Jessica Simpson just notched her first No.-1 country album - but she also wants to give herself props having Tony Romo as the love of her life.

“Tony is a great quarterback, but he’s a better boyfriend,” Simpson, 28, told PEOPLE at a Nina’s Night Out, a benefit for the Rape Crisis Center at the Palms Casino Resort’s Pearl Theatre in Las Vegas on Thursday. “I’m seriously proud of myself for letting him into my life.”

Romo “was my Monday this week,” joked Simpson, in reference to her song about him, “You’re My Sunday,” and the Dallas Cowboys’ huge win over the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN’s Monday Night Football a few days ago.

“Through all the chaos and torment and everything I go through, I can lay in his arms and finally rest,” she added.

Having her cuddled up next to him isn’t always such a relief, admitted Simpson.

“To be my man, you have to put up with a lot,” said the singer. “I toot under the sheets, I spend a lot of money and I can belch the ABC’s.”

On Forgetting Lyrics

During her 70-minute set featuring her album, Do You Know, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s country music chart this week, Simpson forgot the lyrics to one of her best-known pop songs, “With You.”

“I did the same thing on Good Morning America,” said an apologetic Simpson, referring to her tech-challenged TV spot before starting the song over again.

Afterwards, she said, “I’ve been singing that song for about 70 years and I forgot the lyrics. At least you guys knew them.”

Simpson continues her hectic promotional schedule, when she performs this weekend at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, Calif.

“I’ve been to 12 states in the past week,” she said. “I’m exhausted, but it’s worth it. I can’t believe I have the No. 1 album in country right now.”

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Jessica Simpson: newly minted country star - and women’s rights supporter.

The singer, 28, plans to perform songs from her new album Do You Know (which just hit No. 1 on the country chart) at the Nina’s Night Out concert in Las Vegas Thursday night. The show, which raises money for the Rape Crisis Center in Las Vegas, will be held at The Palms’ Pearl Theater.

“I think this will be a more passionate performance than most,” Simpson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It’s important to make a stand for women’s rights. If I can get up there and be any inspiration to women, I am blessed to have that opportunity.”

“The great thing about Nina’s Night Out is it’s a message of prevention,” says Simpson. “I think it’s important as a woman to lend a hand to other women and just try to encourage people that everything’s going to be okay.”

Jessica Simpson has a theory about why she’s been blamed for “jinxing” the Dallas Cowboys: the color pink.

Last year Simpson, 28, was nicknamed “Yoko Romo” by Cowboys fans who believed she’s bad luck to boyfriend Tony Romo’s football performance. On Thursday night, she told David Letterman that she’ll never again wear her pink No.9 jersey to games.

Referring to the “jinx drama”, Jessica said: “I really think it’s because I was wearing a pink No. 9 jersey and not a blue one.”

“If you had been in blue that wouldn’t be a problem?” asked Letterman.

“Well so far I’ve been wearing blue, and they’re doing great,” Jessica answered. “I’ll never wear a pink one again!”

“I think Tony always performs well,” she said, defending her quarterback beau’s football prowess. When the audience gasped at the sexual double meaning, the singer made a surprised expression and laughed.

Letterman retorted, “that’s not why I’m here, okay?”

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Forget about Triple-A. Got a flat? Call Tony Romo!

Known for his heroics on the football field, the Dallas Cowboy star played hero to Bill and Sharon White on September 7, when the two found themselves stranded with a flat tire.

The Irving, Texas, couple were trying in vain to mend the tire when Romo - fresh off a flight from Cleveland where he and his team had beaten the Browns earlier in the day - pulled up.

“All of a sudden I hear a voice say, ‘Do you need help?’” Sharon, 53, tells PEOPLE.

Without realizing it was Jessica Simpson’s who had come to their aid, the couple and the football star went at the flat tire together. After fiddling with the air compressor switch on the car jack, the tire inflated.

“I just screamed as loud as I could,” Sharon says. “Then I grabbed him and hugged him.”

Her husband Bill, 61, who had missed the Dallas-Cleveland game while on the road, asked Romo what had happened to his bandaged chin. When Romo started explaining, “I stopped him and said, ‘Don’t tell me! I don’t want to know!” says Bill, who had recorded the game at home.

With the situation under control, Romo left the scene. But the starstruck Whites realized they’d forgotten to say thank you.

Now, if she had the chance, “I’d thank %26#91;Tony%26#93; so much for stopping,” Sharon says. “I love him to death, he’s a great guy. And I hope I didn’t bust his eardrum!”

She made it through her new single “Come On Over” with no trouble, but Jessica Simpson hit a bump in the road during her second song Tuesday on Good Morning America.

On the morning show to promote her country crossover album Do You Know, in stores Tuesday morning, the pop star began her second song, “With You,” only to abruptly stop it after singing the opening line. Simpson blamed the do-over on a technical glitch.

“Hold on,” a good-natured Simpson said. “I know this is live TV, but I can’t hear anything. Do it again.”

With that, her band began again and Simpson started singing, missing a line or two, but otherwise delivering it mishap-free.

“It’s just a natural place for me,” she said of country music. “I’ve always been a country girl, so it feels good being on stage and being myself.”

Happier personally and professionally than she’s been in a long time, Jessica Simpson tells PEOPLE that boyfriend Tony Romo is her “perfect guy.”

“I just told him today, ‘You’re the love of my life,’ ” she confesses in the latest cover story. “I don’t really ever say that to anybody.”

