After naughty, nasty John Mayer took to the pages of Playboy to spill the beans and dish the dirt about his past relationship with Jessica Simpson, we'd been waiting with bated breath to see how the unerringly classy star of "Newlyweds" and the upcoming "The Price of Beauty" would respond to — among other things — claims that her sexual prowess made her as addictive as crack-cocaine. For awhile, the silence from Jessica's camp was deafening, even as her father issued angry statements to the press and John rushed to apologize. But today, patience paid off: Jessica appeared on "Oprah" to talk truthfully about the pain and humiliation of being dissected, discouraged, and betrayed by someone she'd cared about.
Striding out to meet Oprah in a pair of ultra-high nude heels and a slinky black dress, Jessica looked every inch the grownup when she took her seat to the enthusiastic applause of an audience full of women. Getting down to business right away, Oprah immediately opened the subject of the constant struggle of life in the public eye, asking Jessica what had most brought her down over the past year. The answer came as a surprise to nobody.
"Probably the mom jeans situation," she replied, nodding frankly. "People talking about my weight for an entire year."
As always, Jessica isn't afraid to talk honestly about the effect of so much negative attention on her own self-confidence. She elaborated, "It would bother any woman, I think. The fact that I was famous last year for gaining ten pounds, it's ridiculous."
The revelation might come as a surprise to those who remember Jessica's unwillingness to discuss the incident, even as the tabloids had a field day by printing and reprinting unflattering photos and offering wild speculation about her weight, right down to the pound. But, as Jessica explained, her reluctance to chew the fat (so to speak) wasn't hubris — it was concern for all the other people who might have been affected by it.
"I didn't want to sit down and talk with anyone about it," she said. "People who are a size bigger will look at it, and think they're fat because of what the media is saying. I didn't want to feed into it, or let people know that it was affecting me."
While photos of the star from her ultra-slim days as the star of "Dukes of Hazzard" flashed onscreen, Jessica, put her foot down. "I'm not ever gonna be a size zero, I'm never gonna weigh 90 pounds. That was Daisy Duke, and I don't WANT to look like Daisy Duke every day; I don't want to wear a bathing suit every day!"
Right on, Jess. But enough about the size of your butt, because it's time to talk about the elephant in the room. With a decidedly ewwww-y expression on her face, Oprah pressed her guest for a reaction to the now-infamous Playboy interview, in which ex-boyfriend John Mayer revealed some way-too-intimate details about their life between the sheets.
Shaking her head, Jessica actually looked grim for a moment while she admitted, "I couldn't read the article. I heard about it, I saw clips, and I tried to read the article... and I was so disappointed in him. It made me so sad and it was really discouraging, 'cause that's not the John that I knew."
OMG, BUUUUUUUURN. You know how your parents would say, "I'm not mad, I'm just really disappointed in you"? Take note, John: this is just like that, only instead of your mom, it's a gorgeous blonde with millions of dollars and a soon-to-be-hit show on VH1.
As for Jess, she confessed to being a little bit angry over the betrayal of trust, but added, "I guess it could be a lot worse. I mean, my phone is ringing off the hook, I have to say!"
So, asks Oprah, any last words for John? Did he apologize?
"Yes," said Jessica, and smiled, "but I don't accept it. I'm just letting that go, that part of my life."
Atta girl. Because with the premiere of her new show, "The Price of Beauty", airing next week on VH1, the last thing Jessica Simpson needs is to waste her time with an indiscreet man-whore with diarrhea of the mouth and a face like a potato.
Oh, and those infamous "mom jeans"? Oprah's eyes practically bugged out of her head when she asked Jessica, for the record, just what size they actually were.
"Oh, those?" replied Jess. "They were a size four."
Did you catch Jessica on Oprah?
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