"The woman in me was pushed down for a long time," Britney writes in her memoir. "They wanted me to be wild onstage, the way they told me to be, and to be a robot the rest of the time...I became a robot. But not just a robot—a sort of child-robot." Britney talks a lot throughout her book about reverting to her inner child at various times throughout her life because of trauma after trauma. The math is mathing.
Her first kiss with Justin happened during a game of Truth or Dare during The Mickey Mouse Club days—ironically enough, to a Janet Jackson song playing in the background.
Britney said she thought Justin and the other guys of NSYNC “tried too hard” and specifically made fun of Justin’s "blaccent." She said she actually prefers Backstreet Boys!
Britney left no stone unturned in The Woman in Me. The internet has collectively been realizing recently just how unfairly Britney was treated by the media in the '90s and early 2000s, and she opened up about how it made her feel at the time. She called out Diane Sawyer specifically, writing, “I shouldn’t have been forced to speak on national TV, forced to cry in front of this stranger, a woman who was relentlessly going after me with harsh questions after harsh questions. Instead, I felt like I had been exploited, set up in front of the whole world. That interview was a breaking point for me internally — a switch had been flipped. I felt something dark come over my body.”
In her memoir, Britney details the audition process for The Mickey Mouse Club, and claims she and Christina Aguilera actually didn't make the cut the first time around—because they were too young! They had to try out again a couple of years later.
Britney details her marriage to Kevin Federline, starting with the answer to the question we've all had for literal decades now: Why was she with him to begin with??? Turns out, he "held" her—and a recurring theme in Brit's life is how lonely she's always felt. He then proceeded to ghost her once he thought he was really cashing in on his 15 minutes of fame, and somehow managed to keep her kids from her. And somehow he still made it out of this looking better than Timberlake????????? Go figure.
Britney reveals that the iconic makeout sesh with the princesses of pop—Britney, Christina, and Madonna—was 100% improv. During rehearsals, they blew each other air kisses; but in the heat of the moment, Britney confesses she just decided to go for it.
In The Woman in Me, Brit details how she landed her record deal at the age of 15—by singing Whitney Houston songs "to a room full of grown men."
Britney got a lot of heat for her iconic VMAs performance with a snake. However, come to find out, Britney didn't even want to do it! She claims she was absolutely terrified, and that it was hissing and flicking its tongue in her face. She was able to hand it off just in the nick of time!
She quit her acting career before it ever really began after filming Crossroads because she went full method acting without realizing it and lost herself in the character. Throughout her memoir, she discusses various roles she regrets not taking because she was so scared she'd lose herself again.
She first became aware of the #FreeBritney movement while in "rehab" (I put the quotations because she was held there against her will by her family and conservators). She says a nurse showed her #FreeBritney in the news, and Britney finally realized some people might actually believe her word over her father's and the media's. "It was as if I had forgotten that I was a powerful woman," she writes. And so she took her power back by taking her father to court and ending her conservatorship.
Likely, the biggest takeaway from Britney's memoir is that Justin Timberlake is a major tool—and always has been. She details his "blaccent" (the audiobook is worth a listen just for Michelle Williams's iconic recreation), as well as the horrific way he broke up with her—via TEXT MESSAGE.
Britney talks a lot in her memoir about her feelings about her relationship and breakup with Justin Timberlake. Although he painted her as the cheater in the media (as she correctly recalls, he cast a Britney lookalike in his music video for "Cry Me A River"), she details several incidences where she knew he was cheating—or at least had a reputation for it—but kept it to herself because she was "so in love with him." Relatable. She also claims she only cheated on him once, and later told him about it. Brit Brit's keeping score, and she's got receipts!
She claims the men in her family had a long history of being abusive toward women. “Even in my family, it was said that the Spears men tended to be bad news, especially in terms of how they treated women.” She claims her grandfather, June, sent two of his grieving wives to asylums—including Jean, Britney Jean's namesake, who unalived herself ON HER SON’S GRAVE eight years after he died. However, Britney says her grandfather mellowed in his older age, and she only knew “a grandfather who seemed patient and sweet"—she can't exactly say the same for her father though.
She learned at a young age that being quiet and "a good girl" kept her out of trouble with a father who loved to drink and a mother who loved to yell. She found her voice in singing—and singing alone.
Perhaps the biggest reveal in her memoir is that while we were all fangirling over their matching-denim romance and Justin's ramen-noodle hair, Britney became pregnant—and ultimately, she and Justin decided to end it. She claims he was adamant he "didn't want to be a father," and that she would have gone through with the pregnancy if he hadn't been so opposed. Fun fact: He played guitar to "make her feel better" while she sobbed on the bathroom floor "for hours." HE AND HER ASSISTANT FELICIA DIDN'T EVEN GET HER PAIN MEDS. Just sang her his stupid little songs.
Remember that seemingly random British accent Britney had in "Work B—"? Well, turns out it does come from somewhere. Her grandmother was British, and Britney says that “talking in a British accent has always made me happy because it makes me think of her, my fashionable grandmother. I wanted to have manners and a lilting voice just like hers.”
Maybe don't hold out hope for a Britney comeback tour anytime soon. “I keep getting asked when I’m going to put on shows again,” she writes in her memoir. “I confess that I’m struggling with that question. I’m enjoying dancing and singing the way I used to when I was younger and not trying to do it for my family’s benefit, not trying to get something, but doing it for me and for my genuine love for it.”
