Pop Star Jessica Simpson Searches For Beauty in Uganda
By Lakshmi Gandhi–
American pop singer Jessica Simpson has never been known for being particularly bright.
Raised by her overbearing father to be a singing sensation, the Texas-born singer left school at 16 to concentrate on her music. She then had the misfortune early in her career of being constantly overshadowed by artists Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, both of whom were blessed with both more talent and better material than she was.
It wasn’t until she starred in Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, a reality show about her life with her now former husband Nick Lachey, that she truly arrived in the public eye. Viewers watched each week as Simpson fumbled through her day-to-day activities, seemingly unable to manage the simplest household tasks. Happily embracing her ditzy blonde public image, Simpson played up her ignorance about the world throughout the show’s three season run.
I kept reminding myself of all of the above as I watched her travel throughout the world for her documentary series The Price of Beauty. Last week’s episode took Jessica and her two best friends CaCee Cobb and Ken Paves to Uganda to meet members of the Hima in southwestern Uganda, and explore how the Hima perceive beauty.
Jessica Simpson in Hima dress in "The Price of Beauty."
While it was noted in the beginning of the episode that they are traveling to a fairly remote part of Africa, the show quickly begins to portray Hima culture as representative of all of Uganda– if not all of Africa. After they arrive in Mbarara, viewers got glimpses of zebras, warthogs, and monkeys and golden fields as the group travels to the nearby village they are visiting. Unfortunately for Simpson, the landscape also contained spiders and one of the first things she did once she arrived on Ugandan soil was throw a mini-tantrum about the spider in their car.
“Jess is a little bit out of her element here in Africa,” Ken explained.
She certainly was. Jessica and her friends were completely taken aback by the Hima. Everything from the style of dress (“I felt like it put 40 pounds on us instantly,” she said after trying on some traditional clothes) to the the living conditions were met with the singer’s wide-eyed stare of amazement and inevitable giggles.
As for CaCee, she openly exclaimed over the fact that the homes had bathrooms and solid foundations. “I was thinking that I would be carrying toliet paper in the woods with me, but I saw stone, square housing. And stores and little trading posts,” she said happily.
The most amazing part of this comment was the fact that no one addressed her obvious stereotypes of Uganda, and Africa in general. Yes, CaCee there really is indoor plumbing and stuctures in Uganda! And stores and roads! Glad you were impressed by the ‘squareness’ of the housing!
While the group’s shock at the conditions is notable, it is nothing compared to the most startling fact about the Hima for Jessica. She is stunned when her “beauty ambassador” Judy says casually, “You know for a Hima man, he thinks fat is beautiful.” laughs aloud. “Normally, that word is completely offensive to a woman,” she says during her narration.
Her amazement remains when a meeting with some village men confirms this. “I’ve never known men to seek out fat in a woman,” Jessica says incredulously.
Fans of American tabloids will understand her reaction perfectly. Jessica Simpson’s weight has always been scrutinized and she became a tabloid staple two winters ago when she made a public appearance in ill-fitting “mom jeans.” Vicious articles followed, and she is asked about the “mom jeans” incident to this day.
She and CaCee then tag along with Judy to meet Marunge, a young woman preparing for her marriage. Judy explains how Hima women are sent to a “fattening hut” about two months before their weddings. “They want to go to your husband when you are looking good, and beautiful is big,” she tells them.
This Hima bride gained eighty pounds for her wedding day.
I have to say that the scenes with Marunge are the most disturbing parts of the episode. She primarily remains silent during her interactions with Jessica and CaCee, as her mother and aunt speak for her. The small hut is dark and the back wall was lined with large, empty gourds. Marunge’s mother explains that her daughter consumes 5000 calories a day, primarily by drinking milk infused with spices. She is not permitted to leave the hut and is expected to stay absolutely still. Since moving in two months ago, the bride has gained 80 pounds.
“Her job is basically to get fat and not move. She doesn’t get to move so she doesn’t burn anything,” Simpson says helpfully.
