Jessica Simpson has shared an "unrecognisable" photo of herself from 2017 to celebrate four years of sobriety.
The pop star said the image captured the "very moment" that she would "allow herself to take back her light" explaining that it was a portrait of a woman "exhausted" and who "didn't love herself".
"This person in the early morning of November 1, 2017 is an unrecognisable version of myself. I had so much self discovery to unlock and explore," Simpson began.
"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.
"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."
The 'Come On Over' singer highlighted the stigma around the word "alcoholism" or the "label of an alcoholic", adding: "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. 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."
Simpson said that her four years of sobriety had felt more like two, adding: "I think that is a good thing, ha".
"I wanted to feel the pain so I could carry it like a badge of honour. 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," she wrote.
Simpson previously revealed she was a survivor of sexual abuse and had overcome drug and alcohol dependence in her memoir Open Book.
"I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills," she wrote in the book, released last year.
"Giving up the alcohol was easy. I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb."
