Britney Spears: Most shocking revelations from memoir 'Woman In Me'
Superstar Britney Spears’ highly anticipated memoir, ‘Woman In Me’, was finally released on 24 October 2023.
Almost two years after Britney Spears’ controversial conservatorship ended, she is finally telling her part of the story in the new memoir, ‘Woman In Me’.
The highly-anticipated book does not only address her conservatorship, but also talks about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope, her stage career, her relationship with Justin Timberlake, friendships with stars including Madonna and Paris Hilton, and her breakdown in 2007.
Breakfast with Martin Bester spoke to a close friend, Clive Vanderwagen, who read the memoir in one sitting on the day of its release.
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Vanderwagen described the book as a “sad and eye-opening story” of the pop star’s life.
As expected, Spears also made a few shocking revelations in her new book. Here are some of the key revelations:
She was usually scared in her early life
Spears revealed that it was often difficult growing up in Kentwood, Louisiana, saying her mother Lynne and father Jamie "fought constantly".
She talks about his struggles with alcohol, which were also described during later conservatorship hearings. "I was usually scared in my home," she says, and "nothing was ever good enough" for him.
"The saddest part to me was that what I always wanted was a dad who would love me as I was - somebody who would say 'I just love you. You could do anything right now. I'd still love you with unconditional love.'"
Her relationship with Justin Timberlake and terminating her pregnancy
Spears admitted to having had an abortion while she was dating Justin Timberlake.
"There were a couple of times during our relationship when I knew Justin had cheated on me," Spears writes on page 74 of her memoir.
"Especially because I was so infatuated and so in love, I let it go, even though the tabloids seemed determined to rub my face in it."
"At one point when we were dating, I became pregnant with Justin's baby," she says.
READ: Britney Spears reveals shocking information about her relationship with Justin Timberlake
"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.
"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."
Taking Prozac to cope
She describes seeing "more and more older men" in the audiences for her shows, "and sometimes it would freak me out to see them leering at me like I was some kind of Lolita fantasy for them, especially when no one could seem to think of me as both sexy and capable, or talented and hot. If I was sexy, they seemed to think I must be stupid. If I was hot, I couldn't possibly be talented".
The star says she turned to religion - and prescription drugs. "Trying to find ways to protect my heart from criticism and to keep the focus on what was important, I started reading religious books... I also started taking Prozac."
Conservatorship: 'I was like a child robot'
Writing about the start of the legal arrangement, the star says she "begged the court to appoint literally anyone else - and I mean anyone off the street would have been better - my father was given the job".
"It's difficult for me to revisit this darkest chapter of my life and to think about what might have been different if I'd pushed back harder then," she says. "I don't at all like to think about that, not whatsoever. I can't afford to, honestly. I've been through too much."
Spears says she "became a robot. But not just a robot - a sort of child-robot. I had been so infantilised that I was losing pieces of what made me feel like myself... The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child."
She finishes the book by saying: "There's been a lot of speculation about how I'm doing. I know my fans care. I am free now. I'm just being myself and trying to heal. I finally get to do what I want, when I want. And I don't take a minute of it for granted...
"It's been a while since I felt truly present in my own life, in my own power, in my womanhood. But I'm here now."
Britney Spears thanks her fans for supporting new memoir:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 25, 2023
“My book is the highest selling celebrity memoir in history and it’s only day 1!!!” pic.twitter.com/mQBZ8fD54b
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