Britney Spears is responding to her ex-husband’s claims about her parenting in his new memoir.
Ahead of the Oct. 21 release of his memoir You Thought You Knew, Kevin Federline has been on a press tour promoting the book, which recounts details of his marriage to Spears and their co-parenting relationship.
In an early excerpt published by The New York Times, Federline alleges their son woke up to his mother standing in a doorway holding a knife. Additional pieces from the memoir claim Spears drank wine while pregnant and consumed cocaine while she was still breastfeeding.
The “Gimme More” singer took to X on Wednesday where she addressed Federline’s claims about her parenting, writing, “The constant gaslighting from ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting. I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys.”
“Relationships with teenage boys is complex [sic]. I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life,” Spears wrote. “Sadly, they have always witnessed the lack of respect shown by own father for me [sic]. They need to take responsibility for themselves. With one son only seeing me for 45 min in the past 5 years and the other with only 4 visits in the past 5 years. I have pride too. From now on I will let them know when I am available.”
The Grammy winner went on to directly address Federline’s memoir: “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. 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. 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.”
Spears and Federline share two sons, Jayden, 19, and Preston, 20. The two were married in September 2004 and remained together for two years until Spears filed for divorce in 2006.
When addressing what his children think about the memoir, Federline told The Hollywood Reporter they were “100 percent behind me telling my story.” Of their relationship with Spears, he added, “Their situation with their mom is fluid and they do talk. They’ve even gone and seen her and stuff.”
Following the #FreeBritney movement, the “Womanizer” singer’s conservatorship was terminated in 2021. Federline argues that “this situation with Britney feels like it’s racing toward something irreversible” in the memoir.
When asked what he thinks is going on in Spears’ life by THR, Federline said, “I think that if anybody’s paying attention that they can kind of see for themselves.”
“All I really want is for her to be happy and healthy, and I want her to be around for our kids,” he added. “My kids want her to be around for a long time. So I’ve sounded the alarm. It’s become a situation that I need people to start supporting my sons and their mother.”
In an earlier statement, Spears’ team said of the memoir, “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. 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.”
