Britney Spears

[dragonflie]

I take nothing Britney says without at least 500 pounds of salt. She is notoriously unreliable, delusional,and just incorrect in things she says.

I would not be surprised at all if her "abortion" was actually just a few days of a missed period/pregnancy scare, and then her ending up not being pregnant at all. She has done this very thing quite recently (declared she was pregnant, more than once I believe, when it wasn't true). That being said- it's also entirely possible she did have an abortion. The point being: I trust absolutely no "revelations" that come from this book at all.

[matti]

Oct 12, 2023 23:34:56 GMT -4 cremetangerine82 said:

There have been rumors and a recent retrospective is a good read. After the Britney Spears documentary, Justin did apologize. Justin remains a PAB.

OK I am SO behind but the best thing about that Nicki Swift Introspective is Ben Affleck's agent saying "Rehashed Bullshit" when asked about his supposed affair with Britney!! 😭😭😭😂


Isn't that his whole existence 😂🤣

[cremetangerine82]

Wait, when was Ben allegedly with Britney?

[Ladybug]

I’m listening to the audiobook and Michelle Williams is knocking it out of the park. She’s performing the book so well. Britney may be an unreliable narrator but hearing the story from her perspective is pretty fascinating.

The break up with “J” is the major event of the book. I’m up to the part where the marriage to KFed is breaking down but she’s still talking about how Justin shattered her. And she still seems to hate Jamie Lynn.

ETA she does talk about dating the (married) paparazzi photographer

[cancan]

Oct 21, 2023 18:50:10 GMT -4 cremetangerine82 said:

Wait, when was Ben allegedly with Britney?

I remember this going down in real time because I was so in love with Ben Affleck that I saw Chasing Amy in the theater three times. Ah, youth.

Anyway, I would say 1999-2000ish. It was either while he and Gwyneth were on a break, or shortly after they broke up.

If I could check the boxes in my dad's garage, I probably have an old Page Six clipping about it.

There; now you know my secret shame.

[groovethang]

I think I read her book in an hour, it was such a quick read. I do feel bad for her but she glossed over so much. The way she talked about when she locked herself in the bathroom with one of her sons like it was a very short amount of time. Not hours like I seem to remember.
Absolutely no mention of the creepy man who was ordered to stay away from her (whose name is escaping me at the moment).
Her family and the paparazzi suck but I already knew that. If anything it just reinforced that parents should not make a dime off of their children.

[Ladybug]

Oct 29, 2023 12:18:32 GMT -4 groovethang said:

I think I read her book in an hour, it was such a quick read. I do feel bad for her but she glossed over so much. The way she talked about when she locked herself in the bathroom with one of her sons like it was a very short amount of time. Not hours like I seem to remember.
Absolutely no mention of the creepy man who was ordered to stay away from her (whose name is escaping me at the moment).
Her family and the paparazzi suck but I already knew that. If anything it just reiterated that parents should not make a dime off of their children.

I just finished it this morning and I agree, she glossed over a lot. The bathroom situation was explained as "I didn't know when I'd see my boys again so I was afraid to give them back." Sam Lutfi is not mentioned a single time in the entire book.

This is an angry book. Her rage at her father, mother, and siblings is woven throughout the story. She has a smidge of sympathy for her sister, but you don't get that until the end of the book. Her mother and father were awful parents. I mean really bad. Maybe they love her, but they never parented her. Her mom was a "cool mom" and her dad just ordered her around. Neither of them taught her how to be a functioning adult and both exploited her.

Britney talks a lot about her father's family and their generational trauma, but never seems to connect it to herself or her situation in a self-reflective way. Her paternal grandfather was an abusive father and husband, and an alcoholic. Both of his wives ended up in a mental hospital, and one committed suicide. He pushed his son (Britney's dad) to excel at sports by being abusive toward him. Jamie is an alcoholic and Britney also seems to have a fixation on alcohol (more on that in a minute). There is a lot of dysfunction in the Spears family, but Britney never seems to acknowledge that she has mental health disorders or addiction issues. These are things just made up by her family to control her. The only mental health struggle she acknowledges is having post-partum depression.

Also, to Britney "freedom" means being allowed to go on vacation whenever she wants, visit her favorite resorts in Maui and Cancun, and be able to drink alcohol, eat what she wants, and post on Instagram. I mean, good for her, but this is the level we're on in this book. There are many pre-conservatorship passages in the book where Britney gets super drunk and acts out (like her Vegas wedding and 55-hour marriage) that she brushes off as "just having a good time." She lamented many times that while under conservatorship, she wasn't allowed to drink alcohol. At gatherings, no one could drink until she left. Or if there was alcohol, everyone was drinking, but she couldn't even have "a sip of Jack and Coke." She talks about getting daiquiris with her mom (and I think this was before she was 21), drinking with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, etc. But claims she doesn't like pot or hard drugs. Well, she's still an alcoholic, IMO, just like her dad and grandpa. Under the conservatorship, she was given psychotropic meds, but no other drugs were allowed. Her people, including her dad, found what she calls "energy supplements" in her purse and sent her to rehab. She got these "supplements" from her trainer who she was also dating. No accountability at all, and yes, IMO she has an addiction disorder that she will not admit to.

She points out a lot of the misogyny and double standards that surround her and the sexualization she experienced from a young age, and this part I agree with. Male rock stars get away with this kind of behavior, hell, they are celebrated for it. Britney likes drinking, sex, dancing, going out, etc. She is very frank about all that. And she has been judged pretty harshly and had her life taken over to keep making money for her family. They do not seem to care about her mental or emotional health, just getting her well enough to perform. She also claims her naked Instagram posts are related to being sexualized as a young teen, which I have always suspected. She got a lot of positive feedback and attention for posing sexily, and it seems to be what she's still seeking from these posts. This is the only way for her to feel validated.

I listened to the audiobook, and Michelle Williams did a great job with it. She channels Britney through the terrible writing. Stuff like "Music is magical. Music is what I live for. Music is everything to me." I know she had a ghostwriter, but I think the GW mainly helped to organize her thoughts, chronicle events, and explain some of the legalese related to the conservatorship. This book is in Britney's voice and all that that implies. I do think Michelle did a good job interpreting a lot of her feelings about her kids and PPD.

In terms of her children, Britney tells us she's the most devoted mother ever. Everything she says about the boys is positive. All she wants is to be a mom to her boys and create a happy home for them. Of all the characters in this horrid psychodrama, the only ones with a story that would interest me are Sean Preston and Jayden. I feel for those kids. Their mom loves them but I'm sure they've seen some scary stuff.

[Mouse]

I’m glad the boys moved to Hawaii. Keep them far away from the hot mess in the Spears family. I just hope they go to college and live normal, happy lives.

[Auroranorth]

I give Federline and his wife a lot of credit for shielding the kids from the insanity of public life. I've barely seen any photos of them online other than right around when they talked to the press that one time earlier this year. Hopefully they'll stay in Hawaii and live a private life.

[Mouse]

Oct 30, 2023 23:01:05 GMT -4 Auroranorth said:

I give Federline and his wife a lot of credit for shielding the kids from the insanity of public life. I've barely seen any photos of them online other than right around when they talked to the press that one time earlier this year. Hopefully they'll stay in Hawaii and live a private life.

Federline also hasn't tried to push the kids into performing.

Speaking of which, KFed's ex, Shar Jackson seems to be the first to say that Britney isn't telling the truth. In her memoir, Britney claims she didn't know about Shar OR that KFed and Shar had a baby on the way when she first hooked up with him. Shar says that this wasn't true.