Jessica Simpson has opened up on being constantly judged for the way she looked while growing up.
The singer was raised in a Christian family, her father Joseph being a psychologist and a Baptist youth minister.
Jessica Simpson Was Sexualized Growing Up In The Church
“I was even judged in the church growing up,” Simpson told Drew Barrymore on a recent episode of The Drew Barrymore Show.
She explained that she would be judged for her appearance and sexualized while she performed on stage.
“I had to wear like, blazers, vests, turtlenecks because if I just wore a regular shirt like the rest of the girls... I mean, when I would sing, I would feel the Holy Spirit and get chill bumps and apparently, people would lust and so I had to cover it all up,” she continued.
Simpson also explained that her relationship with her image changed when she became a part of show business.
“I’ve literally been judged for my body since I was a kid, judged in the church and then after the church, it was like, ‘No, be sexier,’” she said.
“But then it was like, ‘Oh, but you always have to look that way if you do it once. You have to remain in that body forever and that is what you should be,’” she continued.
The singer has previously addressed the pressures related to her body image in her 2020 memoir, Open Book.
Jessica Simpson On Her Marriage To Nick Lachey
The singer also revealed her expectations of marriage were very different from the reality she had to face when tying the knot at 22.
"Growing up in the church and as a preacher’s daughter, I had a standard of what marriage was supposed to be,” she said.
"And then, ‘Oh wow, it really wasn’t that within the first week,” she also said.
She added: “It’s not like that fairytale.”
Simpson married singer Nick Lachey in 2002. Their marriage was the focus of a popular MTV reality show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. The series aired for a three-season until 2005, the year Simpson filed for divorce.
The singer began dating NFL retired paid Eric Johnson in 2010. The two got married in 2014 and have three children together.