Jessica Simpson's Extra Pounds Turn Into Extra Cash

June 24, 2009 — -- Who says only skinny people succeed in Hollywood?

Jessica Simpson is the latest star to parlay a few extra pounds into a paycheck.

The pop singer-turned-country-singer turned into a tabloid target in January when she donned the wardrobe "don't" of the year: a pair of high-waist jeans and a leopard print belt that showed off curves unseen during her "Dukes of Hazzard" days of short shorts and belly-baring shirts.

"Clearly, since we saw her last, she slayed that dragon named dignity and just spooned frosting into her mouth full time," wrote the blog "What Would Tyler Durden Do?" at the time. "Honest to God, her appearance couldn't have been any more shocking unless she had grown glow-in-the-dark tentacles."

Mean-spirited? Sure. But when Simpson's critics pulled out their claws, they also threw her more publicity than she'd seen in years.

Now, thanks to the column, inches devoted to the "fit or fat?" discussion that ensued in the weeks following her fateful appearance at a Florida country radio station's chili cook-off, the 28-year-old's got a new gig headlining VH1's upcoming reality series, "The Price of Beauty," which will follow her as she travels the world in search of what people find beautiful and why.

"I have always believed that beauty comes from within and confidence will always make a woman beautiful, but I know how much pressure some women put on themselves to look perfect," Simpson said in a statement to ABCNews.com. "I am really looking forward to discovering how beauty is perceived in different cultures and participating in some of the crazy things people do to feel beautiful."

While Simpson didn't specifically reference the weight debate that played into her scoring her new job, Jeff Olde, the executive vice president of VH1's original programming and production, made the connection clear.

"Perhaps more than any other pop culture figure on the radar today, Jessica Simpson has been the target of our obsession with beauty on both sides of the equation," Olde said in a statement to reporters. "She is a woman who can set trends and create firestorms with a single photo."