Jessica Simpson's ongoing journey of self-discovery has included facing some of her fears with the help of her three children.
The star singer, author and fashion mogul shared in an interview with Hoda Kotb that aired on TODAY Thursday how much she has learned from her daughter Maxwell, who turns 9 on Saturday.
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"We were doing a Jessica Simpson Collection photo shoot, and she wanted one of the horses that she rides to be in a shoot," she told Hoda Kotb. "This was her way of (being) like, 'I'm gonna make Mom ride this horse.'
"She was like, 'Horses know that you're afraid, Mom. And it's not gonna relax until you put your shoulders down and breathe. And Mom, let's just stand at the mountain and scream over the mountain.'"
The mother and daughter yelled together, "I throw my fear over the mountain!"
"And then I went back to the horse, and Maxwell handed me the reins and gave me the lead," Simpson said. "It was a beautiful moment. And I took the reins, and of course, the horse emptied out like four days worth of pee."
Simpson is now releasing personal essays on Amazon Original Stories that detail her journey and look to help others face their fears and learn to love themselves. Her first essay, "Take the Lead," was released Thursday, and a reality and scripted series based on her memoirs is also in the works from Amazon.
Simpson's three children with husband Eric Johnson — Maxwell, as well as son Ace, 7, and daughter Birdie, 2 — have been an inspiration to her through her journey to sobriety, issues with body shaming and the fallout from childhood abuse that she detailed in her memoir, "Open Book."
"I actually follow their lead in a lot of things," she told Hoda about her children. "They have so much innocence. And they haven't had all the traumas and the dark stuff that we cling onto. And they're actually capable of making better decisions than we are.
"My oldest, Maxwell, teaches me every day to surrender."
Simpson has now gone from internalizing hurtful headlines about her weight to not even having a scale in her home.
"I have no idea how much I weigh. I just want to feel good and be able to zip my pants up. If I don't, I have another size. I have every size," she said, laughing.
"I've really tried my hardest to not let that define me," she added.
She considers herself an ongoing work in progress, and she is just fine with that.
"I think we should always be healing," she said. "I think that in life, we don't have it figured out, and that's the vulnerable place that's actually very beautiful."