Britney Spears is speaking out against 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 about Spears. Federline and Spears were married from 2004 to 2007 and have two sons, Sean Preston Federline, 20, and Jayden James Federline, 19.
“The truth is that this situation with Britney feels like we are heading toward something irreversible,” Ms. Federline, 47, wrote in an excerpt of her book viewed by The New York Times.
“It became impossible to pretend everything was okay,” Federline continued. “From where I'm sitting, the clock is ticking and it's getting close to the 11th hour. If this continues, something bad will happen. My biggest fear is that my sons will be left behind.”
Ahead of Federline's memoir being published on October 21 and following numerous recent reports about its contents, Spears took to social media to accuse her ex-husband of “gaslighting” and “hurting” the 43-year-old pop star with a book she described as full of “blatant lies.”
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“The constant gaslighting from (my) ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting. I have always begged and cried out to him to continue living with my sons,” the social media post reads. “Relationships with teenage boys are (sic) complicated. I am depressed by the situation and have constantly asked, almost begged, for them to be a part of my life.”
“Sadly, they have always witnessed the lack of respect that (their) father showed towards me. They need to take responsibility themselves,” the post continues. “One son has only seen me for 45 minutes in the past five years, and the other son has only seen me four times in the past five years. I'm also proud.”
Spears' post said she would now “let me know when I have an opening.”
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“Believe me, the white lies in that book are going straight to the bank and the only person really getting hurt here is me,” the post added. “I will always love them and if you really knew me you wouldn't pay attention to the tabloids about my mental health and drinking.”
Spears also said she has been living a “sacred and private life” since being released from the conservatorship, which officially ended in 2021 after nearly 14 years of intense supervision and monitoring.
“In fact, I am a very intelligent woman who has spent the last five years trying to live a sacred and private life. I speak about this because I have had enough experience and any real woman would do the same,” the post concludes.
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Earlier this week, Spears' representatives issued a statement after Federline claimed she watched her sons sleep “with a knife in hand.”
“The publicity surrounding Kevin's book means that he and others are once again profiting from him, but sadly after the child support agreement with Kevin ends,” Spears' rep said in response to an excerpt from her upcoming memoir.
“All she cares about is her children, Sean Preston and Jayden James, and their well-being in this sensational endeavor. She details her journey so far in her memoir,” her rep added about her 2023 book, The Woman in Me.
Federline told the New York Times that she hasn't spoken to Spears in “years.” But in his memoir, he reportedly became concerned about what he described as Spears' “erratic behavior,” which he said was largely passed on to him by his two sons.
“Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and find her standing quietly in the doorway, watching them sleep. 'Oh, are you awake?' — with a knife in her hand,” he claims in an excerpt provided to the outlet. “Then she turned around and drove off without any explanation.
Cover image of Kevin Federline's memoir “You Thought You Knew.”
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He also suggested that all the fans who have poured energy and effort into the 'Free Britney' movement should now put that same energy into the 'Save Britney' movement.''
“Because this is no longer about freedom. It's about survival,” he added.
Mr. Federline told the Times that he had not discussed the contents of the memoir with Mr. Spears.
“I've never been against Britney,” he said. “All I've done is help my sons have a great relationship with their mother. And when you think about everything that's happened, they don't know the woman I married, and I've spent 20 years trying to bridge that gap.”
Spears and Federline met in 2004 when he was a dancer at a Hollywood club. They married later that year, but their divorce was finalized in 2007.
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