'He Repeatedly Told Me I Looked Fat': Britney Spears Recalls Being Body-Shamed by Father Jamie, Encouraged to Lose Weight
Oct. 17 2023, Published 12:36 p.m. ET
Britney Spears is finally ready to tell her story "without consequences from the people in charge of my life" after being stripped of her freedom, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The pop icon said it's been a cathartic and rewarding experience to reclaim her voice following the end of her 13-year conservatorship, which she explained had left her confined and defeated until she was released from their control.
Within the pages of her memoir, Spears opened up about being objectified by the industry and fat-shamed by her father, her early days in The Mickey Mouse Club, and her short-lived acting career.
Spears said that she has always "sat back" while people spoke on her behalf, but now she is ready to rewrite her narrative and share never-before-heard details about her personal life behind the glitz and glam.
"It is finally time for me to raise my voice and speak out, and my fans deserve to hear it directly from me," she told PEOPLE in a new cover story. "No more conspiracy, no more lies — just me owning my past, present and future."
Spears was a star on the rise after being cast on The Mickey Mouse Club at just 11. "It was honestly a kid's dream — unbelievably fun, particularly for a kid like me. But it was also exceptionally hard work: we would run choreography thirty times in a day, trying to get every step perfect."
It was there she would meet A-listers Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, and future boyfriend Justin Timberlake.
"[Once] at a sleepover, we played Truth or Dare, and someone dared Justin to kiss me. A Janet Jackson song was playing in the background as he leaned in and kissed me," she penned in one newly released excerpt.
Spears said she later got back to normalcy and tried to enjoy her teen years, sharing how she loved to drink with her mother, Lynne, every now and then.
"The way we drank was nothing like how my father did it. When he drank, he grew more depressed and shut down. We became happier, more alive and adventurous," she wrote.
Spears soon found her claim to fame with record-smashing albums and electric performances, also filming her first movie in 2002.
"I ended up walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently. I was someone else for months while I filmed Crossroads." she shared. "Still to this day, I bet the girls I shot that movie with think, She's a little … quirky. If they thought that, they were right."
The Gimme More hitmaker noted, "That was pretty much the beginning and end of my acting career, and I was relieved."
"The Notebook casting came down to me and Rachel McAdams, and even though it would have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on the Mickey Mouse Club, I'm glad I didn't do it," she revealed.
Spears admitted that she was privately battling insecurities fueled by her father, Jamie, all while making a name for herself. "If I thought getting criticized about my body in the press was bad, it hurt even more from my own father. He repeatedly told me I looked fat and that I was going to have to do something about it," the pop star, who is now going through a divorce from husband Sam Asghari, wrote.
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She said shaving her head and acting out "were my ways of pushing back."
"The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child. 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."
Since being freed from her conservatorship in November 2021, Spears explained she had to "construct a whole different identity" and embrace being her "strong and confident" self.
The Woman in Me is hitting shelves on October 24.