Jessica Simpson Recalls Being Hospitalized During Third Pregnancy: "I Couldn't Breathe"

Jessica Simpson's third pregnancy was definitely no breeze. In a new interview, the star recalls being hospitalized with bronchitis while she was expecting her daughter, Birdie Mae Johnson.

By Samantha Schnurr Jan 06, 2022 4:43 PMTags
Watch: Jessica Simpson Gives Birth to Baby No. 3

Nearly three years after Jessica Simpson welcomed her third child, the details leading up to Birdie Mae Johnson's birth are no less scary. 

In a new interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, the fashion mogul recalled being hospitalized ahead of her daughter's 2019 arrival and even put on a breathing machine as she struggled with bronchitis. 

"Her oxygen levels were dropping. I couldn't breathe," Simpson explained. "I was 260 pounds. She was a very big baby. We were like, 'Just take her out.'" However, that didn't ultimately become little Birdie's birthday. Instead, Simpson's youngest child with husband Eric Johnson arrived via C-section on March 19, 2019

By that point, the pop star noted in her 2020 memoir Open Book, she had endured four rounds of bronchitis. "This was kind of the pregnancy from hell," she wrote. "When I wasn't being hospitalized for bronchitis...I was breaking a toilet seat leaning back."

Birdie was "so big," she wrote, that a C-section was scheduled nearly a month before Simpson's actual due date. Despite the challenges the star faced, it sounds like having little girl made it all worth it. "I have fallen more in love with my family watching them love our Birdie," she wrote in her book. "She came at just the right time for us."

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Jessica Simpson's Open Book Memoir

And for the star's social media following, Birdie claims a frequent spot on Simpson's feed alongside her older siblings—sister Maxwell, 9, and brother Ace, 8.

In November, the mom of three captured one of Birdie's picture-perfect facial expressions. "These eyes," Simpson wrote, "don't miss a moment."