Simpson, 28 (as is Dallas Cowboys quarterback Romo), also co-wrote a song for her man, “You’re My Sunday” and, in a true modern-day sign of devotion, changed her cell phone number and e-mail address to cut off any potential communication from her exes.

“I don’t want anybody that’s been in my life %26#91;before%26#93; in my life anymore,” she says. “I don’t even want them to have any way of contacting me.”

As for her own onetime relationship with John Mayer - which began in 2006 and fizzled out last summer - Simpson survived its rockiness by doing some self-appraisal afterwards.

“I had to regain self-esteem and self-value,” she says.

When it comes to relationships, Simpson says she gives over her heart fully and expects the same in return: “I just love, so I don’t understand when people can’t do exactly what I do.”

For the complete story on Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo - including why she needs a secure man in her life and her hopes for kids and a family - pick up this week’s PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

Jessica Simpson: singer, actress, designer - beer spokeswoman?

Simpson, 27, is now the face of Stampede Light Plus, a beer made by Dallas’s Stampede Brewing Co., that includes vitamins, reports the Associated Press. She’ll appear in store ads for the beer and will take a 15 percent stake in the brewer.

In a statement, Simpson said that as an entrepreneur, she is “always looking for ways to diversify my portfolio with good ideas and good people.”

“Yes, I work out and take care of myself,” she added, “but I also like a cold beer once in a while.” Bottoms up!
- Rennie Dyball

Jessica Simpson’s country music career is just kicking off, but she already has plenty of material for songs about bad boys, heartbreak and a romantic Cowboy.

Promoting her new album, Do You Know, in the September issue of Elle, Simpson, 28, says she has found happiness with her Dallas Cowboys quarterback boyfriend Tony Romo, 27, but admits the journey wasn’t easy.

“I was going through a lot of pain,” she says of life after her split from ex-husband Nick Lachey, 34, in 2005. “I didn’t try anything to change my life other than dating different types of guys and conforming to their worlds. I thought I had to be artsier, more intellectual.”

“John believed in the Jessica Simpson that’s within,” she tells the magazine. “He cherished our love. He helped make me the woman I am today. John is going to be an amazing man for someone, but I know that I was supposed to be with someone else.”

Simpson says Romo is different from all of her exes. “Most of the guys I dated were captivated by my heart but they had different ways of trying to get to me. Tony understands me. He appreciates my talent. He’s the first person I’ve spiritually connected with. I’m a girl that loves to be in love,” she gushes. “I love love!”

Still, not all of her tunes are happy ones: “Remember That” is about an abusive relationship. “There’s nothing on my album that you’re gonna hear that I don’t relate to or that I haven’t experienced,” she says. “Because the only way I know how to sing is from life experience. I don’t want to talk about it, but I have definitely experienced abuse in a way that I would tell people to take their heart and run.”

But things are good with Romo. While performing at a recent country music festival, she dedicated her new song “You’re My Sunday” to the QB, who is supportive of her new musical direction. “It’s the cutest thing,” she says. “He’ll say, ‘Jessica, 75 percent of the comments about your new single %26#91;’Come On Over’%26#93; are favorable.’”

Jessica Simpson has revealed her new album cover in on her official Web site.

The singer’s next record, Do You Know, is set to be released Sept. 9. On the album’s cover, the Texas native dons a worn pair of brown cowboy boots, a whimsical white dress - and her signature pout.

Simpson has said that some people have been skeptical about her decision to to go country on her new album, but fans have posted blog comments on her MySpace page responding positively to her upcoming release. “You’re going to be an amazing country singer, no matter what anyone says,” writes one fan. “I can’t hardly wait!” says another fan. “I’m counting down the days.”
- Jessica Herndon

Jessica Simpson broke down in tears as she performed at a country music festival in Wisconsin on Saturday night.

Playing to a crowd of several thousand - including boyfriend Tony Romo - at Country Thunder USA, Simpson told fans, “This is my first time being onstage in three years. Coming out tonight makes me extremely emotional, I’m so thankful for all of the personal struggles and all of the tabloids and all of the people that talk s—,” she continued, choking back tears. “I’m so happy I went through that because it makes life so much more beautiful.”

Simpson even dedicated a song to Romo, “You’re My Sunday.” “Tonight there’s this guy here, he throws a football and he’s really good at it, he’s my better tomorrow and I wrote this song for him,” she told the crowd.

She also addressed the difficulties surrounding her fame. “Any man that is going to date me has to put up with a lot,” she said.

Other audience members were more positive. “I actually like her country songs better,” said Mary Grace, 24. “She has a great voice, plus, she’s adorable.”

Talking into the mic, Simpson said, “I don’t know what your perception is of Jessica Simpson or what tabloid you buy, but I just want you to know that I’m just a girl from Texas; I’m just like you. I’m doing what I love and dating a boy.”

The Texas native, 28, is trying to cross over into a country career with her new single “Come On Over.” The song is at No. 23 on this week’s Billboard country singles chart. Her country album, Do You Know?, is due Sept. 9.

Simpson opened with a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” and sang covers of Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and Shania Twain’s “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”

Simpson’s rep, Cindi Berger, tells PEOPLE that the singer felt “fantastic” about the show. “She loves getting out there and performing and being with her fans. She felt at home with country fans and the other country artists who were there.”

After Romo and friends hung out on Simpson’s bus after the concert, he and Simpson climbed into an SUV and headed out together.

• Reporting by K.C. BAKER