Jessica Simpson is known for her chart-topping pop hits of the early aughts, her billion dollar fashion brand, and her two high-profile marriages—first to singer Nick Lachey and now to former-NFL player Eric Johnson. Yet in recent years, the blonde bombshell has made headlines for something even more personal: her history of addiction and her path to recovery.
Now five years sober, the star recently got candid on social media about how that journey has changed her to her core. Read on to learn "the most important thing" she's learned since committing to recovery, and the piece of advice she's now sharing with others.
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Simpson struggled with addiction for years.
In her bestselling 2020 memoir, Open Book, Simpson got real about her longtime battle with addiction. "I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills," she revealed of those difficult years. The star says her substance abuse began as the result of childhood trauma, the pressures of her career, and the painful scrutiny of living in the public eye. Eager to escape those realities, her drinking and drug addiction allowed her "to stay complacent and numb," she wrote in the book.
Simpson recalls that she realized she had hit "rock bottom" after a Halloween party in 2017, having begun drinking at 7:30 in the morning. Unable to dress her children in their costumes and afraid that they would see her so intoxicated, the star wrote that she "hid until they left, then drank."
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She committed to her recovery in 2017, she says.
After the Halloween party, the With You singer confided in her friends that she knew she had a problem. She remembers telling them: "I need to stop. Something's got to stop. And if it's the alcohol that's doing this, and making things worse, then I quit."
Simpson later took to Instagram to get candid about her sobriety journey. Captioning a photo of her she describes as "unrecognizable," she reflected on the day she committed herself to recovery. "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," she wrote. "Personally, 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."
This is the "most important thing" she's learned from her sobriety.
For Simpson, ending her substance abuse was just one facet of her recovery. Equally important was her "long, hard, deep emotional journey," which helped her find strength in a newfound sense of self worth.
In a Nov. 6 Instagram post, she explained that learning to "block out destructive noise"—especially from social media—was crucial to her healing. Having made that realization, she had another epiphany, which she called "the most important thing" she's learned in her five years without pills and alcohol: that she is strong, and she can succeed in her sobriety. "I CAN and ALWAYS WILL get through it. I am capable of pretty much anything I care enough about to put my mind to. I am present. I am deeply inspired. I am determined. I am honest. I care about other people," she wrote.
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She's now sharing this advice with her fans.
Now more confident in herself after recovery, Simpson is determined to help shed light on the underlying causes of addiction.
"There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic," she shared via Instagram. "The real work that needed to be done in my life was to actually accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self sabotage. The drinking wasn't the issue. I was. 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. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free."
For those still battling those inner demons, she shared this hard-won piece of advice: "Live inside your dreams and move through them. Don't give up on yourself because someone else did. Stay true to YOU. It has worked for me in this chaotic life thus far. Nothin' and nobody will rob me of my joy. Ya might come close but it is mine to own. Yours should be too."
Lauren Gray Lauren Gray is a New York-based writer, editor, and consultant.Read moreFiled UnderCelebrities • Health Advice • NewsRead This Next4 Signs of Addiction You Can Easily Miss
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