In her new memoir, the 'Dukes of Hazzard' actress recalls feeling like she's 'taken down by the world' as pictures of her wearing mom jeans went viral back in 2009.
- Feb 5, 2020
AceShowbiz - Jessica Simpson struggled to regain her body confidence after she was "taken down by the world" for wearing "mom jeans" onstage over a decade ago.
The singer recalls feeling "very confident" as she stepped out in high-waisted denim pants with a black tank top and a leopard-print belt at an event in South Carolina back in 2009, but the press that followed was all negative, with Simpson heavily criticised for her apparent weight gain.
"This picture that circulated and went worldwide broke my heart," she shared on U.S. breakfast show Today. "Not the picture necessarily, but the caption. Like, all the captions... It was just viral."
"I was taken down by the world," she added of mocking headlines like, "Jessica Simpson: This Is How She Rolls" and "Jumbo Jessica Simpson: Packin' on the Pounds nn Photos."
The 39 year old reveals she was still a U.S. size four, the equivalent of a U.K. size eight, at the time, and she was horrified at the way she was being so openly bullied in the media.
"It was about my size, and it was like, 'She's not Daisy Duke anymore,' " she said, referencing her role in the 2005 movie adaptation of "The Dukes of Hazzard", in which she famously showed off her long legs in tiny denim shorts.
"All these insecurities from my past started coming back about being good enough and being skinny enough," Simpson added.
However, she reserved her biggest concerns for her then-boyfriend, former American football star Tony Romo.
"I always felt confident when I was with Tony, but I was like, 'Oh gosh, what are all the guys gonna say in the locker room to him? How is this gonna affect him?' before I even thought about myself."
Simpson, who is now happily married to retired athlete Eric Johnson, details her life-long issues with her weight in her new memoir, "Open Book", in which she dedicates a whole chapter to the incident and its aftermath, titled, "Death by Mom Jeans."
