Jessica Simpson celebrates 6-year sobriety journey: 'I didn't respect my own power'

Jessica Simpson is celebrating a major milestone: reaching six years of sobriety.

The singer and actress marked the achievement on her Instagram story, with a repost of when she celebrated her four-year sobriety in 2021.

"6 years ago," Simpson, 43, wrote on Thursday.

The original post, dated Nov. 1, 2021, shows a photo of Simpson in 2017 – sitting in a pink sweatsuit with light reflected on her face – that she called "unrecognizable."

"I had so much self discovery to unlock and explore," she wrote. "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."

Simpson said in the post alcohol was one of the things standing in her way, and that stopping would help her "break cycles."

"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," she wrote. "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."

Simpson continued, adding she felt the time had flown by in the years since quitting alcohol.

"There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic," she wrote. "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," she continued. "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. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free."

Other stars including Lucy Hale, Tom Holland, Drew Barrymore and Lady A singer Charles Kelley have also opened up about their sobriety and battles with alcoholism.

'Friends' star Matthew Perry, sitcom great who battled addiction, dead at 54

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jessica Simpson celebrates sobriety, talks stigma of alcoholism