Jessica Simpson celebrates four years sober with raw Instagram post

Jessica Simpson has been candid about both her personal and career struggles in recent years and shared even more on her four-year sobriety anniversary this week. Simpson posted an "unrecognizable" photo of herself along with an honest Instagram caption on November 1. 

The photo offered a raw and intimate look at what her life looked like four years ago.

“This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017, is an unrecognizable version of myself," began the lengthy caption. "I had so much self-discovery to unlock and explore. 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.”

The songstress-turned-fashion-mogul continued: “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. I wanted to feel the pain so I could carry it like a badge of honor. I wanted to live as a leader does and break cycles to advance forward- never looking back with regret and remorse over any choice I have made and would make for the rest of my time here within this beautiful world.”

She notes that, universally, there is a lot of stigma associated with the terms "alcoholic" and "alcoholism" but she realized “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,” Simpson states, adding that she needed to accept the saddest parts of her life to overcome her demons and acknowledge her fears.

“I own my personal power with soulful courage. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free.”

At the time her memoir, Open Book, came out in early 2020, Jessica revealed to PEOPLE that childhood sexual abuse and career pressures led to her feeling immense emotional pain. It was that trauma that led her to self-medicate with alcohol and stimulants for numerous years. In her memoir and in multiple interviews at the time of its release, Jessica spoke candidly about the day her Instagram post depicts – the day after a Halloween party in 2017 when she says she hit rock bottom. 

One of the major factors that led to her sobriety journey was the realization that she wasn’t present in her everyday life, especially when it had to do with her children. She explained in an interview with The Today Show that her breaking point stemmed from not being able to celebrate Halloween with her children due to her substance abuse. At that moment, she realized that she “didn’t show up” for her family and she was putting on a show just for social media.

It seems since then Jessica has remained true to her commitment to sobriety both for herself and her loved ones and hopefully, her honesty will help those facing the same challenges.

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