Returning to music and taking over her company, Jessica Simpson is finally in control.
Now, she opens up about the challenges of buying herself back.
Its early June and Jessica Simpson is in the emergency room.
She woke up with a sharp pain in her stomach, she says, and she was freaked out.
She was right to be concerned.
The doctors discovered a twist in her colon painful, problematic, yet fixable.
But two days later she was back in the ER.
It was scary; she had three kids at home and no answers.
I get an MRI, she tells me, Im lying there, waiting for the results.
A bowel movement opener over enchiladas at a Mexican restaurant in the valley?
Frankly, thats on brand for Jessica Simpson.
Or in this case three.
to fake-it-till-you-make-it mogul behind her own billion-dollar retail empire.
I mean, it is not Ozempic, she means its willpower.
Im like, do people want me to be drinking again?
Because thats when I was heavier.
Or they want me to be having another baby?
My body cant do it.
She admits it hurts, adding: Am I going to let the negativity derail me?
No, Im too old for that.
I am too connected to myself right now to let that derail me.
It doesnt mean that it doesnt hurt.
I am fortunate to have been every size, she says.
In a weird way,its the perfect time to talk to Jessica Simpson.
At 42, she isnt promoting a new jewelry line (at least not just yet).
But she is undeniably having a moment.
This more recent decision went against the advice of her own business manager.
(More on that soon.)
I have not entertained at all.
Lets get this out of the way: How does she look?
Are those boots from the Jessica Simpson Collection?
She laughs: Theyre Versace.
Shes considering a move there, she says, to reboot her music career.
Im doing this as a mother now, as a wife.
I was a wife last time, but this is a very different marriage.
And theyve never seen me do this.
Perform, you mean?
She wants to do it all again, on her own terms.
It was both a no-brainer for her and extremely fraught.
She parted ways with a business manager of more than two decades over the move.
But how could it be anything but emotional?
She said to the manager: You dont believe in me.
And Sequential talked a big game during the courtship.
Im like, But we have a lingerie license.
That competes against myself.
That makes no sense.
The straw that broke the camel coat came during the pandemic.
Sequential wanted to furlough all but three staff members, according to Jessica and Tina.
For me that was disrespectful, Jessica says.
Tina tells me she saw the writing on the wall.
[Sequential was] headed to bankruptcy.
I wanted to double-check we did not get caught up in all that, she says.
There were also going to be bidders against us at the bankruptcy court.
We either sink with the ship, or we jump and hope to find a lifesaver.
And really that lifesaver was ourselves.
She also liquidated her stock portfolio (which shes still paying taxes on).
And water, says Tina, giving a hint of whats to come.
I ask Jessica if she ever regretted buying back the company.
Tina confirmed the arrangement: Honestly, she did reach out to me to borrow money.
And I said to her, Yeah, lets talk about it.
Im her mom first, obviously.
Were there terms for payback?
My term would be control your spending a little bit better.
Putting her money back into her own business is a change of pace for Jessica, according to Tina.
After all, shes been making and spending her own money since she was 14.
Youre going to have to not live not quite as extravagantly.
Because I am on a path to pay this off.
I dont want to keep the loan on the brand.
Then we own it out 100%.
Its like paying off your house.
Its a real joy and also challenging to work alongside your daughter, Tina says.
In a good way, not in a negative way.
I think we do a really great job of balancing that.
Learning the valueof her own name and what she brings to the table has been a journey.
Her 2008 pivot to country,Do You Know, opened at No.
4 on the Billboard 200 Chart, but the label dropped her anyway.
I didnt control those budgets.
We were just yes-people, she says of her and her father.
And in saying yes to everything, I lost it all.
Having the fashion brand gave her some freedom from the whims of radio playlists, I suggest.
But she counters swiftly: What gave me control was people seeing me vulnerable onNewlyweds.
My power is in my vulnerability.
Reality shows are famously manufactured, but, when it came toNewlyweds, she says: Thats me.
I tell her aboutone clipthat was recently unearthed and went viral.
Seemingly frustrated by his frequent anger, she mutters: Its always something f*cking wrong.
Youre a bratty girl.
We werent and I regret that my actions hurt him.
But today shes a little less forgiving.
Of the publics initial impression of him, she says, Its amazing what publicity can do.
In some ways, the show offers reassuring evidence that she is who she is.
Im still that person.
Shes adjusting the photos.
Im like,Oh, that makes it look a little bit better.
Oh, that makes it a little bit better.What has done that to me?
What is that doing to my daughter?
While were on the topic of deciding how much to share, I have to ask about Movie Star.
I ask if shes heard from Wahlberg since the story came out.
She laughs like a deafening, throw-back-your-head-and-cackle laugh before saying she would absolutely not confirm the subjects identity.
Theres a lot of Catholics out there, she offers.
And I didnt listen to what yours were.
It was so beautiful, Jessica says of the moment, to have your father apologize.
And it was also so confusing.
Because it was like, Wait, whataremy dreams?
I could not break his heart.
And I didnt know how to do it without him.
But lately shes realized: I stayed in that heartbreak on purpose.
And in a way I think complacency is a choice.
She is finding her way back to music thanks to a roundabout series of events.
Amazon shot the pilot but ultimately passed on the project earlier this year.
Jessica still hopes to shop the thing around.
But if it never surfaces, it has already served another purpose.
I keep saying to myself, rejection is redirection.
It dumbed down my creativity, she says.
It made me more insecure.
When people say it gives you liquid courage, it absolutely does not.
It just makes me hold back instead of letting go.
I stopped drinking because I was like, I cant even make a dream board, she says.
Were about to start shopping it around, she says.
(What would the new music sound like?
I am genre-less, she says.)
Jessica is finally in control of her destiny.
But the financial tightrope at her company cant be easy.
Yesterday she went to Home Goods to buy garbage cans, she tells me.
Is there a story behind any of it?
Yeah, she says, I might have to sell it.
She laughs, then adds: This might be the last time Im wearing it.
I dont have it in me to borrow money from my mother [again].
Whether Jessica will move the family to Nashville remains to be seen.
But she and Eric had their Hidden Hills house photographed in case they sell.
Theyre very much still deciding if its the right move for their kids.
Jessica is thinking out loud.
And theyll just be on Instagram thinking thats whats perfect.
