Britney Spears is speaking out against claims made by her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, after he publicly expressed concerns about her mental health.
Over the past week, Federline has been discussing his upcoming memoir, You Thought You Knew, and his concerns for Spears. Federline and Spears were married from 2004 to 2007 and share two sons, Sean Preston Federline, 20, and Jayden James Federline, 19.
“The truth is, this situation with Britney feels like it’s racing toward something irreversible,” Federline, 47, wrote in an excerpt of his book, viewed by The New York Times.
“It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK,” Federline continued. “From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the 11th hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.”
Ahead of the release of Federline’s memoir on Oct. 21 and in response to the multitude of recent news reports on its contents, Spears took to social media to call her ex-husband out for “gaslighting” and “hurting” the 43-year-old pop star with a book she described as full of “white lies.”
“The constant gaslighting from [my] ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting. I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys,” the social media post reads. “Relationships with teenage boys is [sic] complex. I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life.”
“Sadly, they have always witnessed the lack of respect shown by [their] own father for me. They need to take responsibility for themselves,” the post continues. “With one son only seeing me for 45 min[utes] in the past 5 years and the other with only 4 visits in the past 5 years. I have pride too.”
Spears’ post said that from now on she will “let them know when I am available.”
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“Trust me, those white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank and I am the only one who genuinely gets hurt here,” the post adds. “I will always love them and if you really know me, you won’t pay attention to the tabloids of my mental health and drinking.”
Spears also said she had been living a “sacred and private life” since she was released from her conservatorship, which officially ended in 2021 after nearly 14 years of close supervision and monitoring.
“I am actually a pretty intelligent woman who has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past 5 years. I speak on this because I have had enough and any real woman would do the same,” the post concludes.
Earlier this week, a representative for Spears released a statement after Federline alleged that the Toxic singer watched her sons sleep “with a knife in her hand.”
“With news from Kevin’s book breaking, once again he and others are profiting off her and sadly it comes after child support has ended with Kevin,” a representative for Spears said in response to excerpts released from the upcoming memoir.
“All she cares about are her kids, Sean Preston and Jayden James, and their well-being during this sensationalism. She detailed her journey in her memoir,” her rep added of her 2023 book, The Woman in Me.
Federline told The New York Times that he hasn’t spoken to Spears “in years.” But in his memoir he reportedly writes about becoming concerned with what he describes as Spears’ “erratic behavior, which he learned about mostly secondhand from their two sons.”
“They would awaken sometimes at night to find her standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep — ‘Oh, you’re awake?’ — with a knife in her hand,” he alleges in the excerpt provided to the outlet. “Then she’d turn around and pad off without explanation.
He also suggested that all the fans who put their energy and efforts into the “Free Britney” movement should “now put the same energy into the ‘Save Britney’ movement.”
“Because this is no longer about freedom. It’s about survival,” he added.
Federline told the Times that he had not discussed the contents of the memoir with Spears.
“I’ve never, ever, once, been against Britney,” he said. “I’ve only tried to help my sons have an incredible relationship with their mother. And it’s hard because when I really reflect on everything that’s happened — my kids do not know the woman that I married. And I’ve spent two decades trying to bridge that gap.”
Spears and Federline met in 2004 when he was a dancer in a Hollywood club. They married later that year, but divorced in 2006, shortly after the birth of their second son.
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