Jessica Simpson, the pop star and fashion mogul, has reached a remarkable milestone in her personal journey. She recently celebrated six years of sobriety and shared a jarring throwback photo on her Instagram stories to show how far she has come.
A Journey of Triumph and Self-Discovery
The photo, which was taken on November 1, 2017, shows Simpson sitting alone on a couch, looking lost and unhappy. She captioned it, “6 years ago today.” She originally posted the photo in 2021, when she marked four years of being sober. In the caption, she wrote that the person in the photo was “an unrecognizable version of myself” and that she had “so much self-discovery to unlock and explore.”
She explained that she decided to stop drinking alcohol because it kept her mind and heart circling in the same direction and that she was exhausted. She wanted to feel the pain and own her personal power with soulful courage. She also addressed the stigma around the word “alcoholic” and said that the real work that needed to be done was to accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self-sabotage.
“Today I do. I have made nice with the fears and I have accepted the parts of my life that are just sad. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free,” she concluded.
A Candid Memoir and a New Outlook on Life
Simpson opened up about her struggles with alcohol and pills in her 2020 memoir, Open Book, where she revealed that she had a “glitter cup” that she kept filled with booze. She also shared the turning point that led her to seek help from her friends and family. She recalled that she had drinks at a Halloween party in 2017 and did not feel up to helping her kids get into their costumes, so she hid. She took an Ambien, slept in the next morning, and drank again.
“When I finally said I needed help, it was like I was that little girl that found her calling in life again,” she told People in 2020.
Since then, Simpson has embraced a new outlook on life and has focused on her health, her family, and her business. She is married to former NFL player Eric Johnson and they have three children: Maxwell, Ace, and Birdie. She also runs a successful fashion empire that includes clothing, shoes, accessories, and fragrances.
She often posts photos and videos of her happy moments with her loved ones on her Instagram account, where she has over 6 million followers. On Thursday, she shared a photo of her and her daughter Maxi, writing, “Choose to be kind today because you never know how much someone might need it.”
