Jessica Simpson Says 'I Have Not Thought About Alcohol' During COVID Pandemic, Talks Staying Sober

Jessica Simpson, who got sober in November 2017 and hasn't had a drink since, is opening up about staying sober amid the stress and chaos of the COVID pandemic.

PEOPLE has an exclusive look at Simpson's appearance on The Tamron Hall Show, airing Friday, in which the singer and fashion designer, 40, speaks candidly about continuing her sobriety.

"I have not thought about alcohol," Simpson says to host Tamron Hall, who asks her about this "challenging year" and what it was like "staying sober this year."

"It's weird because alcohol was an easy thing for me to give up," Simpson responds. "It was holding onto how I romanticized the pain I liked to hold on to."

Speaking about her and her husband Eric Johnson, the Open Book author adds, "Eric and I, both, we look at each other, like, we could not have drank through this."

In her bestselling memoir, now available in paperback, she writes about hitting rock bottom after a Halloween party at their home in late 2017. That's when she told her closest friends: "I need to stop. Something's got to stop. And if it's the alcohol that's doing this, and making things worse, then I quit."

And when Simpson made the decision to give up alcohol that same year, her husband did the same. "Eric gave up drinking the second I did," she previously told PEOPLE. "He said, 'I'll do it with you, babe.' It was like no biggie and he hasn't gone back or looked back."

The mother of three added, "It's just the way he is. He's a very selfless and loving person who is the most incredible father on the planet."

The couple shares three children: daughters Birdie Mae, 2, and Maxwell Drew, 8½, as well as 7½-year-old son Ace Knute.

For more on Jessica Simpson, and what she's learned by sharing her life story, pick up the latest issue of this week's PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.