Jessica Simpson Slams Natalie Portman’s ‘Virgin in a Bikini’ Comments

Keeping it real. Jessica Simpson didn’t appreciate Natalie Portman questioning whether she was a virgin in 1999 simply because she took photos posing in a bikini — and she sure did let her know it.

The fashion designer, 38, took to Twitter on Wednesday, December 5, to post a statement addressed to Portman, 37, who made the controversial comments in an interview the day before. “@Natalieportman I was disappointed this morning when I read that I ‘confused’ you by wearing a bikini in a published photo taken of me when I was still a virgin in 1999,” Simpson began. “As public figures, we both know our image is not totally in our control at all times, and that the industry we work in often tries to define us and box us in.”

“However, I was taught to be myself and honor the different ways all women express themselves, which is why I believed then — and I believe now — that being sexy in a bikini and being proud of my body are not synonymous with having sex,” the “Sweetest Sin” singer continued. “I have always embraced being a role model to all women to let them know that they can look however they want, wear whatever they want and have sex or not have sex with whomever they want.”

“The power lies within us as individuals,” the Dukes of Hazzard actress wrote. “I have made it my practice to not shame other women for their choices. In this era of Time’s Up and all the great work you have done for women, I encourage you to do the same.”

Simpson was referring to Portman’s comments published by USA Today on Tuesday, December 4, in which the Black Swan star discussed the phenomenon of certain pop stars during the early 2000s being promoted as virgins despite dressing in a way that suggested otherwise. “I remember being a teenager, and there was Jessica Simpson on the cover of a magazine saying ‘I’m a virgin’ while wearing a bikini, and I was confused,” Portman told the newspaper. ”Like, I don’t know what this is trying to tell me as a woman, as a girl.”

The former Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica star publicly stated early in her career that she planned to save herself for marriage and later admitted she lost her virginity to Nick Lachey, whom she married in 2002. Calling her wedding night “the most amazing moment of my life,” Simpson told Blender magazine in 2003. “I’m so lucky I didn’t lose my virginity in the back of a Jeep or something. Instead, I had this amazing, elaborate wedding and I topped it off with that.”

Simpson and Lachey, 45, divorced in 2006. She went on to marry Eric Johnson in 2014 and they share daughter Maxwell, 6, and son Ace. In September, the shoe designer revealed on Instagram that she and Johnson, 38, were expecting their third child — a baby girl.






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