Warning: This article contains mentions of abortion. Please proceed with care.
From the Mickey Mouse Club to hit singles like “…Baby One More Time” and a very public life filled with as much beauty as tragedy, Britney Spears has been taking the entertainment world by storm for the better part of the last two decades. Her voice has narrated countless childhoods and underlined the heartache so many of her fans felt when they first began figuring out the ins and outs of life. As she sang beautiful songs about unfathomable joy and pain, she also bore her soul to anyone who would listen. Now she’s preparing to share even more of her story in a new memoir, The Woman in Me.
One particular song in Spears’ discography ⏤ “Lucky” ⏤ seems to sum up her journey best. In the song, she talks about how even when you have everything in the world and people think your journey is filled with happiness and magic, there still exists room for tears to fall. Spears has been called “lucky” for a significant portion of her life, but there have been many instances of pain, too, all of which came to a head in 2019 when the world learned of her conservatorship and desperately wished to free her from it.
Fans learned that Spears had been under conservatorship since 2008 after being held on an involuntary psychiatric hold, and while the conservatorship should have initially lasted just a few days, it was made permanent despite her pleas for it to end. For over a decade, Spears had no control over her own life, and it goes without saying that her new book will shine a light on some of the pop star’s previously untold stories.
What is the release date for The Woman in Me?
Available for pre-order now, Spears’ book will hit shelves on Oct. 24, which means we’re less than two weeks away from hearing her inevitably multifaceted and emotional story. Growing up, Spears was in the spotlight for years before being placed under the conservatorship, but if the ensuing drama is anything to go by, she’s always had voices in her ear telling her which parts of her story she was allowed to tell.
The website for Spears’ book notes that when she was finally able to use her voice to share her truth, something changed, and The Woman in Me will help to tell that story for the very first time:
“In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.”
Writing this memoir after being unable to tell her own story for so long was understandably a cathartic experience for Spears, who still lives under a cloud of public scrutiny and opinion. Regardless of whether she’s ever felt truly free or still feels the need to hide aspects of herself in order to get through, Spears has always deserved more than what she’s been handed. This book marks an important step in a new direction for the singer-songwriter.
How much ground will The Woman in Me cover?
As for how much of her life story the new book will contain, we know that it’s “a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope” per the book’s website. It’s also going to include a shocking anecdote or two, as People Magazine has already reported on an emotional part of the book wherein Spears opens up about getting pregnant with ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, who then wanted her to get an abortion.
“It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated, but Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.”
Spears went on to say that while she and Timberlake weren’t trying to have a baby at the time, she always envisioned having one with him. Timberlake, however, wasn’t ready to be a father, and thus mentioned the idea of an abortion. That settled that, but had the decision been up to Spears, things would have played out differently: “If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.” As of this writing, People has reached out to Timberlake’s camp but has not yet received a response.
Fans know that Spears would go on to have two children, one in 2005 and one in 2006, with now ex-husband Kevin Federline. She will undoubtedly touch on the highs and lows of motherhood in her book, which promises to “illuminate the enduring power of music and love ⏤ and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.”
You can read more of Spears’ story in her own words when The Woman In Me debuts on Oct. 24.
