Jessica Simpson gets candid about her alcohol struggles. Image Source: USA Today
Jessica Simpson is an American singer, actress, fashion designer, and author who with her debut studio album, “Sweet Kisses”, in 1999, she told two million copies in the United States and saw the commercial success of the single, “I Wanna Love You Forever”. Jessica Simpson recently shared a picture of her from 2017 on her social media where she reflects on her journey of getting sober over four years ago.
The picture was shared after an infamous Halloween debacle, during which Jessica Simpson drank all day and was too drunk to dress her kids in their costumes. That was what she has pinpointed as her rock bottom amid a battle with alcohol leading to her friends staging an intervention and her retiring the glittering cup of booze she used to drink from all day.
Jessica Simpson wrote in her post, "This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017, is an unrecognizable version of myself. I had so much self-discovery to unlock and explore. I knew in this very moment I would allow myself to take back my light, show victory over my internal battle of self-respect, and brave this world with piercing clarity. To do this, I needed to stop drinking alcohol because it kept my mind and heart circling in the same direction — and quite honestly, I was exhausted. I wanted to feel the pain, so I could carry it like a badge of honor. I wanted to live as a leader does and break cycles to advance forward — never looking back with regret and remorse over any choice I have made and would make for the rest of my time here within this beautiful world."
The singer stressed the fact that she can’t believe that it has been four years since she became sober, nothing that it feels like "maybe 2" years since making the big decision. Jessica Simpson further shared, "There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic. The real work that needed to be done in my life was to actually accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self-sabotage. I didn’t love myself. I didn’t respect my own power. Today I do. I have made nice with the fears, and I have accepted the parts of my life that are just sad. I own my personal power with soulful courage. Furthermore, I am wildly honest and comfortably open.” She lastly added, “I am free”.
Jessica Simpson shared with PEOPLE in January that she didn’t realize all the stuff she had to say until she actually connected to it through music and writing. She added, “So when I started to go through all the depth of the pain that I was experiencing, I realized I was pretty rock bottom.” In her memoir, “Open Book”, she recalled an instance that she and her husband, Eric Johnson, were on their way to a school assembly for their daughter, Maxwell. Simpson was in the passenger seat, and she said, “It was 7:30 in the morning, and I’d already had a drink”.
Jessica Simpson dressed up as her pal, country star Willie Nelson and her team glued a gray beard on her face and put on her wig, gray with long braids for the Halloween party she and Eric had at their house in the evening and she “zoned out.” When Eric asked her if she wanted to get the kids ready, she realized that she was not in any state to help her kids out. She added, “I was terrified of letting them see me in that shape. I am ashamed to say that I don’t know who got them into their costumes that night.” The singer mentioned that she took an Ambien to help her sleep, and the next morning she wrote that she slept in, afraid to see her and had failed them. Jessica shared that she hid until they left, and then she went back to drinking. Jessica Simpson’s close circle of friends came over, and she told them: “I need to stop. Something’s got to stop. And if it’s alcohol that’s doing this and making things worse, then I quit.”
According to the tabloid reports from around that time claimed that Eric Johnson was fed up with Simpson’s drinking and was considering ending their marriage over it. According to a reliable source, Star magazine at the time reported that the former football player was “tired of playing dad” to both her and their two kids. In a previous excerpt from the book, Jessica Simpson calls Eric Johnson a “selfless and loving person.” Simpson told People Magazine that while writing about the Halloween incident in her book, “I realized I was pretty rock bottom.”
Jessica’s friends gathered around her and mobilized to help her with her struggles and with a team of doctors, the support of her parents, and twice-weekly therapy, she started to face her anxiety and the emotional pain that had haunted her for years. It was revealed that much of her pain stemmed from the trauma of sexual abuse she had survived as a young girl. Pain that had often led her to reach for a drink. In her memoir, she writes, “This feeling of being alone and scared in the dark was one I’d had since I was abused as a child. It was a long, hard emotional journey.”
Eventually, Jessica Simpson found her way to heal up and now runs a billion-dollar clothing line and is present for her husband and their three kids; Maxwell, Ace, Birdie. She said, “I had room for so many wonderful moments that I would have missed: sober for the first time ever in my studio and seeing Maxwell grab a guitar. Ace in pajamas he put on himself, proudly adding a sticker to his bedtime chart. There’s just no better gift. There’s no better gift I can give my kids, there’s no better gift I can give my husband. More importantly, there’s no better gift I can give myself.”
Jessica Simpson and ex-husband, Nick Lachey. Image Source: Who Magazine
Jessica Simpson’s ex-husband, American singer, television personality and host, Nick Lachey has never read her memoir and is never going to read it. He said, “You’ll be shocked to hear that I have not — nor will I ever read that book. I obviously knew the book was coming out, but I lived the book, you know what I mean? I know what the truth is, so I don’t need to read it or read someone’s version of it in a story that I know. … I lived it. No, I never read it.” During his interview with Andy Cohen, Nick Lachey said, “Obviously I knew the book was coming out, but I lived the book. I know what the truth is, so I don't need to read it, read someone's version of it in a story."
Nick Lachey added, "I am thrilled to be where I am in life. That was 20 years ago. It's honestly the last thing on my mind these days except when someone brings it up... I understand why people want to ask, but it's just so not a part of my life anymore that it's not even on my radar. She is doing her thing, and I am doing mine, and that's the way it should be."
Jessica Simpson’s tell-all, which was released in February 2020, records the details of her childhood, rise to fame, and marriage to Nick Lachey, an emotional affair with Johnny Knoxville, and more. The couple (Jessica and Nick), who wed in 2002, called it quits in 2005 and finalized their divorce in 2006. She wrote in her memoir, “I wanted my marriage to look perfect. I didn’t mind if I looked dumb, but I wanted people to see the fairy tale in Nick. In us. I had the Instagram-girlfriend syndrome before it was a thing, and I wanted the world to see my husband in the best light because I was hopelessly in love with him.”
Earlier this year, the “Come on Over” songstress celebrated her 11th anniversary with her husband Eric Johnson. She took to her social media to showcase her love for her husband, "I knew the night we met, the fate of you locked the key to my searching heart and simply held my soul with love and honor. Then, now and for the rest of my life I am fully and always yours and you mine.” In her interview in February 2020, “In terms of my marriage to Eric, I have never felt more myself or freer. Eric and I have a true mind, body [and] soul connection”.
Jessica Simpson hoped that her memoir would inspire others who might be struggling with similar issues. She explained, “Sometimes the hard choice makes you feel alone, but it’s actually that same choice that will guide you to the future that you deserve. I hope my story — and my music — inspires people to break out of those patterns and expectations that others have put on them.”
