When it comes to her career, Jessica Simpson’s kids are in her corner!
After a long hiatus from music — during which she had Maxwell “Maxi” Drew, 11, Ace Knute, 10, and Birdie Mae, 4 — the mother of three is ready to hit “play” again, and her kids could not be more excited.
“I was too nervous to go back into other careers that are my passion until I felt like they were confident enough in school and in life before I would step foot on stage,” Simpson, 43, told PEOPLE exclusively at PetSafe’s Unleashed Event on Friday.
She continued: “It’s crazy, the responsibility to feel as a parent, but really I look to them and they teach me so much.”
“They’re teaching me to be brave,” she added.
The “I Wanna Love You Forever” singer is excited to resume what she was “born to do” with a new support system by her side.
“Now, at this point in my life, going back into music, it’s very exciting,” she said, adding that her kids are “very excited” for her as well.
“They know that I’m living my dream and that that’s what I was born to do,” she continued. “And so to have them experience that with me is going to be really beautiful.”
Simpson put music on hold for a reason (“It was really just I wanted to be a mom first”) but ultimately realized that she “didn’t want to miss the opportunity” and place blame on her kids later.
“That’s not healthy,” she said. “So they’re like, ‘Mom, just do it. We will come with you.’”
Thankfully, the singer’s soon-to-be-regular trek between Los Angeles and Nashville is “not that long of a flight,” and the work trips will be easier on her kids because “they know that I’m doing something that I really want to do.”
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Last month, the “With You” crooner — who shares her three children with husband Eric Johnson — previously opened up about how motherhood will impact her music career this time around.
“I’m doing this as a mother now, as a wife. I was a wife last time, but this is a very different marriage,” the Dukes of Hazzard star told Bustle, referring to ex-husband Nick Lachey, whom she divorced in 2006.
“And they’ve never seen me [perform],” she said of her children.
Simpson also shared a sweet anecdote that inspired her to take the stage again.
“I have my daughter taking a private plane with North West to go see Katy Perry in Vegas. And inside I’m like, ‘She was supposed to see me first.’ Then I’m like, ‘This is not competitive, Jessica. Let your daughter enjoy Katy Perry,’” she told Bustle.
“But there’s moments that make me want to do it — for them to see that color of me.”
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