Jessica Simpson hasn’t watched the recent Britney Spears documentary because she fears it may be a “trigger” for her.
Framing Britney Spears was released in February, and became a talking point worldwide – with many celebrities weighing in on the state of Britney’s conservatorship and her father Jamie Spears’ role in her life.
One star who has remained resolutely quiet about the film is Jessica, and in an interview for The Tamron Hall Show airing on Friday, she explained why.
“If I were to watch it, like, reliving that for me it’s like one of those like triggers, you know, it definitely gives me anxiety and I, I lived it,” she sighed. “I know Britney and I know what she went through and it’s so, it’s so hard, because it’s so many people’s opinions on you just trying to live your life as a normal human being, because inside we’re really just, you know, we are normal, you know?”
She added: “You can only, you know, allow people in and attacking you until you have to really, you know, put your guard up.”
In a separate interview with People magazine, Jessica said she “chooses not” to watch the Britney doc because she and the Toxic star had such similar rises to fame.
“I didn’t want to watch and bring back any of the dark pieces of my personal coming of age in the music business. I have worked through a lot and want to keep moving forward in my own story on my own path,” she said.
Elsewhere in her interview with Tamron, Jessica said that while the Covid-19 pandemic has been a struggle to deal with, she hasn’t considered using alcohol to help her get through the year – after getting sober in 2017.
When asked what it was like “staying sober this year”, she replied: “I have not thought about alcohol. It’s weird because alcohol was an easy thing for me to give up. It was holding onto how I romanticised the pain I liked to hold on to.”
Jessica also has her husband, Eric Johnson, to help keep her on the right track, as she explained: “Eric and I, both, we look at each other, like, we could not have drank through this.”