Growing up in the nick of time

She’s a pop singer, a pinup-worthy beauty and a paparazzi favorite, but Jessica Simpson insists she’s just “a normal girl.”

With her fifth album in stores, a new music video on the way and a new movie in theaters, “normal” might be a stretch.

At least in real life. On the big screen, she plays a very normal discount-store cashier in “Employee of the Month.”

The role is an intentional departure from her sexy stint as Daisy Duke in last year’s “Dukes of Hazzard.” But, says the 26-year-old starlet, it also represents a new grown-up chapter in her life as she learns to take charge of her career, her future and herself.

“I see a lot of change in my life right now,” she says. “I’m really grasping hold of what I want for the first time.”

Simpson says she never expected to become a movie star, but playing concerts around the globe and starring in the MTV reality show “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica” prepared her for the challenges of acting.

So far, she’s stuck to eye-candy roles that call for short shorts and cleavage-baring blouses. But it’s all part of her plan, she says.

“I haven’t wanted to take a lead role yet because I do want to learn,” Simpson says, adding that she’s happy to “take in that moment of just playing a straight-laced, normal, Midwestern all-American girl.”

To do that, Simpson says she had to “tone a lot down from Daisy Duke and from Jessica Simpson” – referring to the sexy bombshell image she’s cultivated since splitting from ex-husband Nick Lachey.

Simpson shot “Employee” during her divorce – a challenge in itself, she says.

“I was going through a really rough time in my life but it was good escapism. It was getting out of the world that I was in and getting into a world of being fought over by boys.”

It sounds similar to real life for Simpson, who has been linked with “Employee” co-star Dane Cook, “Hazzard” star Johnny Knoxville and most recently musician John Mayer.

She’ll film two movies before recording another album, she says. The first, called “Blonde Ambition,” stars Luke Wilson and begins shooting next month.

Simpson credits her family, especially her manager-dad Joe Simpson, with helping her juggle the demands of her dual career.

“I couldn’t do this without my father,” she says.

In the video for “A Public Affair,” the title track from her latest album, Simpson quips: “I want to be more famous than the Internet.”

What isn’t a joke, she says, is her second single, “I Belong to Me.”

“It wasn’t even going to be on my album because I was kind of afraid to sing the song,” Simpson says. “It’s a very powerful statement … about owning yourself and controlling yourself.

“It’s part of evolving, of growing up and becoming a woman.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Fyvush Finkel (“Boston Public”) is 84. Singer Jackson Browne is 58. TV personality Sharon Osbourne (“The Osbournes”) is 54. Actor Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”) is 53. Actor John O’Hurley (“Dancing With The Stars”) is 52. Actor Steve Burns (“Blue’s Clues”) is 33. Singer Sean Lennon is 31. Actor Zachery Ty Bryan (“Home Improvement”) is 25. Actor Tyler James Williams (“Everybody Hates Chris”) is 14.