Jessica Simpson’s Struggles With Addiction, and How She Overcame It

It’s no secret that singer Jessica Simpson has experienced some major highs and some pretty tough lows. Her 2006 divorce from Nick Lachey (they separated in 2005) wasn’t easy to bounce back from. On top of that, she faced public struggles with her weight, challenges in the music industry, and even lost control of her clothing brand, the Jessica Simpson Collection, though she later was able to reclaim it. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Jessica also had to deal with issues that developed within, stemming from childhood trauma. Those early experiences only added to the mental struggles she later faced from the stress her career brought with it (because being one of the best pop/country singers isn’t easy!). To cope with the emotional pain and stress, she turned to pills and alcohol, eventually developing an addiction. Let’s dive into this sensitive topic the singer has bravely opened up about.

As a way to cope with the emotional and general life stressors she faced during the earlier parts of her career, Jessica Simpson turned to pills and alcohol to suppress the pain, something that eventually developed into a years-long addiction.

In her 2020 memoir Open Book, Jessica revealed that she had been sexually abused as a child, starting when she was just six years old. During a sit-down interview with Today’s Hoda Kotb, she shared that the abuse came from the daughter of a family friend and would happen during sleepovers at their house. “It would start with tickling my back and then go into things that were extremely uncomfortable,” she said, per People, who previewed an excerpt from the memoir ahead of its release.

In the book, Jessica noted that the abuse continued until she was 12, when she finally told her parents what had been going on. While she says her parents didn’t exactly talk about it, they did take action, and she never had another sleepover again. But the damage was already done. That trauma led to emotional pain that she later tried to numb with stimulants and alcohol.

She also turned to diet pills, which she began taking early in her career after being advised to lose weight. That led to a dependency that lasted for 20 years.

While many didn’t know what Jessica had been dealing with privately, something that only became harder as a public figure constantly under pressure to meet societal expectations, her drinking eventually became harder to hide.

During her May 2017 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she had a vulnerable moment and appeared on the show intoxicated. But by Halloween 2017, she had had enough.

While it can be difficult to break an addiction, especially to pills and alcohol, Jessica realized she needed to turn her life around the day after Halloween in 2017. During her interview with Hoda, she admitted that she had been drinking constantly that day, starting at 7 am. And even though she shared photos online that painted a picture of a wholesome, family-oriented day, she was drunk.

As the day went on, she kept drinking, to the point where she says she wasn’t even able to get her kids ready or go trick-or-treating with them. In fact, she doesn’t even know who got them dressed. The next day, she woke up and realized that was her wake-up call.

She wanted to be more present, for her kids and for herself. So, she stopped drinking and immediately began working with a therapist. Now, with over seven years of sobriety under her belt, she says she couldn’t be happier as it allows her to be fully present in each and every moment.