The pop star’s latest book, “The Woman in Me,” delves into her 13-year conservatorship, with particular focus on her father, James Spears.
According to excerpts published in People magazine, Justin Timberlake expressed discontent when he learned about Britney’s pregnancy.
“He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives,” she says.
The pop star duo dated in their late teens between 1999 and 2002.
Justin was “so sure that he didn’t want to be a father”, Britney writes.
She says she did not know if having the procedure was the right decision, and that she would not have had an abortion if the choice was “left up to me alone”.
“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.”
In her book, titled “The Woman in Me,” the singer candidly discusses her 13-year conservatorship, a setup she has previously described as abusive. Initiated by her father in 2008 following a public breakdown that led to her shaving her head, the conservatorship gave him control over various aspects of her life.
Britney Spears testified in court in 2021, revealing shocking details of her ordeal: she was drugged, coerced into performing against her will, and denied the ability to have more children. Her father wielded power over her finances, career choices, personal matters, and even her interactions with her teenage sons and remarriage prospects.
In the book, Britney provides deeper insights into the oppressive nature of the conservatorship, describing it as “soul-crushing.” She reflects on how her authentic self was suppressed, pushed aside by demands to be wild onstage and robotic offstage.
Her acts of rebellion, like shaving her head and “acting out,” were attempts to resist. However, under the conservatorship, she felt compelled to abandon these expressions of autonomy. Britney reveals that her father repeatedly criticized her appearance, body-shaming her, and treated her in an infantilizing manner. Over time, the conservatorship eroded her passion for performing.
Amidst these distressing accounts, the book also portrays brighter moments from her childhood, such as her return to high school in Kentwood, Louisiana, where she sought a sense of normalcy.
“There was something so beautifully normal about that period of my life: going to homecoming and prom, driving around our little town, going to the movies,” she writes.
The normalcy would be short lived. Britney says she was quickly called back to performing, signing a deal with Jive Records at age 15, later going on to release hits Baby One More Time and Oops!… I Did It Again.
Since the end of her conservatorship, Britney has recorded several more hits. She also married her boyfriend Sam Asghari, though the couple divorced after a year.
She says the years after her conservatorship have allowed her to construct a new identity.
“I’ve had to say, Wait a second, this is who I was – someone passive and pleasing. A girl. And this is who I am now – someone strong and confident. A woman,” she writes.
