5 Revelations from Britney’s New Book
Britney Spears will release her highly anticipated memoir, “The Woman in Me,” on October 24, but we’re getting our first look thanks to People Magazine. People has exclusive excerpts from the book and an exclusive interview with Spears, done over email.
Spears told People that she’s “finally free” to share her story, following the termination of her conservatorship in 2021. “Learning this new freedom, I’ll admit, is challenging at times,” she told People in her email interview.
Fans are expecting some bombshell moments in the memoir, and according to the excerpts already released, the book will not disappoint. Here are the 5 revelations we’ve seen so far:
#1 When Spears was in eighth grade, her mom gave her alcohol so they could drink together.
“For fun, starting when I was in eighth grade, my mom and I would make the two-hour drive from Kentwood to Biloxi, Mississippi, and while we were there, we would drink daiquiris. We called our cocktails “toddies.” I loved that I was able to drink with my mom every now and then. The way we drank was nothing like how my father did it. When he drank, he grew more depressed and shut down. We became happier, more alive and adventurous.”
#2 Spears claims shaving her head was an act of rebellion, not a mental health crisis.
“I’d been eyeballed so much growing up. I’d been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager. Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back. But under the conservatorship I was made to understand that those days were now over. I had to grow my hair out and get back into shape. I had to go to bed early and take whatever medication they told me to take.”
#3 Spears reveals she became pregnant with Justin Timberlake’s child and had an abortion.
“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.”
#4 Spears writes about the verbal abuse she received from her father.
“If I thought getting criticized about my body in the press was bad, it hurt even more from my own father. He repeatedly told me I looked fat and that I was going to have to do something about it. Feeling like you’re never good enough is a soul-crushing state of being for a child. He’d drummed that message into me as a girl, and even after I’d accomplished so much, he was continuing to do that to me.”
#5 Spears hated performing with a snake at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards.
“The plan was for me to sing “I’m a Slave 4 U,” and we decided I would use a snake as a prop. It’s become an iconic moment in VMAs history, but it was even more terrifying than it appeared. All I knew was to look down, because I felt if I looked up and caught its eye, it would kill me. In my head I was saying, Just perform, just use your legs and perform. But 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. I was thinking, Are you f—ing serious right now? The f—ing goddamn snake’s tongue is flicking out at me. Right. Now. Finally, I got to the part where I handed it back, thank God.”
People is promising more in its cover story, on newsstands Friday. “The Woman in Me” hits bookshelves October 24.
