Britney Spears’s memoir, “The Woman in Me,” is among the 12 months’s most extremely anticipated e book releases. Few public figures have been extra scrutinized than Spears over time. Despite that, she’s impressed a lot devotion from followers and fascination from the world at massive.
“The Woman in Me” is a tragic story, detailing how different individuals have managed Spears’s life since she was younger. Most of us know the person fragments of her story from tabloids — from the time she shaved her head to her launch from her 13-year conservatorship in 2021 — however seeing all of it laid out collectively makes her journey way more clear and nonetheless a bit disturbing.
Within the e book, Britney paints the image of a hard-working lady who likes to sing and dance and simply desires to be good, however was closely taken benefit of all through her life, at the same time as she raked in thousands and thousands of {dollars}. It additionally reveals how one calamity bled into one other, revealing how she barely had time to heal from painful and traumatic conditions earlier than being pressured to work once more. Furthermore, her memoir unveils the story of a girl taking shaky steps towards discovering her personal freedom and therapeutic in the end.
Forward, see the most important revelations we gathered from “The Woman in Me.”
1. Britney Spears Was Conscious That Justin Timberlake Cheated on Her Whereas They Have been Relationship
In her memoir, Spears writes that she related with ex Justin Timberlake instantly after they had been children on “The Mickey Mouse Club,” and says she fell in love with him whereas touring with *NSYNC. She and Timberlake later moved right into a home in Orlando, FL, however issues of their relationship did not go easily from there. “There were a couple of times during our relationship when I knew Justin had cheated on me,” she writes. “Especially because I was so infatuated and so in love, I let it go.”
Spears writes that one evening she made out with dancer Wade Robson and later admitted that to Timberlake, who would later paint Spears as a serial cheater following their breakup.
2. Britney Spears’s Snake Began Hissing at Her Throughout Her Iconic 2001 MTV VMAs Efficiency
Spears’s “I’m a Slave 4U” efficiency on the 2001 VMAs was iconic, nevertheless it was additionally terrifying for her. “What nobody knows is that as I was singing, the snake brought its head right around to my face, right up to me, and started hissing at me,” she writes. “You didn’t see that shot on the TV, but in real life? I was thinking, ‘Are you f*cking serious right now? The f*cking goddamn snake’s tongue is flicking out at me. Right. Now.'”
3. Britney Spears Reveals She Had Abortion Whereas Relationship Justin Timberlake
One of many largest shocks within the memoir is that Spears an abortion whereas relationship Timberlake as a result of he allegedly did not need the infant. “It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated,” she writes. “But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.”
The abortion befell at residence and was excruciatingly painful for Spears, who writes that she did not need to undergo with it within the first place.
4. Britney Spears Says Justin Timberlake Broke Up With Her By way of Textual content
Spears additionally claims that Timberlake broke up along with her by way of textual content message, leaving her utterly brokenhearted. She writes that she was “devastated” and “could barely speak for months.” Timberlake ultimately flew to Louisiana and gave her a protracted letter. “I still have it under my bed,” Spears writes. Finally, she provides, a go to to Donatella Versace in Milan helped her do not forget that “there was still fun to be had in the world.”
She additionally writes that their breakup was particularly troublesome as a result of she was shut with Timberlake’s household, provided that her personal could possibly be poisonous. “My little sister — well, when I tell you she was a total b*tch, I’m not exaggerating,” Spears writes. The singer additionally alludes to sister Jamie Lynn Spears being a spoiled baby, whereas Spears felt like a “ghost child.” She additionally ceaselessly references her childhood, which she says was marred by her father’s drunkenness and her mom’s rage.
