The Nine Biggest Takeaways from Britney Spears’s Memoir, “The Woman in Me”

In her tell-all memoir The Woman in Me, Britney Spears shares the untold stories of her meteoric music career and her 13-year conservatorship.

Leaked details and excerpts from the highly anticipated book have emerged ahead of its October 24 release. The highlights reveal several personal truths about the singer's life—including how public scrutiny affected her mental health, why she decided to end her pregnancy while dating Justin Timberlake, the struggles she faced during her conservatorship, and how she discovered the #FreeBritney movement.

Below, we break down all of the biggest revelations. Watch this space for updates.

1 | She "burst into tears" following her Star Search appearance with Ed McMahon.

Spears describes her 1992 appearance on the famed talent competition, where she had an uncomfortable interaction with host Ed McMahon.

While speaking with McMahon in a segment on the show, the comedian asked her if she had a boyfriend. After she replied that she didn't, because they were "mean," the host responded, "I'm not mean! How about me!"

Spears, who was ten years old at the time, writes that she "kept it together" until she left the stage. "But then I burst into tears," she adds.

2 | She wanted to return home and life "a normal life" after leaving The Mickey Mouse Club.

After the singer's 1993 stint on The Mickey Mouse Club, Spears writes that she decided she wanted to live a "normal life" in her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana.

However, soon after a lawyer whom her mother met on the audition circuit named Larry Rudolph suggested that she record a demo. Spears went on to win a record deal at 15, and Rudolph became her longtime manager.

Spears also describes her time on the variety program, writing that while the show was "unbelievably fun," it was also "exceptionally hard work," with the kids expected to practice choreography and routines "thirty times in a day."

"Being in the show was boot camp for the entertainment industry: extensive dance rehearsals, singing lessons, acting classes, time in the recording studio, and school in between," she added.

3 | She began taking Prozac due to public criticism during her early rise.

Spears recalls the public criticism she faced in the early days of her career, as she faced heightened scrutiny while on tour with *NSYNC and publicly dating Justin Timberlake.

She writes that she "couldn’t help but notice" that talk show hosts asked Timberlake different kinds of questions from the ones that she was asked. "Everyone kept making strange comments about my breasts," she says, "wanting to know whether or not I'd had plastic surgery."

She adds that the pressure only grew as she became a fixture on MTV, and the public criticism ultimately led her to start taking the antidepressant Prozac.

4 | She decided to get an abortion after getting pregnant during her relationship with Timberlake.

Spears reveals that she became pregnant during her relationship with Timberlake in the early '00s. She writes that she didn't view the pregnancy as "a tragedy," but was conflicted at the decision, but that he thought they were too young. After some difficult discussions, she agreed to "not to have the baby," she adds.

5 | She recalls her "breaking point" following her breakup with Timberlake.

When recalling her relationship with the singer, Spears describes their connection as magnetic, and writes that their breakup left her "devastated" and fantasizing about quitting show business. She also mentions that Timberlake initiated their split over text message.

She also recounts her reaction to the release of Timberlake's music video “Cry Me a River,” in which, "a woman who looks like me cheats on him and he wanders around sad in the rain." She writes that she felt the media portrayed her as a "harlot who'd broken the heart of America’s golden boy," adding, "I was comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood."

She also describes her 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer as a "breaking point" in the midst of the split. She explains that she felt forced by her father and her management team to do the interview, during which Sawyer questioned her on what she did to her ex that caused him "so much pain."

"I felt like I had been exploited, set up in front of the whole world," she adds.

6 | She says that 2007 incidents were her "ways of pushing back" against her mental struggles at the time.

Spears recalls some of her most infamous public episodes from the time, including shaving her head and attacking a paparazzo's car with an umbrella. She reveals that these incidents occurred when she was "out of [her] mind with grief following the death of her aunt and her custody battle with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

"With my head shaved, everyone was scared of me, even my mom," she says. "Flailing those weeks without my children, I lost it, over and over again. I didn’t even really know how to take care of myself."

She adds, "I am willing to admit that in the throes of severe postpartum depression, abandonment by my husband, the torture of being separated from my two babies, the death of my adored aunt Sandra, and the constant drumbeat of pressure from paparazzi, I’d begin to think in some ways like a child."

7 | She stopped fighting her conservatorship at one point, out of fear of losing her sons.

Spears recounts in detail her experiences living under a conservatorship, during which her father Jamie Spears retained control over her financial and physical freedom. She writes that she was shielded from the outside world, always medicated, and never alone, even as she returned to work as a singer.

"Too sick to choose my own boyfriend and yet somehow healthy enough to appear on sitcoms and morning shows, and to perform for thousands of people in a different part of the world every week."

"I know I had been acting wild, but there was nothing I'd done that justified their treating me like I was a bank robber," she adds. "Nothing that justified upending my entire life."

She also says of her father, "From that point on, I began to think that he saw me as put on the earth for no other reason than to help their cash flow." Elsewhere in the book, she recalls her father saying at one point, "I'm Britney Spears now."

Spears quietly pushed back against the conservatorship over the years, though she says that her thoughts were often ignored or minimized. In one instance, she recounts mentioning the conservatorship during a 2016 talk show appearance, adding, "Somehow that part of the interview didn’t make it to the air. Huh. How interesting."

She also writes that at a certain point, her exhaustion and her fear of losing access to her sons led her to stop fighting.

"After being held down on a gurney, I knew they could restrain my body any time they wanted to. And so I went along with it," she says. "My freedom in exchange for naps with my children—it was a trade I was willing to make."

"The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child," she adds. "I became more of an entity than a person onstage. I had always felt music in my bones and my blood; they stole that from me."

8 | She discovered the #FreeBritney movement in 2018.

Spears explains that she first encountered the viral movement in late 2018, at a time when she was made to undergo further mental health evaluations and then spend more than three months at a Beverly Hills rehab. She writes that during the stint, she was prescribed lithium and only allowed an hour of television before a 9 p.m. bedtime.

"They kept me locked up against my will for months," she says. "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."

While in rehab, Spears says that a nurse showed her clips of fans questioning the need for the singer's conservatorship. "That was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen in my life," she writes. "I don't think people knew how much the #FreeBritney movement meant to me, especially in the beginning."

Years later, the singer received the call that her conservatorship was officially over, hearing the news from her new lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart, while she was at a resort in Tahiti. "I felt relief sweep over me," she describes. "The man who had scared me as a child and ruled over me as an adult, who had done more than anyone to undermine my self-confidence, was no longer in control of my life."

9 | She doesn't feel motivated to return to music.

Spears describes the aftermath of her conservatorship, including her estrangement from most of her family. "Migraines are just one part of the physical and emotional damage I have now that I'm out of the conservatorship," she writes. "I don't think my family understands the real damage that they did."

She also addresses the future of her music career, explaining that she does not feel motivated to return to performing. She does mention her collaboration single "Hold Me Closer"with Elton John, whom she names as one of her musical heroes.

"Pushing forward in my music career is not my focus at the moment," she says. "It's time for me not to be someone who other people want; it's time to actually find myself."

You Might Also Like

• 4 Investment-Worthy Skincare Finds From Sephora

• The 17 Best Retinol Creams Worth Adding to Your Skin Care Routine