Jessica Simpson says she wanted to disappear last year after her weight was widely criticized following those now-infamous 2009 chili cook-off pics.
"I was embarrassed. I didn't want to show my face," she said on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show Tuesday. "I was touring with the Rascal Flatts at the time and had to get on stage every day and kind of just face it and hope to God I wasn't wearing an unflattering outfit … Obviously, I didn't look like Daisy Duke."
She said the experience inspired her new reality show, VH1's The Price Of Beauty, which premieres March 15. On the show, she travels around the world to explore other cultures' notions of beauty.
After visiting everywhere from Uganda to Paris, the 29-year-old singer — who fluctuates between a size 4 and 6 — says: "I just feel comfortable in my own skin."
As for her recent Oprah Winfrey interview, Simpson said she still stands by her remarks that she was "disappointed" ex John Mayer blabbed to Playboy about their sex life.
"You can only just hope that somebody that you have cared about for a really long time can keep the intimate things intimate," she told Seacrest. But she added: "Like I said on Oprah, it could've been a lot worse."
Despite the incident, Simpson said she still trusts guys. "I am not as guarded as you would think," she said.
She didn't confirm that she dated Billy Corgan, who helped her pen part of "Who We Are," the theme song to her new reality show.
But she said she "can't find good enough words to speak about Billy. He's a very, very dear friend."
Recording with him was "a great experience," Simpson said, "and I hope we can more music together."
