Jessica Simpson plans to launch maternity line

Jessica Simpson revealed on Friday that she plans to add a maternity line to her extremely successful fashion empire.

Simpson, who is expecting her first child in the spring, announced her plans while promoting her upcoming NBC reality competition series "Fashion Star," where she will serve as a mentor alongside Nicole Richie and John Varvatos on the show, which will be hosted by Elle Macpherson.

"The next thing you will see from the Jessica Simpson collection is maternity," Simpson said at NBC's Television Critics Association Winter Session panel for the series, according to Access Hollywood.

The singer said that she looks for comfort in the clothes she wears during her pregnancy, but isn't a fan of maternity wear in general.

"I definitely look at comfort, I buy bigger sizes," Simpson continued. "I haven't really gone to maternity clothes because I don't really love a lot of maternity stuff so I'm using it as a fun business thing to do."

Beyonce, who is also expecting her first child, announced in October that she also plans to launch a maternity line with her House of Dereon fashion collection.

Simpson, who said earlier in the week that her post-pregnancy goal is to look like her friend Jessica Alba, also opened up about her progress at the NBC event.

"I feel great. The pregnancy's going great. I'm just waddling around now," Simpson joked, according to Starpulse. "We're not saying the due date but it's in the spring so it's coming. I do want to be surprised [on the gender but], we've gone through all different kinds of names but we're pretty much set on our name so we'll see what happens."

Simpson, 31, has in recent years focused on her fashion endeavors. Her collections of apparel, perfume and other products, which are marketed to young women, have raked in about $1 billion in sales.

The singer launched her own line of diamond jewelry with Zales and also teamed up with celebrity aesthetician Nerida Joy to launch BeautyMint, an online portal that sells anti-aging skincare.

Simpson confirmed on October 31 that she and fiance Eric Johnson, 31, are expecting their first child. Simpson and Johnson began dating in May 2010 and announced the following November, after he finalized his divorce from his first wife, that they are engaged. No wedding date has been announced.

On "Fashion Star" newbie designers will compete for buyers like H&M and Macy's to get their designs on the market . The series is set to premiere on Tuesday, March 13 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

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