Jessica Simpson‘s fans were concerned for her well-being last week after she published a new commercial for Pottery Barn. In an apparent response, Simpson revealed that she is five years sober and that some criticism can still be hurtful. Simpson included a video of herself singing, adding that this helps her “ground” herself and heal.
“I needed to be in my studio today because this is where I ground myself and heal,” Simpson wrote Sunday evening. “As much as I have learned to block out destructive noise… peoples’ comments and judgments can still hurt deeply with their incessant nagging, ‘You will never be good enough.’”
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Simpson noted that the “most important thing” she has learned during the last five years without using alcohol as a “guard for escapism,” is that she “can and always will” get through her struggles. “I am capable of pretty much anything I care enough about to put my mind to,” she continued. “I am present. I am deeply inspired. I am determined. I am honest. I care about other people.”
After recording a song in her studio, Simpson said she felt “compassion for the opinionated hate that some people can so effortlessly just blurt out with such intensity on social media or in the media in general.” She noted that everyone has days of wanting to “be, look, do, and feel better.” On Sunday, she woke up “at the same time anxious and insecure but also… angry and defensive โ like some of you.”
“I know what works for me and that is to let go and simply sing while lookin’ directly inside the mirror, straight in my eyes to really see and understand myself,” she wrote. “I can connect with my heartbeat. I am stable and strong. I am home.”
At the end of her post, Simpson offered her fans some advice. “Live inside your dreams and move through them. Don’t give up on yourself because someone else did,” she wrote. “Stay true to YOU. It has worked for me in this chaotic life thus far. Nothin’ and nobody will rob me of my joy. Ya might come close but it is mine to own. Yours should be too.”
Simpson‘s post came after some fans were troubled by her appearance in the Pottery Barn Kids ad released on Nov. 3. Many of the comments focused on the fashion mogul’s speech, which sounded slowed and slurred to some. “Please tell me I’m not the only one that hears her voice being totally slow…is she ok?!?!” one person wrote. “Something seems off,” another commented. “Omg… She does not look well. Her eyes are so sunken. Something is not right,” another wrote.
Simpson has been open about her health struggles in recent years, through Instagram posts and her memoir, Open Book. The memoir is also the basis for an Amazon Freevee pilot starring John Stamos and Katelyn Tarver. Production on the pilot wrapped over the weekend, with Simpson praising everyone involved in a Nov. 5 Instagram post.