Jessica Simpson is looking back at her early career and the WILD demands music executives gave her.
During a concert in Pennsylvania on Thursday, the 45-year-old musician got real about the early days, when she was just starting out as a singer. She said to her audience that one of the big things for her was being expected to be the next Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera:
“So, when I first started singing I was — to everyone at the record label — supposed to be this pop star. There’s Britney Spears, there’s Christina Aguilera… We love and support them, and I had to follow in their footsteps.”
To do that? Well, she recalled how her record label wanted her to lose weight:
“I really thought that I was signed just because of my voice, then all of a sudden it was like, ‘Okay you need to lose 15 pounds.’ By the way, I was 115 pounds [at the time].”
WTF?!
That’s insane! Jessica Simpson is 5’3, so 115 pounds is a healthy weight for that height! 100 would be lower than what’s considered healthy. But sadly, back in the early 00s, demands like that from industry execs were not unexpected. Ugh. Regardless of it being the norm at the time, the jarring effect it had stayed with her. Jessica said:
“To tell a 17-year-old that is a lot.”
We can imagine! She also revealed another demand her label had for her by her second album:
“And then by the second record, I had to have a six-pack. Which definitely was not gonna happen, I’m just not built like that.”
She continued:
“But there’s just all these things that I had to be to be Jessica Simpson, or the version Jessica Simpson that they believe I should be to be successful. And I always felt like a failure who was just never good enough.”
Aww… So heartbreaking. But even in the midst of all her turmoil, Jessica said:
“I had fun. I know that I was in the right moment in the right time, but I learned a lot. And I know when I went in to make new music to heal, over the last three years, I was like, ‘I’m gonna do this my way’.”
We’re so glad she was able to push through and is now able to do things the way she wants to do them. Good for her! Watch the video for yourself (below):
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Sending so much love to Jessica always! Reactions, Perezcious readers?
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
