Jessica Simpson details the six years of molestation she suffered at the hands of a family friend’s daughter in her new memoir Open Book. The 39-year-old said it started when she was six-years-old and the girl was a year older than her. They would share a bed when the Simpsons visited the girl’s family three times each year. Eventually younger sister Ashlee, 35, ended up sharing the same bed. Jessica says she protected her little sister, as she took the abuse so that her sis wouldn’t have to feel the way she did.
“After lights out, I would feel her hands on me. It would start with tickling my back and then going into things that were extremely uncomfortable, Jessica writes. “The second time she abused me, it was during spring visit and Ashlee was also in the bed. I lay between them, fiercely protecting my sister from this monster. I didn’t want her to feel as disgusting as I felt,” Jess continues.
“For six years, I was abused by this girl during our family’s visits, which happened three times a year. Eventually it wasn’t just at nighttime. She would get me to go into a closet with her, or just find a way to linger until we were alone. It got to the point that she would sneak into the bathroom to watch me shower. I did not know how to get away from her,” she reveals.
“She continued to try to sleep next to my little sister and I would just scooch Ashlee over and get between them whenever she did. I never let her near Ashlee, but I also never screamed or told her to stop. I was confused, wondering if it was something that I wanted to keep going,” Jessica explains.
Jessica says, “I never slept well again,” and that even in her own bed “there was a feeling that I had to stay up and keep watch. I stopped waiting for Ashlee to come to my room and started sleeping in her bed….Even then I would lie awake, waiting for my brain to shut off. I wanted to keep us both safe, but I also wanted her protection too. Ashlee was already becoming her own person. She always took good care of looking after herself, and I was terrified someone could take that courage from her.”
Jessica added that over the years she learned an older boy had been molesting the girl who had been abusing her. When she was 12, Jessica finally told her parents about the abuse while on a car trip. She writes that, “My mother slapped my father’s arm with the back of her hand. ‘I told you something was happening,’ she yelled at him.” Jess says her dad had no reaction and neither of her parents turned to look at her. She adds that, “We never stayed at my parents’ friends’ house again, but we also didn’t talk about what I had said.”