Britney Spears discussed her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, with People magazine, as revelations from the book began to make headlines across the world.
Spears, the pop star known for hit singles including “...Baby One More Time” and “Oops!...I Did It Again,” told the magazine, “Over the past 15 years or even at the start of my career, I sat back while people spoke about me and told my story for me. After getting out of my conservatorship, I was finally free to tell my story without consequences from the people in charge of my life.”
Spears, who has gone through highly publicized mental health struggles, was placed in a conservatorship run by her father from 2008 to 2021.
People printed excerpts from Spears’ book, including one in which she says that she had an abortion while she was dating fellow pop singer Justin Timberlake. “I loved Justin so much,” Spears wrote. “I always expected us to have a family together one day. 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."
In other excerpts, Spears writes that she drank daiquiris with her mother when she was in the eighth grade, and that her father body-shamed her during her conservatorship.
“It is finally time for me to raise my voice and speak out, and my fans deserve to hear it directly from me,” Spears told the magazine. “No more conspiracy, no more lies—just me owning my past, present and future.”
The Woman in Me is scheduled for publication by Gallery Books on Oct. 24.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
