remember her TV show and I’ve followed her since.
The gaunt look is usually result from buccal fat removal. Might not be Ozempic but her weight loss was aided by something other than willpower for sure. Jessica prides herself on being an ”open book” and vulnerable so I wish she would be honest about this too. It’s so harmful to lie about this stuff.
Buccal fat removal! That has to be it. I used to work in plastic surgery and I was like, what in the med-spa is going on here? Buccal fat removal is a newer trend (and a terrible one IMO) and started after I changed specialties, so it’s not immediately on my radar.
Lately several friends and family members have gotten involved with a weight loss “plan” called optavia. There is no medication involved, just extremely restricted calories, and some of them have gotten that gaunt look too. I should add, all of them were normal middle aged weights to begin with but are trying to get back to their “college weight.”
Yes I see a lot of that program on my feed and it’s basically a starvation diet. They get to eat one meal per day. I a friend lost 100 and is no longer morbidly obese but she lost it so fast and she does not look healthy at all.
For Jessica- I feel like the “willpower” comment sounds like an eating disorder. Those have been around longer than Ozempic. I hope she gets the help she needs to be healthy and take care of herself.
And her comments on Newlyweds are confusing… I recall that she used to say it was a character and she was playing dumb (because she ended up getting type cast is a dumb blonde) but here she says it’s the real her. I guess whatever fits the current narrative!!
Lastly – she’s having to borrow money from her mom WHILE SHOPPING AT LOUIS VUITTON?? Sorry, I don’t think she’s broke in the traditional sense LOL.
Optavia is dangerous in so many ways, including financially. It’s an MLM, and anyone considering using it or selling it should run for the hills instead.
have there been any famous people who have admitted it? curious. I don’t see why it’s such a big deal to admit it if that’s what is going on
@manda – Chelsea Handler admitted to it but said she didnt realize it was Ozempic at first. One of the girls from Shahs of Sunset also admitted to it without any qualifiers but I think she’s also stopped since then.
Willpower okay.
Idk – She’s gained and lost so much weight over the years, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were doing it without Ozempic.
I’m not buying the Ozempic angle because she’s been dropping weight for a while now. Also, if she hadn’t over inflated her lips her face would be fine.
Yikes, is that reversible? Those lips are ruining her whole face now.
Yes, looking at her instagram this is not some sudden weight loss.
Her lips are insane and have been for a while. Jessica was so naturally beautiful and coming from someone who doesn’t have very big lips her natural lips were ones I would’ve killed for, they were already really nice and fit her face so I do not understand why she has felt the need to plump them to this point. She looks worse than Kylie imo now. That first pic in the bustle post, the thumbnail for the article, doesn’t even look like her straight up.
She gets heat no matter what, fat or thin, pregnant or not, sober or not. I mean look at the posts here, she’s using ozempic, she has to be right since she’s not fat anymore. What happened to her face, why does she overdraw her lips, why does she get get lip injections, that picture is horrible. She’s not the only celebrity either. And then you ask “why does she do that, she’s naturally beautiful…” Such a crock.
I’m firmly in the gastric surgery camp. She lost a massive amount of weight very, very quickly and she’s got that drawn, dehydrated looking face that people get with rapid gastric surgery weight loss.
She also lost the weight before the Ozempic craze.
Eh, could be good ol’ lipo honestly. She is always good for an interview and has a really great voice so I’d love her to have a musical resurgence. Music + docuseries + clothing brand + family sounds like a lot though.
She lost like 100+ pounds. I’m sure she got lipo as well, but it’s not responsible for all that weight loss.
I thought she had lots of money from her shoe line? What happened to those monies and the line?
Also, I wish people didn’t treat Ozempic and the other -glutides like a bad word. Those medicines have helped people lower their blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels and,yes, lose weight. I know some folks who have been obese most of their adult lives and have lost lots of weight on these meds. I’m so happy that they have had help to get healthier.
Ya know, there are some who require bariatric surgery plus medication like Ozempic to get where they need to be health wise. Some are able to reach healthy weight with weight loss medication and some with what’s called willpower.
One is not superior to any other. It’s whatever your body requires. Being overweight already carries so much stigma. Do we really need to stigmatize it’s treatment, too?
Ya know, there are some who require bariatric surgery plus medication like Ozempic to get where they need to be health wise. Some are able to reach healthy weight with weight loss medication and some with what’s called willpower.