While both Simpson and Cobb are clearly disturbed by these customs, neither seems to realize that having a full-figured female beauty ideal can be just as harmful as forcing women to be thin. The closest the pair gets to any sort of analysis of this practice is when CaCee expresses her discomfort about seeing Marunge. “At first I thought she was being abused, but now I see that she is happy to be there,” she says. How she concluded this isn’t apparent to the viewer, as Marunge barely speaks to her and hardly smiles during their visit.
During "The Price of Beauty," Jessica Simpson joins a Ugandan bridal party.
Because this is a Jessica Simpson reality show, a happy ending was inevitable. And weddings make the happiest endings of them all. Thus, Jessica, CaCee, and Ken are all informed that they are invited to join the bridal party.
As they wait for the ceremony to begin in their beautiful new clothes, Ken waxed poetic about what the trio learned in Uganda: “Beauty is what you want to see. And what the people of Uganda want to see is a full-figured woman. That’s beauty here.”
And leave it to Jessica to note what’s important right away. “Never would you think that you go to Uganda, and end up a bridesmaid,” she concluded.
I am very curious to learn what readers thought about this program. How do you feel about the way Uganda was portrayed in this series? Are there any Hima readers who would like to share their thoughts? Post your comments below.
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I don’t think you should watch a reality TV production and hope to find “analysis.” Even though Simpson’s traveling the world, the show’s really about our–in the very narrow Hollywood pop starlet sense–notions of beauty. I think the best way to analyze Simpson’s show is from the perspective of her target audience: tween and teen girls and young adult women. I wonder what the show teaches them. But I hope Ugandans and Hima readers don’t take the show too seriously. It wasn’t meant for them… and hopefully, they have more important concerns than what a now B-rated star has to say about them. (oh, and one thing about Simpson, she was always a far better singer than Britney… too bad she can’t dance though)
I was on gmail this afternoon and a Ugandan doctor messaged me and told me he found the piece interesting, Lakshmi! I asked him to write a comment, but his internet died, so I thought i would mention it to you because it was pretty interesting. He said that as someone who is fit/thin, women will give him a hard time or not be interested in dating because he’s not a big guy. In Kampala, the most successful professionals and people in government often have huge stomachs. Even as a healthy doctor in good shape, women might gauge him by his size and not think he’s successful. We had an interesting conversation about this before he had to go.
@Carla- While Jessica Simpson’s target audience is teens and young women, ours is the Ugandan diaspora. Since Uganda is rarely showcased on American television, I think it’s important that we pay attention to how the culture is portrayed and what producers choose to highlight.
@UA That’s really interesting. I would also love to hear from people who have first hand experience living in a fattening hut. Please comment if you are out there!
I didn’t get to see the clip, but being in Uganda, when Jessica Simpson came over and we heard that she was doing a reality tv series, we brushed it aside cause she’s not that famous now! When we heard that it was called ‘The price of beauty’ some of us expected that her program would probably show Uganda’s cultural understanding of beauty in a way that would show difference as opposed to appropriate. So, I’m not surprised with her account. Again, considering this is reality tv, and she has a demographic to entertain, I’m sure she intended to capture a certain side of the story, which may not sit comfortably with Ugandans who want to see a sunny view of us, showed to the world. If you have some money, please send it here so we can produce one that can sell on E!
I thought this was great episode. There were a of small ignorant comments stated like the toilet paper comment, but for the most part I had just the same amount of “shock” they did. Being a plus size African American girl, and always being made of fun of growing up (like most larger students do), It was refreshing to learn about this culture, and see where being called fat, has nothing to do with the negative. It almost mind boggles me at the same time. I can’t imagine being compared to a cow, and having that be a good thing, but, that’s just the way we are in America. I had always heard of the African cultures who appreciate larger girls, but never got to actually see how they felt. The movie “Phat Girls” by comedian Mo’Nique in my opinion was a great bit of insight and empowerment to us American girls always feeling like we must be skinny to be beautiful and fit in. As far as your concern that people would expect this to be all of Africa. I highly doubt most will think this. I can only speak on my behalf, but throughout the years we’ve been lucky to get more insight of other countries, versus being small minded and thinking everyone lives in a hut.
Thank you for your comment, Marisha!
I am happy for Jessica Simpson with her boyfriend. They look such a good couple. You can tell by their eyes that they are madly in love with each other