Dear Jessica Simpson,

I don't know you. I have never followed your career and I have never bought any of your records, so I don't know if one could even call me a fan. But I want to write to you just on the level of one human being speaking to another. I don't know if you will ever actually see this, but I hope that you will. I know when you're famous it can be hard to know who's really saying what they think and who's just trying to get on your good side and ride the gravy train. I have no invested interest in saying what I'm going to say, except to bring back a little human decency into our world.

What the public has been saying about your figure lately is sickening to me. Even people who try to publicly support you don't seem to really get it right. I watched Dolly Parton talk to Larry King tonight and I think she wasted an opportunity to really support you and women in general. The way the media and the public have been judging you goes far beyond being "not very nice," as she put it. Some of your fans here are saying very nice things to support you, but I think most of them are only getting it half right.

As I said before, I don't know you. I haven't followed your career, at least not deliberately. But the fame you've achieved means that the details of your life are broadcast everywhere to the point that it's inescapable. I don't really believe that we have any business knowing who's sleeping with whom, who's got a baby bump, or who's gained ten pounds. That kind of thing isn't entertainment, it's just gossip, and gossip has always been a part of the worst of human nature.

What we tend to forget is that even us average folks are often ruthlessly judged by each other, and for very stupid reasons. In my time, I've known lots of tall people and short people, big people and thin people, and one thing I have learned is this: A non-celebrity who happens to be extremely thin doesn't deserve to be judged as "anorexic" any more than a celebrity deserves to be called "fat" for filling out a figure that's actually much more average than the fickle public will admit. The truth is, that's just the way they are, and people should have every right to be what they really are, whether they're famous or not.

We are living in an age when the Internet grants us all anonymity and every celebrity in Hollywood and Nashville are examined with the scrutiny of a police stake out. As a culture, we have denied celebrities their human right to dignity, and in doing so we are learning to deny it to ourselves. We are fast forgetting (or abandoning) our own humanity. We watch each other, we interact with each other, but we don't really care about each other.

When we place no worth on another person's dignity, life itself begins to lose its worth. Is it any wonder, in this culture, that we have such a high murder rate? Is it any wonder why people like Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon and Heath Ledger aren't still with us? Is it any wonder why people would leak a picture of Michael Phelps smoking a bong at the expense of his reputation as the greatest Olympian in American history; or a picture of Rihanna's bruises at the expense of bringing her attacker to justice...all just to make a quick buck?

My father once said to me, "Nothing else matters so long as you're happy." It took me a few years to figure out what that meant. I used to think that looking out for one's own happiness was just being selfish, but I know now that it's the only way to preserve your own sense of self worth and dignity. As one human being to another, Jessica, I would hope that you would not be the next person to be chewed up by the monster that is Fame, to meet a similar fate as John Lennon or Marilyn Monroe. You don't owe it to anybody to lose twenty pounds in eight weeks. If you want my opinion, I've always thought you were beautiful no matter what size you are, and any man in his right mind (of which, admittedly, there are few) should feel lucky to be by your side. You only owe it to yourself to find happiness. If you're happy being the shape that you are, then so be it and to hell with everybody else, me included. If you're happy working in the entertainment industry, then go on working. But if not, it's okay to give it up. It's okay to admit to yourself that you don't want to put up with the scrutiny anymore. Not everyone can be Dolly Parton. You have to be yourself, whatever that may be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell you you should quit. I'm just saying you've got to pursue your happiness, whether that means working or retiring, gaining weight or losing it. Nothing else matters so long as you're happy. Just blaze your own path and don't apologize to anybody. I think that's what Dolly would do, wouldn't she?

And to the rest of you out there reading this, let's do our part to put a stop to the gossip. Stop reading Us Weekly and People. Stop watching Hollywood Tonight. Stop feeding the paparazzi.

Here's to happiness. May we all find it together.

with love,
Tom