Today—November 1, 2021—marks four years of sobriety for Jessica Simpson, and she celebrated the milestone with an Instagram showing an “unrecognizable version” of herself from 2017. In the caption, she reflects on the “internal battle” she continues to work hard to overcome and speaks candidly about the stigma around the label of being an alcoholic. 

“This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017 is an unrecognizable version of myself,” the singer and actor wrote in the Instagram 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. 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 continued, “I can’t believe it has been 4 yrs! It feels like maybe 2. I think that is a good thing. Ha. 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.” 

Simpson also opened up about how much progress she has made in those four years. “The drinking wasn’t the issue,” she wrote in her caption. “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.”

Simpson was also open about this facet of her life in her 2020 tell-all memoir, Open Book. “I think it’s important for people to know that what I did, giving up alcohol, was seriously the easy part for me,” she told Glamour in a cover story timed to the book’s release.

“The hard part was breaking down the reasons why,” she continued. “The reasons why alcohol was my crutch. You know because people are like, ‘Are you an alcoholic?’ It’s like, No, I had a drinking problem. I don’t identify with that. I needed to slow down and I needed to, like, feel things again because there were so many moments that were passing me by. That I wasn’t, like, grasping and enjoying. When your kids are growing up, you only have it for that amount of time, and I just saw my whole life flash before my eyes.”

Rosey Blair, whom BuzzFeed refers to as a plus-size lifestyle blogger and size-inclusive consultant, confessed something interesting on TikTok in early April: After those photos of Jessica Simpson in high-waisted jeans went viral in 2009, she thought the singer was fat. 

“I want you to sit back and really think about how you felt when you saw these pictures,” she told her followers. “I’m about to roast myself. When I saw that picture of Jessica, I thought, ‘Ooh, boy; she’s disgusting’—because I was manipulated by the media.” 

If I’m being completely honest, I thought the same thing. And I’m ashamed to admit it—especially as someone who grew up chubby and now identifies as fat. But it’s true: When those photos of Jessica Simpson came out, I also remember feeling a certain kind of way. I bet you did, too. 

This is exactly what Blair is highlighting in a recent string of viral TikToks: that in the ‘90s and early-aughts, the media’s coverage of women’s bodies was so toxic and pervasive, we internalized those messages. We believed them—despite our better judgment. 

At this point, we all know pre-2015 media was often racist, sexist, and fatphobic. That’s not exactly a novel concept. What is interesting, though, is recalling our own opinions during those pre-enlightened times. They probably weren’t great. 

I’m a diehard Britney Spears fan, and even I remember reading the coverage surrounding her 2007 MTV VMAs performance and thinking, “Oof.”

Think back to when these Tyra Banks bathing suit photos were released, or all the coverage surrounding Kate Winslet’s body in Titanic. Were your opinions empathetic? Were they informed? Or were you simply believing what the tabloids—then pervasive and our only access to pop-culture—were telling us? That these women’s bodies were wrong? 

Let me make one thing clear. It doesn’t matter if these celebrities were a size 4 or 24, there should’ve never been discourse around their bodies. Point-blank, end of sentence. But the fact all these women were straight-size when they received this backlash just speaks to the warped times we lived in. Jessica Simpson was a size four when she wore those jeans. A size four! 

Yet still The Boston Herald allegedly called her “porky.” Fox News reportedly said she had a “noticeably fuller figure.” Those were the only messages we were receiving—and when you hear something enough times, especially when there’s no contrasting opinion, you start to believe it. This explains why an entire generation of women grew up idolizing the “heroin chic” models of the ’90s and the Nicole Richie-and-company socialites of the 2000s. Everything else was ridiculed. 

Which is…ridiculous. I don’t have to tell you that. But Blair’s TikToks are a reminder that if you grew up with a distorted self-image (or still have one), it’s not your fault. And remember: It takes years to untangle these messages. I’m just glad we now exist in a world that’s helping us do that—well, at least more than it was in 2007.  

I think we can all agree that anyone would be lucky to date Jessica Simpson, right?

