Jessica Simpson says she was pressured to 'lose 15 lbs' to be more like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in her early career

Jessica Simpson opened up about being a young pop star during a recent concert in Pennsylvania.

The 45-year-old singer – who recently posed in swimwear – got candid about the pressure she faced to look more like her counterparts Britney Spears, 44, and Christina Aguilera, 45.

'When I first started singing, I was, to everyone at the record label, supposed to be this pop star. There was Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera… and I had to follow in their footsteps,' she said about her experience as a young artist signed to Columbia Records.

'I really thought I was signed just because of my voice, then it was like, "OK, you need to lose 15 lbs,"' she shared with the audience, according to Us Weekly. 

Simpson, who was 17 at the time, said she only weighed 115 lbs when she was asked to shed the weight.

Elsewhere in the show, she told fans, 'It feels good to be back on stage in my 40s. I missed all of my 30s, so this really to me, 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.'

The mom of three reflected, 'To tell a 17-year-old that is a lot. 

'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, you know?'

She lamented, '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. I always felt like a failure, like, I was never good enough.'

Simpson also got candid about that time in her life in a March 2025 Rolling Stone interview.

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

Describing her relationship with her record label at the time, she noted, '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, and I felt like I was constantly letting people down. Even myself probably, because I wasn’t singing words I wrote.'

It wasn't until she began writing her own music that she was finally able to achieve her first chart-topping single, 2004's With You.

The songstress is currently touring her latest music, inspired by her divorce from Eric Johnson.

The exes share daughters Maxwell, 14, Birdie, seven, and son Ace, 13 on June 30. 

Simpson announced her divorce from Johnson, whom she wed in July 2014, in January 2025.

At the time, she said in a statement, 'Eric and I have been living separately, navigating a painful situation in our marriage.'

Breakup rumors were sparked in November 2024 when she began teasing her new songs, writing on the internet, 'Interviews in my Nashville music room where I unearthed my singular magic.

'This comeback is personal. It’s an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve.'