One is not superior to any other. It’s whatever your body requires.
I think that’s exactly why people are taking issue with the sudden celebrity-rush on Ozempic (and thus treat it like a bad word when it’s used by celebrities): because real people use that drug for real health concerns, but now that suddenly every other celebrity seems to be on it for aesthetic weight-loss (not necessarily medically-necessitated weight loss), it runs the real risk of the prices skyrocketing (not a big deal for household names who can afford it, but possibly a very big deal for those households who need it for actual medical reasons), and/or a supply shortage, which could end up very dangerous for those who need it for medical purposes.
*I’m not trying to say that celebrities who use it don’t necessarily have medical reasons for doing so; of course we don’t know the private medical lives of celebrities. However, the sheer number of celebs suddenly using Ozempic for weight loss certainly suggests many are NOT using it for the same diabetes-, cholesterol-, and/or blood-sugar-related reasons for which it is designed. Statistically speaking, the sudden upswing in that specific population is unlikely to be entirely medically-indicated.
And that’s why side-eyeing Ozempic usage among celebs is legit: because using it for “recreational” (or even “professional”) purposes could potentially harm those who need it for medical purposes.
That’s what burns my ass about Ozempic @ DK!! I have many family members that are diabetic that could see a possibility of shortage for the medication that they need to LIVE!!! These physicians are taking advantage of a drug that is the lifeline for so many, many of whom suffer from the prices as well.
The physicians and the Pharma bros pushing Ozempic for weight loss are simply doing so out of greed!! Just find a weight loss program that suits your needs and stay off of a live saving drug that is intended for others.
I think the only time it is being treated like a bad word is when normal or already underweight celebs are using it to become rail thin for vanity and career purposes and then lying about it and pretending that walking a few days/week and having willpower is all it takes.
Ozempic and its ilk have unbelievably serious side effects, including being associated with various cancers. People choosing weight loss over severe health risks utterly blows my mind.
Maybe I’m not fully informed on ozempic but if one can comfortably afford it, why not use it? Celebs regularly deny cosmetic procedures because of the culture of acting like they are just naturally perfect, and this feels like that.
I think the issue is that some people who are Hollywood standard of plus size start taking ozempic and it leads to a shortage for those who need it for a medical reason (type 2 diabetes).
And the other issue is that some people use ozempic, deny it and don’t realize their denials, lies and claims that their “Japanese potato diet” or claims that their willpower alone led to weight loss can impact others negatively.
My issue is that people who are of normal weight or slightly plump use it to shed vanity pounds. It makes them look worse and I can’t see how it can be healthy for a person of normal weight to drop weight so fast their butt sags. Also I worry the people who actually need it encounter shortages and delays It’s not a good fad at all.
My parents both lost a lot of weight at the end of their lives due to illness and that wasting look of the terminally ill is what it resembles to me. You can bet the pictures of them I have around the house are of when they were “fat and happy”.
But I don’t judge people who go this route. It’s their life. If feel they need it, not my business.
Her face, though! I would not have recognised her.
Her daughter took a private plane to Katy Perry and Jessica’s borrowing money from her mother to shop at Louis Vuitton. I doubt she’s broke, but she needs better financial advisors STAT!
She said it was with North West, so I’m guessing Kim was paying.
I remember watching an MTV or VH1 doc about her around the time that Newlyweds came out and coming away very impressed. She had moments where she talked about just doing what people told her because that no one listened to her. Also that in terms of her music, what she was doing in early rehearsals was much, much better than the final record and live performances. Really made you wonder what she would have achieved with better management.
It’s interesting that it’s her and her mom doing the business. She was raised in such a hyper patriarchal church and family, I’m happy to see her doing stuff without her dad. Her and Ashley have turned out to have some of the more stable lives out of their fame cohort, which I never would’ve guessed in 2008. I feel like she could turn into the next Dolly Parton if she leaned into it.
Nope. I like her. Like a lot. But that is not her face. That is Ozempic face. They all look the same – it’s unsettling. Like uncanny valley.
Financially, this isn’t going to end well for her. Maybe she should start saving some money and downsize. I mean, her mom still has the money she made off of Jessica’s career. What is Jess doing wrong that’s she s without money?
My guess is that this is just a plot idea for a new series of her moving to Nashville. She borrowed it from the Spelling woman, whose name I am blanking on.
