Jessica Simpson says she isnt on Ozempic, her weight loss is down to willpower
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.
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