Jessica Simpson reveals she has discussed the sexual abuse she endured as a child with her children

Jessica Simpson says she is ‘very open’ about the sexual abuse she endured as a young girl with her children.  

Appearing on Good Morning America on Thursday, Simpson, 40, said she decided to tell her daughter Maxwell about the abuse after she was approached by a fan at a book signing event, who said she was inspired to seek therapy after reading about her experience in her memoir, Open Book.

Maxwell happened to be with her at the time, and the singer decided to halt the event in order to tell her what had happened.

‘A woman came up to me and she and was crying and had her daughter with her and she was saying that “What you went through as a child, you know, it really encouraged me to talk to my therapist and be open with my family about it,”‘ she said. ‘And Maxwell was like, “Mom, what is she talking about?”‘

‘And so I held the line of autographs, and I was like, “I guess this is the time I’m going to talk my daughter about it here in Times Square.”

‘But it was a perfect moment because she saw how being open and being honest with your feelings and how you can inspire people that way… just how honesty really is moving and how it can make a change in people’s lives and she saw that mommy was doing that,’ she said. ‘She went home and started journaling… she’s been writing in her journal ever since.’

Simspon also said her children have read some of her memoir.   

‘They have read some of it,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing that’s off-limits. We’re very open as a family. For me, when I talk about sexual abuse and stuff, that stuff happened to me when I was younger than they are and at the age that they are. So, it is something that we are very open about.’

Simpson revealed in her memoir Open Book that the daughter of a family friend sexually abused her when she was six-years-old.

The singer kept the abuse secret for years, and she did not tell her parents about it until six years after it began.

After coming forward with her story in her memoir, Simpson says she has heard from other women who have undergone similar experiences.

‘The feeling is overwhelming, beautiful and humbling all at once,’ she told People. ‘I decided to write the book hoping I could help someone who feels overwhelmed by life, needing to read a way through all the hidden places and not feel alone with their pain.

‘It was written to the someone who knows there is more for them in this life, but just needs encouragement to get through it with compassion for the hard stuff.’

‘The personal offerings of courage, resilience and hope that people have entrusted me with over the past year have meant more to me than they will ever know,’ she said.

‘The stories have reintroduced me to my ambition as a leader. The hearts and faces behind those stories will stick with me for the rest of my life.’