Jessica Simpson talks addiction and sexual abuse in new memoir

In a new memoir, Jessica Simpson is opening up about her struggle with addiction after going through a sexual abuse episode during her childhood.

In the memoir titled "Open Book" which was excerpted in this week's issue of People magazine, Jessica Simpson revealed how she worked to overcome alcohol addiction with the help of therapy and a strong support network. The singer said the cause of her addiction was sexual abuse that started when she was six-year-old and shared a bed with the daughter of a family friend.

"It would start with tickling my back and then go into things that were extremely uncomfortable," Simpson said, adding that at first, she believed she was to be blamed for the incident.

"I wanted to tell my parents. I was the victim but somehow I felt in the wrong," she writes in the book.

Simpson eventually narrated the ordeal to her parents at the age of 12. She recalls in the memoir the conversation that she had with her parents during a car ride. While her mother slapped her father's arm, saying, "I told you something was happening," her "dad kept his eye on the road and said nothing."

"We never stayed at my parents' friend's house again but we also didn't talk about what I had said," Simpson writes in the book.

The 39-year-old says she turned to alcohol to deal with the emotional struggle with the sexual abuse she experienced as a child and other issues including career pressures that she was facing as an adult.

"I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills," she wrote.

While her career took a positive turn with her stint in the reality TV show "Newlyweds" among other projects including a clothing line, Simpson wasn't able to return to sobriety, even after her doctor told her that her life was in danger as her alcohol dependency persisted.

Jessica Simpson also opened up about her tumultuous relationship with singer John Mayer, another factor that led her to alcoholism.

The mother-of-three who is now married to Eric Johnson said that after just a few months of dating, John repeatedly told her how "obsessed" he was with her, "sexually and emotionally."

Then during a Halloween party at her home in 2017, she sought help and told her friends, "I need to stop. Something's got to stop. And if it's the alcohol that's doing this, and making things worse, then I quit." After that, Simpson started attending biweekly therapy sessions, and with the support of her parents, doctors, and friends, she became sober.

"Giving up alcohol was easy. I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb," wrote the star who has been sober since November of 2017.

"Open Book" will hit the shelves on Tuesday, February 4.