Everything to Know About Britney Spears’ Autobiography ‘The Woman in Me’
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Britney Spears announced the release of her memoir, “The Woman in Me,” earlier this summer. According to its publisher, Gallery Books, Spears’ upcoming autobiography tells a “brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith and hope.”
Following a 2021 court case, the pop singer was released from her 13-year conservatorship, which saw Spears’ father, Jamie, in control of her assets, career moves and even her reproductive freedom.
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As its Oct. 24 release date approaches, WWD reveals what’s known about “The Woman in Me” so far.
Michelle Williams Narrates the Audiobook
The Oscar-nominated actress will step into Spears’ shoes for the audiobook version of “The Woman in Me.”
“This book has been a labor of love and all the emotions that come with it,” Spears told People. “Reliving everything has been exciting, heart-wrenching, and emotional, to say the least. For those reasons, I will only be reading a small part of my audiobook.”
“I stand with Britney,” Williams said in a statement to the magazine.
Spears Earned $15 Million From Her Book Deal
Publishers competed for Spears’ autobiography, with Simon & Schuster ultimately landing the rights. The pop star was reportedly paid $15 million, according to Page Six, making it one of the highest-earning book deals in history following Barack and Michelle Obama, who earned $65 million to write their respective memoirs.
Spears Opens Up About Her Relationship With Justin Timberlake
According to a report from Us Weekly, “The Woman in Me” charts Spears’ rocky relationship with NSYNC’s former frontman, Justin Timberlake.
This was confirmed in an excerpt of the book published in People, in which Spears reveals that she was at one point pregnant with his child.
“I always expected us to have a family together one day,” Spears writes. “This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated, but Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.”
Spears goes on to say that she terminated the pregnancy due to Timberlake’s hesitation.
“I don’t know if that was the right decision,” she continues. “If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”
Spears and Timberlake dated from 1999 to 2002. Following their split, Timberlake’s music video for “Cry Me a River” fueled false rumors that Spears cheated on him. This subject is broached in Hulu’s 2021 documentary “Framing Britney Spears.” After viewers of the film expressed their disappointment in Timberlake, he shared an apology on social media.
“I have seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond. I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” Timberlake wrote, directly referring to Spears later in his statement.
Spears Discusses Why She Shaved Her Head
Spears was frequently harassed by paparazzi following the dissolution of her marriage to Kevin Federline in 2007. After she visited a salon with the intention of buzzing off her brunette tresses, her hairstylist refused, leading Spears to trim them herself. Photographers caught the cut on camera with tabloids depicting the singer as having a “breakdown” and accusing her of shaving her head to avoid drug testing.
While Spears has admitted that her split from Federline was one of the hardest periods of her life, in an excerpt of “The Woman in Me” published in People, she reveals that the haircut was an act of rebellion.
“I’d been eyeballed so much growing up,” Spears writes. “I’d been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager. Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back.”
After a series of degrading narratives about Spears’ mental health were published by tabloids, she entered a conservatorship in 2008.
“Under the conservatorship I was made to understand that those days were now over,” she continues. “I had to grow my hair out and get back into shape. I had to go to bed early and take whatever medication they told me to take.”
It’s Currently Unclear if Christina Aguilera is Mentioned
Spears and Aguilera were met as costars on Disney Channel’s “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1990s, and they later became pop star contemporaries after they both launched successful solo careers.
Spears and Aguilera were often pitted against each other in the press, with some publications depicting their relationship as a rivalry. While Spears and Aguilera haven’t remained close, the latter was vocal about Spears’ conservatorship on social media in 2021.
“It is unacceptable that any woman, or human, wanting to be in control of their own destiny might not be allowed to live life as they wish,” Aguilera wrote on Twitter. “To be silenced, ignored, bullied or denied support by those ‘close’ to you is the most depleting, devastating and demeaning thing imaginable… My heart goes out to Britney. She deserves all the true love and support in the world.”
On Tuesday, when Aguilera appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the talk show host asked her whether she was mentioned in Spears’ memoir. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m hoping that everything is all good with her.”
“The Woman in Me” Is Already a Bestseller
Spears’ memoir may not have hit shelves yet, but it’s already topped Amazon’s bestseller list.
Spears celebrated the news on social media. “One week until my book hits shelves,” she said. “Thank you all for making it number one on Amazon already!”
Launch Gallery: Britney Spears' VMA Style
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