All's well that ends well.
Jessica Simpson and Natalie Portman had a minor public tiff that lasted less than a day after Portman stopped by USA Today for a chat. During her interview, theVox Lux star shared some of her thoughts on the virgin/vixen paradigm in the early 2000s, and turned to Simpson as an example.
“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,” she said, referencing Simpson’s famous virginity pact with her father. “Like, I don’t know what this is trying to tell me as a woman, as a girl.”
Simpson took the message as a personal snub, and responded accordingly on social media. "@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 wrote. "As public figures, we both know our image is not totally in control at all times, and that the industry we work in often tries to define us and box us in."
Simpson continued, writing that she was taught to "honor the different ways all women express themselves,” something she clearly evoked pulling this off, and believes “that being sexy in a bikini and being proud of my body are not synonymous with having sex."
A few hours later, Portman replied with an apology in Simpson's Instagram comments.
“Thank you for your words. I completely agree with you that a woman should be allowed to dress however she likes and behave however she likes and not be judged,” she wrote. “I only meant to say I was confused — as a girl coming of age in the public eye around the same time — by the media’s mixed messages about how girls and women were supposed to behave. I didn’t mean to shame you and I’m sorry for any hurt my words may have caused. I have nothing but respect for your talent and your voice that you use to encourage and empower women all over the globe.”
Sounds like a few things got lost in translation, but the girls are fine everyone—no need to panic.