Well, apparently, there were some people in Hollywood who were told to keep their distance from the singer, actor, and business mogul following her divorce from Nick Lachey in 2005. In a pretty juicy interview with Drew Barrymore, Simpson explained that publicists were warning off their clients.

“I had my list and I checked my list off as if I was a dude or something, but I felt like any time it started to get a little bit serious, I was the person to run from,” she told Barrymore during a recent appearance on her show. “Because every guy would be listening to their publicist who would be like, ‘Stay away. Stay away. You will never be a respected actor, you’ll never be a respected musician if you’re dating her. But that was back in the day—at least that was the excuse I heard.”

Obviously, not everyone was so easily scared away. Simpson told Barrymore that she actually dated a few musicians that she was able to keep from the press. “Well, I have dated some—a couple of musicians…Some under the radar that people don’t know about,” she said, coyly. “We like to keep some secrets.” 

Of course, there was also Simpson’s well-known relationship with musician John Mayer from 2006 to 2007. “It was a relationship that was a yo-yo; it was always back and forth. To feel wanted and then to be shut out, and to feel wanted, to be completely shut out,” the Open Book author told Glamour in 2020. “My advice is to pick up on those signs. If there have been three breakups, stop it there. There can’t be 9 to 10, because that’s immature. That’s not love. If you’re actually in love, you’re not going to give up.”

Obviously, Jessica Simpson is now happily married to former NFL player Eric Johnson, with whom she shares three children: Birdie Mae, Ace Knute, and Maxwell Drew. Everything clearly worked out for the best. 

Watch the full conversation from The Drew Barrymore Show, below.

---

Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears faced similar treatment from the media in the 2000s. Both were mocked—unmercifully and unfairly—by the press for their fashion choices, personal lives, and private struggles. So it’s not really surprising Simpson wouldn’t want to watch Framing Britney Spears, the New York Times documentary that outlined Spears’s conservatorship and revisited early 2000s media culture. It probably would hit too close to home. 

“I honestly choose not to watch the documentary,” she told People. “I didn’t want to watch and bring back any of the dark pieces of my personal coming of age in the music business. I have worked through a lot and want to keep moving forward in my own story on my own path.”

That being said, Simpson added, “I admire [Spears’s] ambition, strength, and the capability to live unapologetically and authentically.” She’s also “happy that people are supporting Britney.” (As a diehard Brit fan, I wholeheartedly agree.) 

Jessica Simpson told Tamron Hall something similar. “No,” she said when asked if she’s watched Framing Britney Spears. “It’s one of those things that if I were to watch it, like, reliving that for me it’s like one of those like triggers, you know, it definitely gives me anxiety and I, I lived it. And I know Britney and I know what she went through and it’s so, it’s so hard, because it’s so many people’s opinions on you just trying to live your life as a normal human being because inside we’re really just, you know, we are normal, you know? We might have a big platform but, you can only take stuff for so long, you can only, you know, allow people in and attacking you until you have to really, you know, put your guard up.”

You can watch Framing Britney Spears on Hulu now. 

Both Jessica Simpson and John Mayer have made public comments about their former relationship. Some have been respectful; others, not so much. Last year Simpson opened up about her ex in her memoir, Open Book, and while promoting the new paperback edition of it on the Tamron Hall Show, she shared some more tidbits. Specifically, the singer and fashion mogul said she doesn’t feel she’s owed a public apology from Mayer for the things he’s said about her to the press. (In a 2010 Playboy interview, Mayer said of Simpson, “The girl is like crack cocaine to me. Sexually, it was crazy. That’s all I’ll say. It was like napalm, sexual napalm.”)

“I definitely don’t feel that I am owed a public apology,” Simpson told Hall in a clip obtained by E! Online. “You can’t take it back. And I’m a very forgiving person, but I’m also honest. So, in the memoir, if I’m gonna talk about stuff that caused me pain, I’m going to be honest about it. And that was a time in my life that I was very manipulated and very also in love, or seemingly.”

