Four years ago, Jessica Simpson’s life was a living hell. She lived every day devoted to alcohol and pills and became addicted to the substances. Fortunately, the singer and movie star was able to shake her addiction and get clean for the sake of her family and her own wellbeing. Now, the 41-year-old star is sharing images of herself from four years ago when she was at rock bottom during the worst days of her addiction.
The image of Simpson shows the blonde in an unrecognizable state. Her face is bloated, and she has a dazed look on her face. She’s wearing a pink warmup tracksuit and is sitting down in a dark room. It is not clear if she was high on drugs or drunk on alcohol at the time of the photo, but the singer confessed that she was deep in her battle with addiction at the time the photo was snapped.
“This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017, is an unrecognizable version of myself,” Simpson said of the photo. She is currently promoting her new memoir, Open Book, which details the trials and tribulations Simpson went through to overcome the grip of her addiction.
“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.”
Simpson’s addiction to alcohol kept her trapped in a cycle. She would drink until she was intoxicated and then fall asleep. When she woke up, she would do it all again. She was stuck in the same cycle, day after day, and she knew that it was going to kill her if she didn’t fix the problem and overcome her addiction to booze.
“And quite honestly, I was exhausted,” Simpson admitted.
However, Simpson wanted to feel her pain because she could “carry it like a badge of honor.” However, it was not an honorable thing, but something that was tearing her family apart.
Eventually, Simpson decided that something had to change. It was up to her to “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.”
Simpson managed to stop drinking four years ago. She can’t believe it has been that many years.
“It feels like maybe two. I think that is a good thing. Ha.”
Simpson did not have to just fight against the addiction itself, but the stigma around it. She knew she would be labeled an alcoholic and an addict and had to come to grips with what it meant to her.
“The real work that needed to be done in my life was to actually accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self-sabotage.”
She added, “The drinking wasn’t the issue. I was. I didn’t love myself. I didn’t respect my own power. Today I do.”
Simpson is married to her husband, Eric Johnson. The pair share children together, including two daughters, nine-year-old Maxwell and two-year-old Birdie. They also have a son, Ace, eight.