In her new memoir, The Woman In Me, Britney Spears opens up about the real reason behind her divorce from Kevin Federline in 2006. She claims that Federline was “enthralled with the fame and power” that came with being married to her, and that he ultimately wanted to “be famous in his own right.”
Spears writes that she was initially drawn to Federline because he made her feel “safe and alive and sexy all at the same time.” But she soon realized that he was more interested in the celebrity lifestyle than he was in her.
“One time he came home late and told me he’d been at a party,” she writes. “‘Justin Timberlake was there!’ he said. ‘Lindsay Lohan was, too!'”
Spears says that Federline was constantly telling her about all the famous people he was meeting and the parties he was going to. He also started to become more and more controlling, forbidding her from seeing her friends and family.
“He wanted to isolate me,” she writes. “He wanted me to be all his.”
The final straw came when Federline told Spears that he wanted to do a reality TV show about their marriage. Spears was horrified. She had always been private about her personal life, and she didn’t want to share it with the world.
“I told him I didn’t want to do it,” she writes. “But he insisted. He said it would be good for our careers.”
Spears eventually agreed to do the show, but she regretted it immediately. She felt like she was being exploited by Federline and his team.
“I felt like I was in a cage,” she writes. “I couldn’t escape.”
The reality show only lasted one season, but it did irreparable damage to Spears’ marriage. She and Federline divorced just a few months after the show ended.
In her memoir, Spears also claims that Federline was physically abusive to her. She says that he would often push and shove her, and that he once threw a phone at her head.
“He was always angry,” she writes. “I was always afraid.”
Spears says that she finally left Federline after he threatened to take their children away from her. She was placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold, and she was eventually granted full custody of her sons.
Spears’ story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of fame and the importance of finding a partner who loves and respects you for who you are, not for what you can do for them.
