'My phone is ringing off the hook,' she says of the aftermath of Mayer's Playboy interview.
By Jocelyn Vena
Jessica Simpson on "Oprah" on Wednesday
Photo: HARPO
When Jessica Simpson sat down with Oprah Winfrey on her talk show Wednesday (March 3), she addressed everything from criticism about her weight to her relationship with John Mayer to her new VH1 show, "The Price of Beauty."
"I'm doing very good," she told Oprah, who she last sat down with five years ago, adding that the criticism she faces in the tabloids is always with her. "I can't say that I've allowed myself to ignore it, because it's everywhere. Those voices are inside my head, sometimes when I fall asleep."
As for Mayer and his comments in Playboy, in which he referred to his ex as "crack cocaine" and "sexual napalm," Simpson said, "I'm not angry. I'm not angry. I'm — well, I'm a little bit angry. ... I'm a little bit angry. Um ... well, I don't want people to know how I am in bed. I guess it could have been a lot worse. ... My phone is ringing off the hook, I have to say."
While Mayer's comments left her feeling "betrayed," she said it was more difficult when people started saying that she had gained weight, noting that the "mom jeans" photo taken while she was performing was her lowest point. "People [were] talking about my weight for an entire year," she said. "It's like people just couldn't stop talking about my weight fluctuating.
"It would bother any woman, I would think," she added. "I had to get to a place where I had to guard myself. The fact that I was famous last year for gaining 10 pounds, it's ridiculous, and it's really sad."
Although she doesn't feel it's fair that she's received so much negative attention, she does say she "opened myself up to the world of judgment and of people's opinions" after her reality show "Newlyweds" with ex-husband Nick Lachey. "The sad part about it is, when everything came out, I didn't want to say anything about the weight, because I felt guilty," she said. "I felt like if people look at me and maybe they're a size bigger and they think they're fat because of what the media says, I didn't want to feed into it. I didn't want to let people know it was affecting me."
Now, however, she said she loves her curves and is ready to expose the world's ideas of beauty on her new reality show, "The Price of Beauty," set for a March 15 debut. "I'm interested in learning more about myself and what I value in myself and letting that be the beautiful part of me, rather than putting on the makeup or wearing the right designer," she said. "It really is about the heart of a woman that makes her beautiful."
Calling the pressure from the media to be thin "disgusting," she said that's why she decided to make the show. She added that her strength comes from her family. "I have an incredible family. They are my backbone," she said. "And then I have my best friends that I surround myself with. I just try to journal and try to discover how I can fight this on my own, as well.
"Nobody else can [define] beauty but myself," she continued. "Nobody's words, nobody's compliments, nobody's love, none of that. ... It's all what I have within myself. Every day will continue to be a journey. Every day, we'll find something new out about ourselves that is authentic and is unique, but I really just finally relaxed. I don't care what people have to say about my weight. I really don't, because I think I look great."
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