“I am too connected to myself right now to let that derail me. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt,” Jessica Simpson said of social media comments about her weight
Jessica Simpson is addressing claims that she lost weight using type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic.
In a recent interview with Bustle, the 42-year-old singer, actress and designer shared how it feels for her body to be constantly scrutinized, including by social media users who call her “too skinny” or assume she’s been taking Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes.
It’s one of the brand names for semaglutide and tirzepatide — also known as Wegovy and Mounjaro — which works in the brain to impact satiety, and is the latest Hollywood weight loss trend.
“Oh Lord… it is not,” she told the outlet.
“It’s willpower,” Simpson said of how she achieved her slimmed-down physique. “Do people want me to be drinking again? Because that’s when I was heavier. Or they want me to be having another baby? My body can’t do it.”
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Admitting that “it hurts” to receive such criticism about her weight, Simpson refuses to let it consume her.
“Am I going to let the negativity derail me? No, I’m too old for that,” she said. “I am too connected to myself right now to let that derail me. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.”
“I am fortunate to have been every size,” she added. “For [my] brand, understanding the women [who buy our products], and for my psyche.”
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Back in 2021, the Open Book author revealed that she reached a point in her health journey where she wasn’t focused on her weight anymore or letting numbers on the scale ruin her self-esteem.
Comparing her scale to a “Ouija board in church,” the mom-of-three told Hoda Kotb on the Today show that she decided it was best for her to throw it out.
“I have no idea how much I weigh, I just want to be able to feel good and zip my pants up. If I don’t, I have another size. I have every size,” she said at the time.
“I’ve really tried my hardest to not let that define me,” the singer added of using a scale to keep track of her weight.
Simpson now has an entirely different perspective, one that focuses solely on her health. She previously told PEOPLE that she’s healed from her struggles with body image and is thankful for positive conversations surrounding the topic.
“There is a wonderful movement for body positivity now and the response to that portion of my story has been overwhelmingly supportive,” she said. “I don’t think people always realized that there was a human being, a beating heart and working eyes with actual feelings behind those headlines and that words can hurt and stay with you for a lifetime.”