Jessica Simpson Says Throwing Out Her Scale Helped Her Health Journey

Jessica Simpson knows that health is about feeling good, and not a number on the scale. The 40-year-old mother of three recently opened up to ET's Rachel Smith about ditching the scale. 

"We have a goal, right? But I say throw out the scale," she shared. "I would use it like a measuring tape because the scale can literally mess our entire day up... I had [husband] Eric [Johnson] walk it to the trash can."

Simpson found the act to be freeing, adding, "I have to rid myself of measuring up to what weight I should be because I've had so many people tell me what weight I need to be and I think it's really about just how you feel."

Simpson also opens up about ditching her scale in her Amazon Original Stories essay, Take the Lead: An Essay, that is "about motherhood, self-acceptance, and overcoming the fears that hold you back." In the piece, she notes why she stopped weighing herself late into her third pregnancy with daughter Birdie. 

"While I was working on my book in 2019, three weeks before I had Birdie, I weighed myself," she shares, referencing her memoir, Open Book. "At that point, I couldn’t see the scale, so Eric had to read the number to me. He read the number with the impassive voice of a man who is in love with his wife. 'This has to be broken,' I said. Eric didn’t say anything. 'Here, you just get on it,' I said. He did. The number was accurate. And less than mine. I weighed more than my husband, a six-foot-three former tight end in the NFL. I sat on the tub and burst into tears. My pregnancy with Birdie had been so difficult, with hospitalizations and incredible discomfort, and now this number suddenly wanted to push itself to the front and say, 'I am what matters.'"

It was this experience that led her to stop putting so much emphasis on her weight and to embrace all that her body had accomplished. 

Earlier this month, Jessica's mom, Tina Simpson, opened up to Today's Sheinelle Jones about watching her daughter struggle with the attention she received for her weight. 

"I have to be honest: To me the hardest thing with Jessica has been the weight. Because the way people judge her, it's unbelievable," Tina shared at the time. "Body shaming is a terrible thing, and no girl should have to go through that -- or guy. Period."

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