Now that Britney Spears’ new memoir, “The Woman in Me,” has finally hit shelves, fans are clamoring to hear the “Toxic” singer’s story in her own words. However, in case your time is limited or you’re just not much of a reader (or an audio book listener), we’ve compiled some of the biggest bombshells from the book you’ll want to know about.
Britney Spears had an abortion when she was with Justin Timberlake
This one was revealed in an exclusive before “The Woman in Me” was actually released, and it came as quite a shock. While pretty much no one was under the illusion that Britney and Justin remained pure and virginal over the three years they were together, an unplanned pregnancy wasn’t on anyone’s pop culture bingo card.
Britney said that Justin was very adamant about not wanting to be a father and that if it was up to her, she wouldn’t have made the same choice. However, she was totally in love with Justin and didn’t have much support when it came to actually keeping the baby, so that was that.
Justin dumped Britney via text.
This is another biggie that came out before the book hit shelves. Britney was on the set of a music video when she got a two-word text from Justin which simply read, “It’s over!!!” What a way to end a long-term relationship!
Britney admitted that she was “devastated” by the split and that she “could barely speak for months.” She went back to Louisiana to try and move past the breakup and even considered leaving showbiz for good, that’s how upset she was.
According to Britney, Justin later flew out to Louisiana to hand deliver a letter that he wrote and framed that ended with the line, “I can’t breathe without you.”
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Britney felt like she’d been “set up” after rumors that she’d cheated on Justin.
In Justin Timberlake’s video for “Cry Me a River,” it was clear that he was trying to paint Britney Spears as a massive cheater who deserved all the pain and misery she was explaining. The experience was an upsetting one for Britney, who was “comatose in Louisiana” while Justin yukked it up in Hollywood.
Britney also discussed her November 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer that her dad and manager arranged in which she was questioned about all he pain she allegedly caused Justin. She described the experience as her “breaking point.” She wrote, “I felt like I had been exploited, set up in front of the whole world.”
Britney was super into Adderall.
Britney Spears writes in “The Woman in Me” that while she was often seen out partying with the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, she wasn’t actually all that wild. However, she did like Adderall and used to use it often.
She said that Adderall helped her enjoy “a few hours of feeling less depressed.” Whether or not she still uses it or to what extent she did remains unclear.
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Britney Spears had a fun fling with Colin Farrell
This isn’t necessarily a major bombshell in “The Woman in Me,” but it was great to see Britney discussing her hookup with Colin Farrell some two decades ago. “Brawl is the only word for it—we were all over each other, grappling so passionately it was like we were in a street fight,” she wrote. However, she added that she wasn’t “over Justin” at the time and therefore there was nothing serious between herself and the actor.
However, she looks back on the experience with mixed feelings, writing, “But for a brief moment in time, I did think there could be something there. The disappointments in my romantic life were just one part of how isolated I became. I felt so awkward all the time.”
Her marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander was something to do while she was bored.
Britney writes in “The Woman in Me” that she was “just honestly very drunk” when she and Alexander decided to say “I do” in Veags in 2004. Lest we forget, the marriage was annulled only 55 hours later.
Her family, of course, didn’t take it well. While she described the whole thing as “innocent fun,” her family reacted “like I’d started World War III.”
Shaving her head was an act of rebellion.
This is another bombshell from “The Woman in Me” that Britney felt the need to share. Remember back in February 2007 when she went into a salon in LA and shaved her hair off? That was an intentional move, Britney says.
“I’d been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager,” she revealed. “Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back.”
She added that she was also “out of my mind with grief” at the time due to the custody battle she was in over her two sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline. “Flailing those weeks without my children, I lost it, over and over again,” she admitted. “I didn’t even really know how to take care of myself.”
Britney didn’t fight her conservatorship because she wanted to see her kids.
This is one of the most heartbreaking revelations in “The Woman in Me.” Britney said that while she “begged the court to appoint literally anyone else” than her father, Jamie Spears, to head up her conservatorship, she eventually gave up just so she could have time with her kids.
My freedom in exchange for naps with my children—it was a trade I was willing to make,” she wrote. “There is nothing I love more—nothing more improtant to me on this earth—than my children. I’d lay down my life for them.”
Every single aspect of her life was controlled by the conservatorship.
Britney revealed that from the medication she was given to her iPhone settings, “everything was scrutinized and controlled. Everything.”
One of the worst things she experienced was the constant criticism about her weight.
“If I thought getting criticized about my body in the press was bad, it hurt even more from my own father,” she shared. “He repeatedly told me I looked fat and that I was going to have to do something about it.”
At one point in 2019, she was forced by her father to go to rehab, with her dad telling her that if she didn’t, then she’d have to go to court and “I’d be embarrassed.” There, she says she was given lithium and kept there “against my will” for months. She added, “I couldn’t go outside. I couldn’t drive a car. I had to give blood weekly. I couldn’t take a bath in private. I couldn’t shut the door to my room.”
Britney’s naked Instagram posts do serve a purpose.
Finally, Britney said that while she gets that not everyone is feeling her half-naked dancing and posing on Instagram, she does it because she wants to.
“I know that a lot of people don’t understand why I love taking pictures of myself naked or in new dresses,” she explained. “But I think if they’d been photographed by other people thousands of times, prodded and posed for other people’s approval, they’d understand that I get a lot of joy from posing the way I feel sexy and taking my own picture, doing whatever I want with it.”
Fair enough!
