Jessica Simpson, one the newest residents of Beverly Hills, Calif., said she wants people to buy her new album to listen to it, not look at the cover.

"Sex sells, but it's not the way I wanted to sell my album," Simpson told Elle magazine in an interview. "I want my album to sell because people want to hear it, not because people want to look at the cover."

Trying to learn more about whether she's dating singer John Mayer, the only thing Simpson would say was, "I have to sew my lips together. It's hurt me in the past."

She said the backlash from MTV's "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica," a reality show that followed her and then-husband Nick Lachey probably was partly her fault "because I did a reality show."

"I let people in on who I am and how I react to my husband. That's a big deal," she told Elle. "Celebrities don't do that."

Simpson said she may have made things worse because "I stopped talking and because I have not spoken -- and will not speak -- about my divorce."