Jessica Simpson marked 7 years of sobriety with a poignant post to commemorate the milestone.
Taking to social media on Friday, November 1, the singer, 44, shared a black-and-white photo via Instagram of herself looking out a plane window.
“7yrs ago today I walked myself into the light of being alcohol free 🤍,” she captioned the image.
Well-wishers flocked to the comments section to applaud Simpson for the post, including actor John Stamos, who wrote, “Bravo.”
Fans also congratulated the “I Wanna Love You Forever” singer on her sobriety achievement.
“Congrats on 7 years queen!!!! It’s a beautiful life 🌻” wrote one follower, while another added, “You will never know how many women you inspired to do the same @jessicasimpson !!!! Thank you for sharing your vulnerability, your strength, your hope, your passion, your joy, and your FREEDOM…happy 7!!! 🎂”
The singer previously opened about how she became reliant on alcohol as a way to cope with her past trauma, including childhood sexual abuse.
Simpson recalled in a revealing interview on Today in January 2020 that she knew the problem had become a huge issue in October 2017 when she failed to show up for her kids on Halloween. (Simpson shares Maxwell, Ace, and Birdie, with husband Eric Johnson).
“I honestly couldn’t even tell you who got them ready. I was just dazed and confused, and I just wanted to go to sleep,” Simpson said on Today. “I didn’t take them trick-or-treating. I didn’t show up for my family. I took the picture and I made the world think that I showed up.”
The incident became the catalyst for Simpson to make the decision to quit drinking for good and start working with a therapist.
“I just realized that I had to surrender,” she told Today host Hoda Kotb. “I just want to continue on the path that I’m on, and at this point in my life, I’m strong enough to deal with anything that comes my way. Because I don’t have something to retreat to that will numb me from actually going through it.”
She added: “I had started a spiral and I couldn’t catch up with myself … and that was with alcohol. Every day I would say it, ‘I’ll stop soon. I’ll cut back.’”
Since then, Simpson has marked each anniversary of her sobriety with a post shared via Instagram, including in 2021 when she shared a photo of herself in 2017 and a lengthy caption reflecting on how far she had come since putting down the bottle.
“This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017 is an unrecognizable version of myself. 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,” she wrote. “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.
I can’t believe it has been 4yrs! It feels like maybe 2. I think that is a good thing. Ha.”
Simpson concluded: “There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic. 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. I have made nice with the fears and I have accepted the parts of my life that are just sad. I own my personal power with soulful courage. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free.”