5. Madonna Tried to Mentor Britney Spears
Spears particulars her varied run-ins with celebrities all through the memoir, writing that Robin Williams as soon as made her giggle in an elevator in New York. She additionally reveals that Madonna visited her and tried to “mentor” her as soon as. Apparently, Madonna additionally launched Britney to some religious practices, like esoteric Jewish mysticism. “[She] did a red-string ceremony with me to initiate me into the Kabbalah, and she gave me a trunk full of Zohar books to pray with,” Spears reveals. “At the base of my neck, I tattooed a word in Hebrew that means one of the seventy-two names of God.”
6. Britney Spears’s Diane Sawyer Interview Was a “Breaking Point”
Spears says that whereas she was nonetheless within the throes of her and Timberlake’s breakup, her father and several other males she did not know confirmed up at her residence and bombarded her with questions. The following day, Spears discovered that she would communicate to Diane Sawyer. The notorious 2003 interview “was a breaking point for me internally — a switch had been flipped,” Spears writes. “I felt something dark come over my body.”
7. Britney Spears Did not Know Kevin Federline Had a Child On the Means When They Began Relationship
Spears met Kevin Federline at Joseph’s Cafe in Hollywood, and she or he writes that she initially discovered him comforting when she was in search of stability. She additionally says, at first, she did not know that he had a toddler or a pregnant ex-girlfriend.
Nonetheless, Spears writes that she wished normalcy and independence from her household, so she married him. The pair went on to have two kids collectively. Nevertheless, in accordance with Spears, as soon as Federline began pursuing music and fame, their marriage fell aside. She additionally writes that Federline’s safety did not let her in to see him when she tried to go to him in New York.
8. Britney Spears Claims She Was Coerced Into Submitting For Divorce From Kevin Federline
Spears says that after it was clear her marriage to Federline was over, her lawyer “told me that if I didn’t file for divorce, Kevin would” and inspired her to file. “I was led to believe that it would be better if I did it first so that I wasn’t humiliated,” she provides within the e book. Nevertheless, Spears was pressured to pay for Federline’s authorized payments and was accused of ruining her household by the press.
9. Paris Hilton Helped Britney Spears With Her Sons Amid Her Cut up From Kevin Federline
Paris Hilton supported Spears throughout her and Federline’s break up, as she “saw that I had babies and that I was suffering from the breakup, and I think she felt sorry for me,” Spears writes. “She came over to my house and she helped me so much . . . She encouraged me to try to have fun for the first time in a long time.” Spears additionally claims that she by no means had a consuming downside. The one drug she ever used was Adderall, which “gave me a few hours of feeling less depressed,” she writes. As for the notorious evening she, Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan all went out collectively, “We got drunk. That’s it!” Spears writes. She additionally reveals that the evening she returned residence, the place her mother was watching her children, her mother began screaming at her for being drunk. “That’s what my family has always done — treated me like I was bad,” Spears writes. “. . . No matter how many fans I had in the world, my parents never seemed to think I was worth much.”
Spears additionally writes that in that point, she suffered from “severe postpartum depression” and felt she “couldn’t live if things didn’t get better.” Moreover, she says she turned determined to flee her mom and household again then.
10. Britney Spears Reveals What Led to Her Shaving Her Head and Hitting a Paparazzo’s Automobile With an Umbrella
Spears writes that finally, shedding entry to her kids was one other breaking level that led to her habits within the late 2000s. She says that studying that Federline was campaigning for full custody led her to shave her head. She additionally says she hit a paparazzo’s automobile along with her umbrella after he continued to ask how she felt about not seeing her children, although Spears later says she’d despatched the picture company an apology be aware. Moreover, she highlights the double requirements that permit male artists and celebrities to get away with this sort of habits on a regular basis.
Spears additionally writes that her now soon-to-be ex-husband Sam Asghari — whom she refers to by his first identify, Hesam, and whom she was nonetheless married to whereas writing the memoir — inspired her to see shaving her head otherwise. “Now my husband, Hesam, tells me that it’s a whole thing for beautiful girls to shave their heads. It’s a vibe, he says—a choice not to play into ideas of conventional beauty.”
