Who better than American pop singer Britney Spears knows what it’s like to be trapped ‘first by poverty, then by fame, then by your own family’.
That’s all included in Britney Spears’ book ‘The Woman in Me’, which hit the market on Tuesday.
Britney Spears has been ridiculed and questioned all her life, and all these memories with all their bitterness are present in this book.
As a young girl and singer, journalists repeatedly asked questions about her personal and sex life. Then when she grew up, under a court order of ‘conservatorship’, all decisions in her life went to her father for a long time, affecting even Britney’s basic human rights.
Britney, meanwhile, could not see her two sons for 13 years without a permit, had her driver’s license revoked, and could not even choose her own meals.
They were forbidden to drink tea or coffee. When she wanted to remove the contraceptive intrauterine device, her request was also rejected.
A court-ordered stay under her father’s supervision was lifted two years ago when a judge ruled that Britney Spears could make her own decisions again.
However, his autobiography shows that the end of these restrictions was not a happy one either.
“Migraines are just one part of the physical and emotional damage I’ve suffered since leaving Conservatorship,” she writes.
“I don’t think my family has any idea how much they’ve hurt me,” she writes.
And for his fans hoping to hear new music, he has some bad news.
“My music was my life and that restriction was fatal to it (music). This ban crushed my soul.
All these events had a profound effect on Britney Spears’ life.
‘Her words were now I’m Britney Spears’
It was 1998 when Britney topped the pop charts. It was all very exciting for him but the press refused to believe that he had an agency whose songs were written for him. He felt that this disgusting impression of him in public was made by older men.
The more Britney was treated as a product and a pawn of the music industry, the easier it became to erode her autonomy.
In one of the few heartwarming moments in the book, Britney Spears recalls her father telling her that he now took legal control of my personal and professional affairs.
Her words were ‘Now I’m Britney Spears. ‘
The opening part of Britney Spears’ book tells how much people underestimated and despised her.
Britney Spears may not have written the music, but when she was given ‘Baby One More Time’, she stayed up all night to make sure her voice got the swell and yearning that it did. May the maturity of the song increase.
And when it came to shooting the video, 16-year-old Britney rejected the original pitch, which had her as a future astronaut, instead insisting on dancing in high school hallways.
Both decisions were critical to making the song a hit, but neither was ready to accept that the blonde teenager from a Louisiana trailer park could defy all preconceived notions in the music industry.
She writes, ‘Nobody can find me attractive and competent at the same time. If I’m attractive to people, I can’t possibly be talented.’
His promoters portrayed him as a baby.
She is portrayed as a pious, God-fearing girl, although she herself writes that from the age of 14 she was a regular smoker and also had sex. She writes in the book ‘Heart to Heart’ written in 2000 with her mother.
“I’m not the kind of girl who feels ashamed when people ask to ‘have fun’ together and I say no thanks.” Rather, I prefer to rock and roll and get a good night’s sleep. ‘
Justin Timberlake and abortion
She was never completely debauched and her nights were never as colorful as the media made them out to be and she was never addicted to drugs. At a time when other musicians were intoxicated, she was on ADHD medication.
According to him, “It made me crazy, but what I found even more fascinating was that it made me feel less depressed for a few hours.”
Eventually, Britney Spears’ innocence began to push her down.
In one of the book’s most poignant lessons, she discusses her ‘abortion’ during her relationship with Justin Timberlake.
The drugs she was given for this miscarriage left her in agony. However, the couple was afraid to go to the hospital for fear of revealing the secret.
Meanwhile, Britney Spears lay on the bathroom floor crying and screaming in pain for hours. “Still, he didn’t take me to the hospital. Instead, Timberlake thought maybe music would help support me, so he took his guitar and laid there next to me and started playing.”
Despite all this trauma, she went back to work. However, Timberlake broke up with her on the set of the music video via text message.
After this separation, they were humiliated in the press. Meanwhile, Timberlake insisted that Britney had cheated on him.
Timberlake has yet to respond to his portrayal in the book.
The couple’s ‘breakup’ gave people an opportunity to make good things about Britney Spears’ personal life.
Britney has said that a People magazine photographer recently asked her to empty her handbag, so they could check if it contained drugs or cigarettes.
‘I was a good girl for years’
The pressure eventually became too much for Britney. Worried and depressed by the death of her aunt Sandra in 2007, Britney Spears went into severe depression. Meanwhile, he went to a hair salon and picked up a pair of scissors and cut his hair.
“Shaving my head was a way of telling the world that I had been a good girl for years,” she wrote. I would smile politely when TV show hosts would lean towards my breasts while American parents would say I was ruining their kids by wearing a crop top and I would shut up and I was tired of it. I have gone.’
We all know what happened next. Rather than her act being seen as an act of strength or rebellion, Britney Spears’ act was used as evidence of instability.
Within a year, he was placed under his father’s guardianship under conservatorship.
‘Let me go’
Britney Spears is a straightforward writer. She does not embellish her prose with artificiality and this style makes the horror of those bygone years even stronger.
She talks about being laid on a hospital stretcher and being forced to take medicine against her will. They are not allowed to bathe in privacy. Before going on dates with boyfriends, they are screened and informed of Britney’s past sexual relationships.
At first she tries to satisfy her parents and doctors, ‘If I do as I am told, surely they will see how good I am and they will let me go.’
Access to her two young sons is used as bargaining chip when she contemplates rebellion.
She admits that ‘my freedom in exchange for spending the night with my children’ was a trade-off she was willing to make.
But reportedly unable to look after herself, Britney Spears was sold on tour and hired as a judge on The X Factor.
In the book, she explains how others made millions of dollars from her work while she was strictly paid only $2,000 per week.
Losing all sense of self, they almost gave up.
Britney Spears recalls, “The fire inside me began to dim and the light began to fade from my eyes.”
A turning point in her life comes when a kind nurse shows her footage of her fans discussing the ‘Free Britney Movement’.
Then, with renewed courage, she hires a new attorney and calls 911 for help and reports the abuse she experienced while under conservatorship.
Britney has been free for nearly two years now, but it will take years to erase the effects of that period.
Britney Spears’ writing is particularly tinged with anger when talking about her father.
She describes Jamie Spears as an alcoholic and a failed businessman. A reckless and cold-tempered personality who pushed his children to extremes and abused their mother.
Now I can eat chocolate whenever I want.
It’s impossible not to feel sorry for Britney Spears while reading her book.
A small description of his new life in the book seems to emphasize how dark his world has become, however,
‘Now I can eat chocolate whenever I want.’ ‘
Britney Spears’ story is told with the same warmth that made her a star. And beyond the defining events of the last 15 years, she makes a good connection in her writing. Whether it’s describing pregnancy cravings or telling the story of a dance-with-a-snake scare at the 2001 MTV Awards.
There are no real villains or scandals revealed in this piece, nor are there any major revelations about Britney Spears’ music or inner life, other than her family’s.
Britney’s story revolves around the corrupting influence of fame and money, which may not be new but can be a ray of hope for a woman whose adult life is in someone else’s hands.
“It’s time to stop being what other people want me to be,” she writes. It’s time to actually find yourself.’