Earlier this week, Jessica Simpson opened up about her life in her memoir Open Book. She discussed her career, struggle with addiction and of course, her personal relationships. She has been married twice (to Nick Lachey and Eric Johnson) and dated celebrities such as Tony Romo and John Mayer. While I disagree with her choice to name names (even though most of what she said is common knowledge), she did do some good when it came to coming clean about her dating life.
In one section of the book, she discussed how her relationship with John was incredibly toxic and damaging to her self esteem. She alleges that he would constantly break up with her via email and then try and win her back. She claims that one of these times even caused her to break up with former NFL star Tony Romo.
“He’d dump me, then come back saying he had discovered he loved me after all. I always saw it as him mercilessly taking me in from the cold,” she revealed in her book. “Every time John returned, I thought it was a continuation of a love story, while my friends saw a guy coming back for sex with some foolish girl.”
Yet, Jessica claims that she could not let him go for a long time and often took him back, only to have him repeat the same toxic behavior.
“I felt the full intensity of his obsession with me, she continued in the same section of the book. “And it was a drug to me. He studied every inch of my body, every detail of my face. He photographed me constantly, to the point that I worried he was keeping souvenirs before dumping me again.”
She finally had enough and broke it off for good, even going as far as to change her contact information when he told Playboy intimate details about their sex life.
So why is this so important? The answer is simple. Many of us have been in her shoes, or know someone who has been. We know what is going on, yet cannot get out of the viscous cycle of the relationship. It is a constant push-pull and unfortunately a form of abuse that often goes ignored or unrealized. Jessica telling her story can help men and women who have been in this cycle to finally break free. Her story is common and relatable, and can quite possibly save someone from continuing a pattern that can be dangerous and destructive.
Thank you, Jessica for this lesson and for helping people who might be in the same situation.
