Jessica Simpson became a “recluse” after facing intense body shaming

She explained on the ‘Today’ show: “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. Body shaming is a terrible thing, and no girl should have to go through that - or guy. Period.

“Because of [the body shaming], it catapulted all kinds of different emotions and different things in her life too, you know? And then it made her want to be a recluse, in a lot of ways, and to hide out and not want to get out of her house.”

Jessica previously spoke about the scrutiny she was under in her memoir, ‘Open Book’, where she included a journal entry she wrote in 2009 in which she addressed the criticism around an outfit she wore to a concert.

The entry read: "Today my heart breaks because people say I'm fat. Why does the cruel opinion of this world get to me?"

And the ‘With You’ singer later said she’s pleased to see the conversation around body image starting to change.

She said: "There is a wonderful movement for body positivity now and the response to that portion of my story has been overwhelmingly supportive. I don't think people always realized that there was a human being, a beating heart and working eyes with actual feelings behind those headlines and that words can hurt and stay with you for a lifetime."

Jessica – who has Maxwell, eight, Ace, seven, and Birdie, two, with her husband Eric Johnson – also said she’s still working on repairing her own relationship with her body image.

She added: "I spent so many years beating myself up for an unrealistic body standard that made me feel like a failure all of the time. I am still a work in progress when it comes to self-criticism but now I have the tools to quiet those voices in my head when they speak up.

“I believe in my heart that a healthy body and a sound mind-body connection are what's truly important and help me accept imperfections as beauty."