The pop star was invited to perform a cover of '9 to 5' at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C. back in 2006, but she flubbed the lyrics and cut short her performance.
- February 5, 2020
AceShowbiz - Jessica Simpson has hidden away a photo of herself posing with "country goddesses" Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and Shania Twain because she is so ashamed of botching a 2006 tribute to the "Jolene" legend.
The pop star was invited to perform a cover of "9 to 5" at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Parton's career in front of guests including then-U.S. President George W. Bush, but Simpson flubbed the lyrics and cut short the song, before running offstage.
Now, in her new memoir, "Open Book", Simpson reveals she was a mess that night because she had just been dumped again by her on/off boyfriend, rocker John Mayer, and had tried to drown her sorrows in alcohol right before hitting the stage.
"It was the Kennedy Center Honors, and he broke up with me - our third break-up or something," she recalls on U.S. breakfast show "Today".
"It was right before I was gonna do this huge thing. Dolly Parton is my idol; I love Dolly, and I drank before I went on stage. That is not John's fault; I'm the one that drank. I just tried to numb myself."
"I was just out there and I tried to sing and I froze. I honestly didn't think about the drinking, I felt like what kept me from singing was heartbreak.
"I said I was sorry, and that Dolly deserved better," Simpson remembered of the performance fail.
The event was commemorated with a backstage photo of the singer surrounded by Parton, McEntire, Twain, and actress Reese Witherspoon, who had all been in attendance at the high-profile gig - but Simpson cannot bear to look at the image.
"This (is a) picture that most people would hang in their house; it's like, mentors of mine who are country goddesses," she shares. "And the story behind it, I can't even look at the picture, I can't even look at my face because I know the pain that I was having and I didn't feel worthy of being in that photo."
In the same chat, Simpson, who is now sober, reveals she and Mayer split "close to nine times" during their "very complex" on/off five-year romance. The relationship finally came to an end in 2010.