She continued, “Now that I have the love of Eric [Johnson, her husband], it’s just such a different thing. I wouldn’t expect an apology. I don’t think there’s a need for an apology. I feel like people end up finding their way to let you know they’re sorry. And [Mayer] might not be sorry, and that’s okay. We were kind of, like, on-off, on-off at that time. But to talk about anybody sexually was kind of disrespectful, but that’s on him.”

During a 2020 Glamour cover story, Simpson admitted that “some ex-boyfriends” might be surprised by how they’re depicted in the book but added they’d be proud of her “clarity.” 

Jessica Simpson’s interview on the Tamron Hall Show airs on Friday, March 26.

After spilling all kinds of tea in her memoir, Open Book, published in February 2020, Jessica Simpson is opening herself up even more. The new paperback edition of her tell-all includes actual diary entries, including one about her split from Nick Lachey.

The “Public Affair” singer and the 98 Degrees member were married from 2002 to 2006 and starred on MTV’s Newlyweds. Shortly after they split, Lachey began dating his now-wife Vanessa Lachey (née Minnillo), which apparently hurt Simpson deeply. “So, Nick, you’re with another already? Seems that you forgot the love you spoke to me,” Simpson wrote in her journal at the time, per Entertainment Tonight. “I’m saddened beyond belief. Alone in the dark, with no one to call my own.”

After recovering from her heartbreak, Simpson found love again–she’s been married to Eric Johnson since 2014, and the two share three children.

The new Open Book also includes diary entries about the intense body scrutiny Jessica Simpson faced and a new introduction that addresses the sexual trauma she first revealed in the book a year ago.

In Open Book, Simpson wrote about being abused by a family friend during sleepovers and how her parents were ill-equipped to handle the situation. In coming forward, Simpson then had to broach the topic with her own daughter, Maxwell. Simpson recalled being at a book signing where another sexual abuse survivor was overcome with emotion, and when Maxwell struggled to understand what was going on, Simpson realized it was time to discuss the issue. “When [the other survivor] walked away, Maxwell asked, ‘What was she talking about?'” Simpson writes. “This was going to have to be the time for our talk. Parents have to seize these moments when you have your kids’ attention.”

The paperback edition of Open Book hit stands March 23.

Jessica Simpson has weighed in on the Subway tuna controversy with a hilarious throwback joke. 

For those who don’t know, the restaurant chain Subway was recently hit with a lawsuit alleging its tuna is “a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna,” according to People. 

Subway categorically denies the claims. Let’s establish that first. In a statement to People, the brand said, “There simply is no truth to the allegations in the complaint that was filed in California. Subway delivers 100% cooked tuna to its restaurants, which is mixed with mayonnaise and used in freshly made sandwiches, wraps, and salads that are served to and enjoyed by our guests. The taste and quality of our tuna make it one of Subway’s most popular products, and these baseless accusations threaten to damage our franchisees, small business owners who work tirelessly to uphold the high standards that Subway sets for all of its products, including its tuna.” 

Simpson is familiar with tuna-related drama. In a now-classic scene from her MTV reality show Newlyweds, she asks then-husband Nick Lachey about the Chicken of the Sea tuna she’s eating. “Is this chicken that I have, or is this fish?” she says. 

She continues, “I know it’s tuna, but it says ‘Chicken by the Sea.’ Is that stupid? What is it called — ‘Chicken by the Sea’ or ‘In the Sea?’”

Lachey told Simpson in response, “Chicken of the Sea is the brand. You know, ’cause a lot of people eat tuna, just like a lot of people eat chicken. Chicken of the Sea.”

The scene is part of Simpson’s comedic legacy, and she referenced it in her tweet about the Subway situation. “It’s OK @SUBWAY,” Simpson tweeted. “It IS confusing.” 

Iconic. Jessica Simpson posted something similar in 2017 after Whole Foods had to recall more than 400 pounds of tuna salad after discovering it contained chicken. “It happens to the best of us @WholeFoods,” she tweeted.

We love a self-deprecating legend.