Jessica Simpson Claims Music Label Pressured Her To Lose Weight To Look Like Britney Spears

Jessica Simpson has opened up about the intense body-image pressures she faced early in her music career, revealing that record executives told her to lose weight despite weighing just 115 pounds.

15 Jun 2026, 12:36 · NDTV

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Jessica Simpson has revealed that she faced significant pressure to change her appearance when she first entered the music industry as a teenager.
During a recent concert in Pennsylvania, the 45-year-old reflected on her early days after signing with Columbia Records.
She revealed that she was expected to follow the path of pop superstars Britney Spears and Christina Aguiler

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Jessica Simpson has revealed that she faced significant pressure to change her appearance when she first entered the music industry as a teenager. During a recent concert in Pennsylvania, the 45-year-old reflected on her early days after signing with Columbia Records.

She revealed that she was expected to follow the path of pop superstars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

“When I first started singing, I was, to everyone at the record label, supposed to be this pop star,” Simpson told the audience. “There was Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera… and I had to follow in their footsteps.”

She said she initially believed she had been signed because of her vocal talent, but quickly learned that image played a major role in the industry's expectations.

“I really thought I was signed just because of my voice, then it was like, ‘OK, you need to lose 15 lbs. To tell a 17-year-old that is a lot,'” she recalled.

Simpson said she weighed only 115 pounds when she was first told to lose weight. The pressure continued as her career progressed, with executives reportedly pushing her to achieve a more athletic physique.

“The second record, I [was told I] needed to have a six-pack, which was definitely not going to happen. I'm just not built that way,” she said.

The singer admitted that the constant demands left a lasting impact on her confidence.

“There were just all these things that I had to be to be ‘Jessica Simpson,' or the version of ‘Jessica Simpson' they believed I should be to be successful,” she said. “I always felt like a failure, like I was never good enough.”

During her recent concert, Simpson also said returning to the stage has helped her reconnect with herself.

“It feels good to be back on stage in my 40s,” she said. “I missed all of my 30s, so this really feels like I'm me again. I feel like walking on stage is almost more comfortable than my living room at home, and it's such a beautiful feeling.”

During a March 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Simpson earlier reflected on the challenges of competing with chart-dominating artists of the era.

Looking back on her rise to stardom, she told the magazine, “I was never gonna win because I had someone like Britney and Christina ahead of me, who were selling so many more records.”

She also revealed that she often compromised her artistic preferences to satisfy record-label expectations.

“I didn't want to dance, I didn't want to wear a head mic. But I agreed to do it because I worked for Sony, and I didn't want to let them down. I felt like I was constantly letting people down. Even myself probably, because I wasn't singing the words I wrote,” she said.

According to Simpson, it was only after she began writing her own music that she found greater creative fulfillment and commercial success, culminating in her first No. 1 hit, With You, in 2004.

The singer is currently touring her new music, inspired by the end of her marriage with Eric Johnson. Simpson and Johnson, who married in 2014, share three children together. She announced their separation in January 2025, saying they had been “living separately” while navigating difficulties in their relationship.

Speculation about the split first emerged in late 2024 as Simpson teased new music and described her comeback as deeply personal.

“This comeback is personal,” she wrote at the time. “It's an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve.”

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