I’ve always liked and had a soft spot for her. It’s crazy to me that she is 40 now because I remember her whining on the show that she is in her late twenties which is nearly 30 and that’s old! Funny how age gives you perspective. I am older than her and 40 seems very young to me. When I was in my 20s 50 seemed so old. Not so much anymore!
I agree with everyone about the lips. Everyone isn’t meant to be Angelina. Big lips do not suit everyone’s face. If you look at Angelina’s face, she has the landscape (for lack of a better word) for larger lips. When you put it all together it’s stunning. Ladies your original recipe is usually the one that works. Jessica’s lips are overdrawn and overinflated – she doesn’t need this – she is naturally beautiful. I am all for fixing something if it truly bothers someone, but this is really a trend that needs to go away already.
Be careful messing with your faces ladies – think of Kim K erasing all the trace of Armenian heritage -erasing her nose and those are the things that made her beautiful. Yes something may be imperfect a larger nose or whatever but when you put it all together it’s gorgeous. These plastic surgeons have no ethics they just want your money I honestly would be turning these women away (I know they would just go to someone else).
As for the weight loss, I believe her. The words “will power” made me cringe a bit. I bet she severely restricts her food intake and that’s a slippery slope because at her age this will age her face rapidly – then she will need fillers etc. Like someone said up top many people have runner’s face – you look drawn, older than your age, etc. Think how much better Kate would look with some real calories in her diet. You need the fat. I’d rather have a little extra weight to avoid looking 10-15 years older than my actual age. But then again I am not in Hollywood where the pressure to be rail thin is so OTT.
I think she will figure out the finances, luckily for her it’s not too late. It’s very hard to examine yourself, your spending, etc. and it takes a lot of discipline to get yourself out of it. She can do it. I wish her well.
She’s a horrible, horrible singer. Her clothing line is really nice. She looks like Julia Fox here. I don’t understand her messy money situation, I thought her fashion was selling well.
Maybe Willpower is the generic version of
Ozempic?
I cackled so loudly I scared my cat! ☠️
omg comment of the day
Sounds like she has a serious case of keeping up with the kardashians. Notice the way she dropped North and the private jet into the conversation.
Jessica was probably the original template for Kris. Singer has moderate success, does a reality show and becomes very successful with the boy band singer she marries. Singer divorces boy band singer and strikes out on her own after becoming richer and more popular with him. Singer starts her company/clothing line under her name and gets much more attention and is wildly successful with her line. Singer sells company/clothing line for mega bucks. Singer settles down to have kids. She didn’t keep the momentum going though. Living off the money she got for company with her husband working or not who knows where he is in this picture because there is no mention of him here.
That is the kardashian playbook basically, reality show, marry famous singer or athlete for attention, make successful line, sell company for mega bucks, divorce singer or athlete after having kids and be rich, except they constantly keep the hustle going. Jessica seemed to fade away to have her kids and wasn’t keeping the hustle going after selling her company.
I think she looks at the kardashians (up close as her daughter is friends with North) and realizes she kind of let go for a while. There is no Jessicaair like Kimair or Kylieair for her. She sees what her success could have possibly been with more hustle.
Can lightning strike twice for her and her company? She has to go the country singer route as most pop stars fade after a while. Time will tell. But now she is trying to follow the kardashian playbook.
Has she always had those crazy black caterpillar eyebrows?
Having to borrow money from her mom to shop at LV?
She and I have very different versions of money (budgeting) “problems.”
When will we be over the overdrawn bee sting lips look? Times up for this fad. No one, I mean No One looks good in any photos I’ve seen.
The overdrawn lips have been in vogue since the era of silent movies, and later when Max Factor was a makeup artist for the movies (remember Lucille Ball?). The fillers and injections are new and may be more invasive but the idea of artificially “plumping” up one’s lips on screen, in real life, and in paintings/the arts have always been around, from what I’ve noticed.
I think I need to find Jessica’s willpower because I recently gained some weight and my face has started looking bloated but I still can’t stop stuffing my mouth with sandwiches. Oops.
She mentions her daughter is friends with the Kardashians, being around people who get work done as much as them would affect you.
And who spend WILD amounts of money and over indulge their children . . .
Awe man that is sad. Obviously appearance isn’t everything but with someone like Jessica who really got everything she did due to her being pretty, it’s sad to see her totally botched with whatever she’s doing. I don’t see much of a difference between her and Tori Spelling now. Both bug eyed with overfilled lips and super skinny body. Check her instagram and you’ll see what I mean.
