United Kingdom, June 13 -- Jessica Simpson has claimed she felt pressure to shed weight to compete with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera early in her career.

The singer was 17 and weighed "115 pounds", but Jessica's record label allegedly expected her to "lose 15 pounds".

Page Six shared a video of the I Wanna Love You Forever hitmaker speaking to the audience during a gig in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Thursday (11.06.26).

Jessica, 45, told them: "So when I first started singing, I was - to everyone at the record label - supposed to be this pop star.

"You know, there's Britney Spears, there's Christina Aguilera, we love them, we support them. I had to, like, follow in their footsteps.

"And I really thought that I was signed jus...