Jessica Simpson is celebrating a massive milestone in her sobriety journey, having gone six years without alcohol.
The singer, 43, took to Instagram to mark the milestone achievement as she looked back at herself at her lowest point in her battle with alcohol addiction.
She shared a snap on her Instagram story captioned: "6 years ago", in which she is seen wearing a pink tracksuit in a darkened room, with her face appearing swollen and a downcast expression on her face.
Jessica revealed that the "unrecognizable" photo was taken on November 1, 2017, which was the moment she decided to stop drinking and take back control of her life.
See the photo below:She had originally shared the photo on November 1, 2021, which was the four-year anniversary of her sobriety journey.
Jessica wrote at the time: "This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017 is an unrecognizable version of myself. 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."
She explained: "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."
Jessica admitted the past four years had flown by since she made the decision to turn her life around, and hoped that by being honest about her own struggles she could help end the stigma for others experiencing alcoholism.
"There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic," she told her followers. "The real work that needed to be done in my life was to actually accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self sabotage.
"The drinking wasn’t the issue. 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."
She concluded her post with the powerful words: "I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free."
Jessica had opened up about her struggle with addiction in her memoir, Open Book, in which she wrote: "I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills."
She admitted that letting go of alcohol was actually a far easier part of the process for her than going through therapy to continue her healing, which brought up all the past trauma she had experienced.
Along with the internal changes, cutting out alcohol has also played a huge part in Jessica's recent 100lb weight loss, which she was forced to deny was down to the weight-loss injection Ozempic.
She told Bustle in July: "Oh Lord. I mean, it is not [Ozempic], it’s willpower. I’m like, do people want me to be drinking again? Because that’s when I was heavier. Or they want me to be having another baby? My body can’t do it."