11. Britney Spears Claims She Did not Know the Photographer She Dated Was Married
After Federline took her children away, Spears started relationship a photographer named Adnan Ghalib, whom she felt was protecting of her and helped along with her despair. Within the memoir, she reveals that she had no thought he was married and solely discovered after their breakup.
12. Britney Spears Claims Her Household Coerced Her Into Getting into Her Conservatorship
Spears claims that whereas relationship Ghalib, her mom informed her to come back to their seaside home as a result of she heard the cops is perhaps after her. However as soon as Spears arrived, 20 cops descended. That, she writes, was the start of her conservatorship.
Although she begged for anybody aside from her father, Jamie Spears, to be appointed her conservator, Spears says she was shut down. In accordance with Spears, her father, who had been nearing chapter when he turned her conservator, quickly started taking a bigger wage from her earnings than the singer herself obtained. Spears later claims that her father actually informed her, “I’m Britney Spears now,” when he established himself as her conservator.
13. Britney Spears Allowed Her Conservatorship to Occur So She May See Her Youngsters
Spears claims she was subjected to strict guidelines throughout her conservatorship. Her residence was frequently swept for medication, together with Tylenol, she writes. Moreover, she writes, nobody was allowed to drink round her at events; her father would run background checks on anybody she wished thus far; and her crew would inform potential companions about her sexual historical past earlier than she was allowed thus far them. Parental controls had been additionally apparently positioned on her telephone.
Spears writes that her father continuously known as her fats and refused to permit her to eat dessert. Nonetheless, Spears says she allowed the conservatorship largely as a result of she may see her children throughout it. Throughout her Las Vegas residency, Spears claims she was placed on a good stricter food plan and needed to request to depart rooms two hours forward, so safety measures could possibly be put in place. She additionally claims that her father despatched her to rehab after discovering out she was taking power dietary supplements.
14. Britney Spears Tried to Finish the Conservatorship in 2014
Spears says she went to court docket in 2014 and tried to flee her conservatorship, although her try was unsuccessful. She additionally notes she talked about the conservatorship on a chat present in 2016 — however that half did not air.
15. Britney Spears Compares Her Institutionalization to a “Horror Movie”
Spears says her father and crew pressured her to do one other spherical of her Las Vegas residency despite the fact that she had informed them she did not need to. Someday, she stated no to a choreographer’s suggestion that appeared too troublesome for her and began engaged on her personal dance strikes, she writes. Quickly after, she claims, she was pressured to enter a rehab facility, along with her father threatening to take her to court docket if she did not go.
Spears writes that on the facility, she wasn’t allowed to wash in non-public, needed to donate blood weekly, had her pulse checked a number of instances day by day, and needed to preserve her bed room door open always. She additionally claims she forcibly took lithium after utilizing Prozac for a few years — the identical drug that her grandmother, who dedicated suicide at age 31, had been placed on when she was institutionalized.
Spears writes that being on the remedy heart felt like “being in my very own horror movie,” including, “[it] broke my spirit.” She additionally says she ultimately thought her crew and household had been making an attempt to kill her.
16. A Nurse Advised Britney Spears Concerning the #FreeBritney Motion
Whereas Spears was institutionalized, she writes, a nurse pulled her over and confirmed her an interview of individuals discussing the #FreeBritney motion on a chat present. Understanding that her followers had been searching for her was apparently extraordinarily significant to her and helped her survive her institutionalization. “Just by doing that, they did help,” Spears writes. “I think my connection to my fans helped them subconsciously know I was in danger . . . Seeing them marching in the streets, chanting ‘Free Britney!’ — that was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen in my life.”
17. Therapeutic Is Now Britney Spears’s Precedence
All through the memoir, Spears is obvious about how a lot music has all the time meant to her. She additionally reveals that after her conservatorship ended, she started engaged on new materials and even created six songs in sooner or later — however “pushing forward in my music career is not my focus at the moment,” she writes. “. . . It’s time for me not to be someone who other people want.”
