Jessica Simpson: "I Was Killing Myself With Drinking And Pills"
Posted on Wed Jan 22nd, 2020 9:39am PDT By X17 Staff
Whoa! Remember when everyone freaked out about Jessica Simpson's bizarre few interviews a few years back -- on the red carpet with Extra when she was speaking incoherently, and another clip from a morning show in which she seemed totally out of it? Well the singer/actress/designer/entrepreneur is explaining it all in her new memoir Open Book.
In the autobiography, Simpson reveals she turned to drinking and pills to deal with the trauma she is still suffering from sexual abuse that happened during her childhood. “I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills,†she writes. But now she's been sober since November 2017. She writes, "“Giving up the alcohol was easy. I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb.â€
Jess explains the abuse came from a female family friend when she was six years old: "“... when I shared a bed with the daughter of a family friend. It would start with tickling my back and then go into things that were extremely uncomfortable.†She goes on to explain why she didn't tell anyone: "“I wanted to tell my parents. I was the victim but somehow I felt in the wrong.â€
She finally told her parents six years after the abuse began. Simpson remembers her mom slapping her dad's arm and saying, "I knew something was happening." The family never addressed it further but also never went to that family friend's house again.
It's been a long journey, she says, but she's come to a place of healing after deciding in 2017 to stop drinking. Her friends and family rallied around her and she hasn't looked back. The work hasn't been easy, though -- in her audio book she talks more about the work it's taken: "“It’s been a long hard deep emotional journey -- one that I’ve come through the other side with pure happiness and fulfillment and acceptance of myself. I’ve used my pain and turned it into something that can be beautiful and hopefully inspiring to people.â€
Jessica's releasing six new songs along with the audio book, which tell her story. The book's release is set for Feb. 4.