Jessica Simpson has spoken openly about her struggle with alcoholism, performing a previously unreleased song on stage this week.
The 45-year-old star performed the song "Give It All Away" during a concert at the Yaamawah Resort and Casino in California on Monday, and before the performance she spoke in detail about her struggles with alcohol, noting that it is what her new song is about.
"Drinking caused me even more pain"
"I realized that alcohol wasn't relieving my pain, it was actually making it worse," she told the audience via video.
"Honestly, I'm still in the process and I celebrate every day that I feel alive and present in my own body. I'm so proud of myself," she added. "I felt like this was the right time to share this song with you. I want you all to know that you have to be gentle with yourself and that everything will be okay if you just let yourself go. That's what this song is about."
Eight years of sobriety
Jessica has been very open about her struggles and journey to sobriety in the past. Last November, she celebrated her eighth anniversary of sobriety. To mark the occasion, she posted a selfie on Instagram and spoke about the role alcohol once played in her life, but also how choosing faith over fear changed everything.
“Eight years ago today, I decided to confront, acknowledge, and let go of the self-destructive parts of my life that I had chosen,” she wrote. “That decision allowed me to live fully in pursuit of God’s purpose for my life. Alcohol stifled my intuition, blocked my dreams, and fed constant fears of giving in,” she continued, adding, “Today I have a clear mind. Today I am guided by faith.”
"Both fear and faith are feelings that we may not see, but we certainly feel. I am happy that I chose faith over fear. I did not find strength in fighting, but in surrendering," she concluded.
Creativity unlocked by sobriety
Simpson, who announced in January 2025 that she was divorcing her husband Eric Johnson, with whom she has three children, has also spoken openly about how important sobriety is for her in rekindling her creativity.
"I started drinking too much in 2016, when I started writing music again, and it took me to dark places and made me feel sorry for myself," she told People magazine. "I don't know why I wanted to feel sorry for myself, except that the alcohol was lying to me and telling me, 'You're braver because you can say that when I'm with you.'"
"That feeling wasn't real," she added. "In fact, I'm much more honest without alcohol and I trust myself a lot more without it. Personally, I feel like alcohol has silenced my emotions. Instead of facing them, dealing with them, and moving through them, I just leave them alone."
Childhood trauma as a cause
In her memoir, the star also revealed that she was sexually abused as a child and that the emotional trauma was one of the reasons she later sought solace in alcohol and pills. At one point, she realized that she was "killing herself with all that drinking and pills."
"Quitting alcohol was easy. I was angry at that bottle, at how it allowed me to remain numb. Therapy wasn't so easy. Working on myself, I allowed myself to feel the traumas I had experienced," she wrote.
Jessica has spoken out about the abuse she suffered from a family friend starting at the age of six. "It happened when I was sharing a bed with a family friend's daughter," she wrote in an excerpt published in People. "It started with tickling on my back, and then it escalated into something that was extremely uncomfortable for me."
“I wanted to tell my parents. I was a victim, but I felt kind of guilty,” she said. She didn’t confide in her parents, Tina and Joe Simpson, until six years later, when she was 12, during a car ride. She remembered her mother slapping her father on the arm and saying, “I told you something was going on.”
“Dad looked down the road and didn’t say a word,” she said. “We never stayed at those family friends’ houses again, but we never talked about what I said again.”
Respond to rumors
In August 2024, Jessica denied claims that she had been drinking again after an Instagram commenter questioned her sobriety. After boasting about her shared love of lottery tickets with her son Ace, one follower accused her of drinking, writing: "STOP DRINKING!"
Jessica quickly replied: "I haven't craved alcohol or touched it since October 2017 and it was the best decision I've made for myself and my family. Thank you for your concern, but you're completely wrong. Sending you love."
