'I'm Not Doing That': Ashlee Simpson Says She Rejected Wearing a Purity Ring from Dad Joe at Age 12

Ashlee Simpson opened up about being a "rebellious" child on Rachel Bilson's podcast

Ashlee Simpson is reflecting on her decision to turn down her father’s request that she wear a purity ring as a preteen.

The “Pieces of Me” singer, 39, said on a new episode of the podcast Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen that he was an “independent soul” as a child, who rejected dad Joe’s push for her to remain a virgin until marriage.

“I would come off way more rebellious than I even was, because I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m not doing that,’” she said of her defiant streak. “I would see how my dad would be like, ‘Oh, you can’t talk to this guy. Here’s your ring to save yourself.’ He tried to give me one at 12 and I was like, ‘Oh, no thank you. I won’t be telling you when I have sex.’”

Simpson continued: “And meanwhile, I never did have sex until I was 17, but I always wanted it to be open that you don’t know what I’m doing.”

Purity rings symbolize a commitment to sexual abstinence before marriage, and were worn by stars lik -

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e the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and Jordin Sparks early in their careers.

Simpson’s sister Jessica famously wore one, and kept her pledge to remain abstinent before marriage, telling PEOPLE in 2000 that virginity was “something I stand strong in.”

On the podcast, the star opened up about the ways in which she and Jessica, 43, differed as children, and how their mom Tina, 64, made a point of raising them to their own unique strengths.

“My mom really would pay attention and see me if I needed something different, and she would make that time. And now that we’re all parents we finally get the other side,” Simpson said. “Growing up, I was really an independent soul and I wanted to like, do my own effing thing. They had to let me kind of be free and have that moment, or at least feel free. And sometimes too free.”

Simpson is now a mom of three; she shares son Bronx, 15, with ex-husband Pete Wentz, and daughter Jagger, 8, and son Ziggy, 3, with husband Evan Ross, whom she married in 2014.

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