Jessica Simpsonhad some kind words to say about her father Joe Simpson in honor of his birthday on Wednesday.
“My entire life all I have ever wanted is to be the brightest light that you ignited within me to shine so that others could be guided into their own personal transcending greatness of being,” Jessica wrote.
“Thank you for always guiding me with love, leadership, and compassion to the unimaginable achievement of infinite dreams,” she continued. “There is nothing in life I am not strong enough for because of your ability to believe the truest purpose is always within reach.”
Her words were met with a sea of likes from her followers, many sending their own birthday wishes to Joe.
“Happy birthday to Papa Simpson!” said one.
In her new memoirOpen Book,Jessica recently revealed new details about her complicated and close relationship with her dad, who was also her manager.
In the book, she wrote that on her wedding day to Nick Lachey in 2002, her father asked if she was certain she wanted to go through with it, just before he walked her down the aisle.
“Dad, I’m walking down this aisle and getting married,” Jessica wrote, describing how she spoke the words “through gritted teeth.”
Jessica and her dad also went through a rocky patch after her parents divorced (which Joe told his daughter about just before shegave birth to her first child).
The two have since reconciled and remain very close. Jessica even stood up for Joe recently, tellingAndy Cohenthat she was “very” pissed a comment Lachey had made about her father during a years-old episode of Cohen’s talk show,Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
Joe Simpson and Jessica Simpson.Mark Sullivan/WireImage
Open Book, which Jessica penned with scribe with Kevin Carr O’Leary, finds the formerNewlywedsstar sharing her truth about some of her more personal behind-the-scenes struggles — from her body image issues and plastic surgery secrets, to how she felt about being compared to her pop-girl contemporaries and her relationships with exes like Lachey and John Mayer.
One of her most vulnerable moments in the book? Jessica’s revelation that she was sexually abused as a young girl. The resulting emotional pain, along with other stressors, including career pressures, 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 wrote.
Jessica got sober in November 2017 and hasn’t had a drink since. “Giving up the alcohol was easy,” she said. “I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb.”
Therapy was the hard part, she went on to explain. As she wrote: “With work, I allowed myself to feel the traumas I’d been through.”
“Honesty is hard but it’s the most rewarding thing we have,” she said. “And getting to the other side of fear is beautiful.”
Open Bookis on sale now.
source: people.com
