Britney Spears has responded to claims made by her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, in his upcoming memoir You Thought You Knew. In the book, which is set for release later this month, Kevin details his two-year marriage to Britney and makes a number of claims about her parenting and mental health.
The former couple divorced in 2007 and share two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, with Kevin obtaining sole physical custody of their children in the same year. In his memoir, the former dancer makes a number of shocking accusations about the singer, including allegations of drug use while breastfeeding and erratic behaviour around their sons. In an excerpt of the book published in the New York Times, Kevin claims that their children would wake up ‘to find [Britney] standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep – “Oh, you’re awake?” – with a knife in her hand’ before she’d ‘turn around and pad off without explanation.’
Britney has since responded to the allegations in Kevin’s memoir, writing in an Instagram post on Wednesday (16 October): “The constant gaslighting from ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting. I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys. Relationships with teenage boys is complex. I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life.
“Sadly, they have always witnessed the lack of respect shown by my own father for me. They need to take responsibility for themselves. With one son only seeing me for 45 min in the past five years and the other with only four visits in the past five years. I have pride too. From now on I will let them know when I am available.”
She continued: “Trust me, those white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank and I am the only one who genuinely gets hurt here. I will always love them and if you really know me, you won’t pay attention to the tabloids of my mental health and drinking. I am actually a pretty intelligent woman who has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past 5 years. I speak on this because I have had enough and any real woman would do the same.”
In an official response from Britney’s team, a spokesperson told The Independent: “With news from Kevin’s book breaking, once again he and others are profiting off her and sadly it comes after child support has ended with Kevin. All she cares about are her kids, Sean Preston and Jayden James and their wellbeing during this sensationalism. She detailed her journey in her memoir.”
Kevin also writes about the #FreeBritney movement in his memoir, stating that while it ‘started from a good place’ that it’s ‘no longer about freedom. It’s about survival’. As per The Guardian, he writes: “This situation with Britney feels like it’s racing toward something irreversible. It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK. From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the 11th hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.”
In her own memoir, Britney discussed the reality of her 13 year conservatorship and claimed that during their custody battle, Kevin had ‘tried to convince everyone that I was completely out of control’.
Britney’s best-selling memoir, The Woman In Me, will be turned into a feature-length film with Wicked director Jon. M. Chu confirmed to be steering the biopic.