Jessica Simpson weighs up ‘The Price of Beauty’

Early in 2009, she became a target for fashion critics as she took to stage looking plump in high-waist jeans and a very short top at a concert in Florida.

“I think our society puts way, way too much pressure on a woman to feel beautiful”

Hurt by all the criticism bombarded on her, Simpson decided to launch a show about beauty.

Feeling stronger after finding ‘The Price of Beauty’
And now that she’s back with all the knowledge, beauty secrets and beautifying methods of women from different countries, Simpson says she feels more powerful.

“I definitely faced a lot of fears in every country that we went to, but that's what it was about,” Simpson told MTV News. “It was about going out there and seeing how far I can push myself and seeing what I can discover. Like, 'Who am I?'”

And in discovering who she is, Simpson has found a newer perspective on things. “I view the world very differently,” she said.

“Everything's not as big of a deal as people make it out to be, and that's a really great place to be in. I know there's nothing that anybody can say about me that will take me to a very low place, because I am stronger,” says a newly-smartened up Jessica.

She travelled to countries like Thailand, France, Uganda, India and found out the various ways women find to beautify themselves. They sure take a lot of pains, and Simpson says she was amazed to see them undertake coarse methods only to look prettier to the world.

While on the show, Simpson ate fried worms at a Bangkok market, after learning that they could help burn some extra calories. She came across women, who wear gold rings around their necks so as to stretch them, allowed herself to be crushed under an aggressive Thai massage and even had a meditation session with a Buddhist monk.

“The extremes [people] go to feel beautiful, I think our society puts way, way too much pressure on a woman to feel beautiful,” she said. “But the extremes that we saw in all these different countries were amazing. It was, like, outrageous.”

Fat is beautiful?
Beauty is perceived differently in different regions of the world, like in this particular village in Uganda, where fat is considered beautiful. “The men want their women to look like cows, because the cows are their prize possession. So the bride-to-be has to gain 90 pounds before she gets married,” said Jessica. “It does push its limits to what's healthy, what's not healthy.”