From her childhood in the South of the United States to the permanent infantilization she experienced, including her breakup with Justin Timberlake: here are some highlights taken from Britney Spears’ memoirs, which AFP was able to read before their release Tuesday.
Family violence
“At home, I was afraid,” writes the singer in the first pages of her book, “The Woman in Me” (published by Simon&Schuster in the United States and JCLattès in France, under the title “La femme en moi”). . The reason ? His father, Jamie Spears, who ruled every aspect of his personal and professional life for thirteen years. Described as an alcoholic and violent, over the years he continually “belittled” her. It is in this context that she says she started drinking at the age of 13, with her mother. The singer traces the family thread to try to explain the origin of this violence. Like when she returns to her paternal grandmother, Jean. Interned by her grandfather, she committed suicide at the age of 31 on her infant’s grave.
Benjamin Button Syndrome
To remain forever the 17-year-old girl who established herself in the hearts of millions of people at the time of her hit “Baby One More Time”: this is what the singer fought for for years. At the same time, she admits to having suffered from “Benjamin Button” syndrome. Reference to the eponymous film with Brad Pitt, inspired by the short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which features a man who is born old and who becomes younger over the years. This is precisely what the star says she experienced at several points in her life. First during her breakup with Justin Timberlake, where she cloistered herself at home, never leaving her bed, like a child, for days. Then at the birth of her children, where she says she felt like she was “becoming a baby again”. More generally, the fact of having been under guardianship considerably infantilized her, to the point of not knowing how to be an “adult woman”.
Justin Timberlake
He was her great love. However, the pop star has never released the details of their separation to the public. This is now done in the book where she explains that she was “devastated” when Justin Timberlake broke up “by text” with her. When he stages their breakup in his music video “Cry Me a River”, going so far as to choose an actress resembling Britney Spears, she remains silent, taking it in silence while she is thrown out to pasture to the media. The cause ? She allegedly cheated on her partner. If she admits to having cheated on the singer only once, this was, according to her, commonplace with him. Described by the media as a “slut”, she was forced by her father to give an interview to American journalist Diane Sawyer who asked her what she did to Timberlake to cause him “so much pain”. “I felt like I had been taken advantage of,” she wrote. “Trapped in front of the whole world.”
Guardianship
“Britney Spears, it’s me,” her father will tell her when she tries to question the guardianship which confiscated thirteen years of her life. “If I was not able to make decisions, why was I considered capable of performing in public? », she writes in reference to the 200 shows she gave, under supervision, during her residency in Las Vegas. “For two years, I ate almost nothing other than chicken and canned vegetables. […] I was begging for a hamburger or an ice cream,” she says. She talks at length about her internment in 2019 in the book. On antidepressants and lithium, “I was half dead,” she writes. “I felt like someone wanted to kill me,” she said again. And to praise “a strength in (her)” which allowed her to hold on and rebel.