Jessica Simpson admits she was drunk during this 'painful' interview with Ellen DeGeneres

Jessica Simpson has shared the reason for her strange behaviour during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in 2017.

When the interview aired in May 2017, viewers speculated Simpson was drunk, and now the truth the disastrous interview has been revealed: she was struggling with alcoholism at the time.

While promoting her new memoir Open Book, the 39-year-old appeared on the US Talk show Today, and addressed how she feels about the interview now.

Simpson revealed that three years on from the interview, she "can't even watch" the interview back.

"It was a weak moment for me and I wasn't in the right place," she told US Today host Hoda Kotb.

Ellen DeGeneres appeared lost for words as Simpson rambled through the five-minute interview in 2017 .

The Dukes of Hazard actress began the interview by telling Ellen she has got an IUD, after making a joke that she was pregnant during her last two appearances on the show.

She declared: "nothing is going to get into that uterus."

Simpson struggled to remember how long she had been married to her husband Eric Johnson: "Seven years now. Well, coming on seven years. Well actually, seven. It's a long time. I don't know if I've ever had a seven-year relationship. Other than with a woman. Well, not that kind."

The interview continued, and Simpson became increasingly incoherent as she told anecdotes about her kid's mermaid-themed birthday party, and struggled to settle on the number of songs she had recorded for her new album.

Reflecting on the situation now, Simpson opened up about her battle with alcoholism.

"I knew I wasn't present," Simpson admitted.

"I had started a spiral and I couldn't catch up with myself. That was when I was with alcohol."

Simpson decided to give up alcohol in November 2017, a lifestyle change that was sparked after she was too "zoned out" to help her children get ready for a Halloween party.

"Giving up the alcohol was easy. I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb," she writes in her memoir.

Open Book is released on February 4.

This article was first published on the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.