Book Review: Open Book by Jessica Simpson

Open Book by Jessica Simpson
Publisher: Dey Street Books
Publication Date: February 4, 2020)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

This was supposed to be a very different book. Five years ago, Jessica Simpson was approached to write a motivational guide to living your best life. She walked away from the offer, and nobody understood why. The truth is that she didn’t want to lie.

Jessica couldn’t be authentic with her readers if she wasn’t fully honest with herself first.

Now America’s Sweetheart, preacher’s daughter, pop phenomenon, reality tv pioneer, and the billion-dollar fashion mogul invites readers on a remarkable journey, examining a life that blessed her with the compassion to help others, but also burdened her with an almost crippling need to please. Open Book is Jessica Simpson using her voice, heart, soul, and humor to share things she’s never shared before.

First celebrated for her voice, she became one of the most talked-about women in the world, whether for music and fashion, her relationship struggles, or as a walking blonde joke. But now, instead of being talked about, Jessica is doing the talking. Her book shares the wisdom and inspirations she’s learned and shows the real woman behind all the pop-culture cliché’s — “chicken or fish,” “Daisy Duke,” “football jinx,” “mom jeans,” “sexual napalm…” and more. Open Book is an opportunity to laugh and cry with a close friend, one that will inspire you to live your best, most authentic life, now that she is finally living hers.

Jessica Simpson and I have been BFFs ever since I spotted her shopping at my local mall and introduced myself. I mean, I haven’t spoken to her since but I’m sure meeting me affected her in a profound way. I had to read her memoir to see if she mentioned our fateful encounter. Alas, she does not. Anywho, while I’ve never been much of a fan of her music, I loved the show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, her reality show with her then-husband Nick Lachey. Of course, the real reason I wanted to read her book was to get the inside scoop on that and other things, like her relationship with music’s biggest douche, John Mayer.

Open Book lives up to its name. Jessica spills it all: her childhood sexual abuse, her marriage to Lachey, her emotionally abusive relationship to Mayer (who is an even bigger jerk than I thought he was), the hot sex with her current husband Eric Johnson and more. She’s honest about her alcoholism, which I didn’t even know about. The only thing I didn’t like about this book is that she regularly breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader in a way that sounds cheesy and a bit insincere. Overall, this is the kind of celebrity memoir I love – honest, dishy and detailed.