The singer opened up for the first time about being the victim of sexual abuse as a child in her recent memoir, “Open Book,” published earlier this year.
It was just earlier this year that Jessica Simpson opened up for the first time about sexual abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of another girl considered at the time a family friend.
Now, she’s talking about why she decided to seek out that woman and confront her years later. Simpson told Katherine Schwarzenegger on her “The Gift of Forgiveness” podcast that she came to this moment shortly after her break from Nick Lachey.
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“I was celibate at the time and I was on this journey to explore myself and I knew that I couldn’t move forward without letting her know that—I wasn’t going to just leave it unsaid,” Simpson said of her conversation with the woman.
“I left it unsaid for far too long.”
According to the book, Simpson was abused from around the age of 5 or 6 until she was 12 years old. Her alleged abuser was one year older than her. Simpson suffered terrible bullying after she opened up to a classmate about it.
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Rather than lash out or attack the woman when she did finally confront her years later, Simpson said she chose forgiveness and some sort of understanding. It was only later that Simpson learned her abuser was being abused at the same time.
“I went to her and I just said, ‘I know you know what was going on and I know that you were being abused,’ because she was being abused by an older guy,” she said. “He was always there at the house as well, so he never touched me, but he would abuse her and she would come to me and do the stuff to me.”
Simpson said that “in so many ways” she “felt bad for her.” She counseled the woman to talk to someone about her own experiences, to seek understanding, forgiveness and healing.
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“I just want you to know that I forgive you,” Simpson said she told the woman. “And I don’t really care to be around you that much ever again, but I do want you to know that I know what happened between us and I’m not gonna live in denial about it.”
It was an important moment for Simpson herself, who said, “I knew that if I was honest with her, it would clear my conscience.”
She even said that she sent the unnamed woman a copy of her book after it was published, writing to her that she hopes “it brings healing.” Just as it looks like confronting the woman with forgiveness and compassion served the same purpose for Simpson.
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