In an excerpt published online by People from Jessica Simpson’s upcoming autobiography, Open Book, Jessica reveals that she was sexually abused by a family friend began when she was 6.
She writes that it started:
“When I shared a bed with the daughter of a family friend. It would start with tickling my back and then go into things that were extremely uncomfortable.”
“I wanted to tell my parents. I was the victim but somehow I felt in the wrong.”
The trauma, along with other pressures in her life, led her to self-medicate with alcohol and stimulants — a dependency that would later prompt her doctor to tell her her life was in danger.
“I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills.”
She got sober in November 2017 and hasn’t had a drink since.
“Giving up the alcohol was easy. I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb.”