Where’s her husband in all of this? Does he have a job??
I was wondering the same. He played football years ago I believe. What has he been doing?
Sobriety helps so much with everything. If addiction comes from unresolved trauma, then drinking was her way of dealing with some tough times. It’s weird how the body shapes itself when you’re holding in trauma vs when you start to heal from it. I hate commenting on the body of someone in recovery, even if it is a gossip site safe space, and I respect that other people feel differently. It just makes me think of all the comments I got on my body changes when I quit drinking. (It’ll be 10 months this August, yay!)
It sounds like having kids motivated her to take accountability so she could be present for them, and she’s channeling that into her creative side too. I hope she can figure out a way to make art again.
I read her book and it was really good! In it she talked about basically starving herself early in her career, the tummy tuck she’s had against her doctor’s wishes after her kids, as well as how she was on stimulants to lose weight until her doctor stopped prescribing them for her. So I feel inclined to believe it’s not ozempic. I hope she’s okay.
The part where she says that The Newlyweds was really her in interesting since in the book she made it clear she was playing a role and they would manufacture storylines.
Jessica Simpson’s shoe line was hands-down the best shoe line from 2002 to 2007. I were the heck out of my 2 pairs of JS high heels with my bootleg low rise jeans. I had her black patent leather, 6 inch heels for dresses.
No, I wear two different pair of air Jordans everywhere I go. I miss the glamour.
I had to Google 6 inch heels for a picture. Never heard of heels that extreme until now. Is that what Kate POW wears? She towers over everyone in heels but is actually quite small wearing flats.
I’m old and normally she would be one I would roll my eyes at and move on, but I’ve always found her charming and I still have a pair of her shoes, flats, that are really comfy. She is still a beauty even if I’m not a big fan of her lips. It’s her face and her body so I have zero criticism.
I don’t know what they were thinking for that first pic of her laying down on the IG post you linked, but it’s… not good. It makes her look like a wraith from Stargate Atlantis.
I have a similar angular face shape like Jessica. Weight loss shows in my face first before my body. But her face looks different somehow but I can’t figure out what she did. i hope she’s not as skinny as the Instagram pic. I think she may have gotten the gastric sleeve and I think it made her lose too much weight.
The funny thing about these celebrity denials over Ozempic or Wegovy, is that many of them (not all) were overweight or obese before their weight loss. There is a good chance they were pre-diabetic as a result, which makes me ask “why NOT use Wegovy (or Ozempic)?” since that is what the drugs were intended for.
This isn’t about those thin celebrities who misuse the drugs to lose 20 pounds. It they are legit overweight or obese (which carries health risks), then they’re entitled to these drugs. They aren’t doing anything wrong, so why the shame? Has it come to the point where people (mostly women) are to be shamed for using a drug they need for their health?
I think she looks great but want to point out a few things – she looks like she has a controlled diet. I don’t mean that in a bad way, most of us need to watch what we eat and have relatively restrictive diets to be a healthy weight. Do I want to eat three cups of pasta every night for dinner? Yes. Does my doctor tell me not to be above a certain weight, so I need to monitor my caloric intake, watching cholesterol and trans fats etc? Also yes. I am at a healthy weight now but could stand to lose ten pounds of fat and that’s just a fact based on my bone structure and what is healthy for my heart and bone strength. And my doctors agree with me (gyno and GP).
But also – as we age, which Jessica is doing – our faces get thinner/more angular. I am a size larger than I was ten years ago, but my cheekbones are more pronounced. Plus, anyone whose weight fluctuates will know this – when one loses weight, it’s most often first seen in the face. And when I am gaining weight, I see it in my face before my jeans don’t fit anymore. Haha.
This isn’t a direct quote but isn’t the saying “as women age, they have to decide between their face or their ass.”
I don’t know if she’s taking Ozempic – and I don’t like calling folks liar about their own health choices. But I will say this: she doesn’t LOOK healthy. She looks underweight. Her body type is curvy and her being really thin doesn’t look right on her frame. Pair that with the lip fillers (which are frankly jarring) and she just looks OFF.
Honestly, people sleep on her but J.Simp had some bops back in the day: I Wanna Love You Forever, I Think I’m in Love, Public Affair, With You, Sweetest Sin… I’m here for a resurgence!