Jessica Simpson says she was sexually abused as a child

Jessica Simpson has revealed she was sexually abused as a child and that the emotional trauma was among the factors that later led to her self-medicating with alcohol and pills.

The 39-year old singer opened up about the abuse by a family friend in her upcoming memoir Open Book. 

‘(It happened) when I shared a bed with the daughter of a family friend,’ Simpson wrote in an excerpt of the memoir published by People. 

‘It would start with tickling my back and then go into things that were extremely uncomfortable.’ 

Simpson said the abuse started when she was six years old and that she kept it secret for several years.

‘I wanted to tell my parents… I was the victim but somehow I felt in the wrong,’ Simpson said. 

She told her parents, Tina and Joe Simpson, six years after the abuse began. 

Simpson recalls being in the car with her parents on a trip when she told them about what had happened to her. 

She remembers her mother slapping her dad’s arm and saying: ‘I told you something was happening’.

‘Dad kept his eye on the road and said nothing,’ she said. 

‘We never stayed at my parents’ friends house again but we also didn’t talk about what I had said.’ 

Simpson said the abuse, as well as career pressures, later contributed to her abusing alcohol and pills in a bid to cope with the emotional pain.

‘I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills,’ she said.  

She said she buried her anxiety as her singing career took off and her three-year marriage to Nick Lachey was documented on reality TV show Newlyweds. 

Simpson (pictured above as a child and teen) said the abuse started when she was six years old and that she kept it secret for several years

Simpson went on to marry her second husband Eric Johnson in 2014 and they have now have three children together

Only her close friends and family knew of the abuse, she said.

Simpson went on to marry her second husband Eric Johnson in 2014 and they have now have three children together.

In her memoir, Simpson said she hit rock bottom in 2017 after a Halloween party at their family home.

She recalls telling her friends: ‘I need to stop. Something’s got to stop. And if it’s the alcohol that’s doing this, and making things worse, then I quit.’

Simpson said she went to therapy twice a week and has been sober since that day.

‘When I finally said I needed help, it was like I was that little girl that found her calling again in life,’ she said.

‘I found direction and that was to walk straight ahead with no fear.

‘With work, I allowed myself to feel the traumas I’d been through. 

‘It’s been a long hard deep emotional journey one that I’ve come through the other side with pure happiness and fulfillment and acceptance of myself. I’ve used my pain and turned it into something that can be beautiful and hopefully inspiring to people.’ 

Simpson is pictured above with two of her children and signed copies of her upcoming memoir Open Book

Simpson said the abuse, as well as career pressures, later contributed to her abusing alcohol and pills. She said she buried her anxiety as her singing career took off and her three-year marriage to Nick Lachey (above) was documented on reality TV show Newlyweds