Jessica pays the price of beauty

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer and sometimes actress Jessica Simpson (photo) has paid the price of beauty, and now she’s examining people’s obsession with looking good.

She made headlines last year when photos of her performing suggested she might have gained weight. That sparked a national debate on TV news channels, talk shows and in print asking if Simpson was, indeed, fat.

The 29-year-old has decided to turn the tables on questions about how she looked. The result is a new show called, Jessica Simpson’s The Price of Beauty. The show premiered Monday and will air weekly on VH1.

Simpson travels the globe with two friends, hair stylist Ken Paves and former assistant Cacee Cobb, to examine people’s efforts to measure up to their society’s standard of beauty.