Jessica Simpson: `Charity work helped me get over drama`

For nearly a decade the 30-year-old blonde has worked with Operation Smile - a global organisation that helps thousands of children that have cleft palates and facial deformities.

In that time Simpson divorced husband Nick Lachey, saw their MTV reality TV show cancelled and ended high profile romances with Dallas Cowboys star Tony Romo and singer John Mayer.

Her singing career has also waned and her movie appearances have received poor reviews.

Simpson tells US magazine Ladies' Home Journal, 'I love children and at that time I felt like I needed to stop fixating on the drama in my own life and do something for someone else.

'Since then I have travelled to Kenya and India with Operation Smile and have been with kids during corrective surgeries.

'Normally I'm squeamish, but when you know an operation is changing someone's life, it's empowering to watch.'

Simpson recently became engaged to her boyfriend Eric Johnson.