5 things to know about Britney Spears’ new ‘The Woman in Me’ memoir

Britney Spears’ debut memoir, The Woman in Me, hit shelves Thursday.

The highly anticipated book marks the first time Spears has spoken out in-depth since her controversial conservatorship under her father was terminated in 2021. Months later, she signed a multimillion-dollar deal with book publisher Simon & Schuster.

In her memoir, Spears goes into new details about her conservatorship, struggling with postpartum depression, and her newfound freedom.

And interest is high, evidenced by sales so far. Even before its release, the book charted on Amazon’s best-seller list.

Memoirs by high-profile figures and celebrities have been selling well this year. The New York Times listed Spare by Prince Harry and I’m Glad My Mom Died by actress Jennette McCurdy as top sellers.

Last week, Jada Pinkett Smith revealed a preview from her forthcoming memoir, Worthy, detailing how she and Will Smith have been separated since 2016.

Here are five things to know from The Woman in Me.

Spears lends her voice to the audiobook’s preamble. But from there, Michelle Williams takes the wheel.

The pop star told People magazine that writing the memoir has been “heart-wrenching” and “emotional” and narrating the whole audiobook would be too difficult.

“I am so grateful to the amazing Michelle Williams for reading the rest of it,” Spears said.

In a statement from the Oscar-nominated actress, Williams said: “I stand with Britney.”

Spears wrote that she became pregnant with Justin Timberlake’s baby when she was 19, during their high-profile relationship in the early aughts.

She said while she was happy about the pregnancy, Timberlake wasn’t ready to be a dad.

“He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young,” Spears wrote. “I agreed not to have the baby. I don’t know if that was the right decision … 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.”

Spears said moving forward with the abortion was “one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.”

As she discusses her relationship with Timberlake, Spears writes that he “slept around” and cheated on her. She also admits that she cheated on him.

“I was loyal to Justin for years, only had eyes for him with that one exception, which I admitted to him,” she wrote.

Ultimately, Spears wrote, the relationship ended when Timberlake dumped her via text message.

While on the set for her “Overprotected” music video, Spears said Timberlake ended the three-year relationship in two words: “It’s over!!!”

Timberlake, who has also been at the center of NSYNC reunion tour rumors, has not commented on Spears’ claims.

During court proceedings over the singer’s 13-year conservatorship, the public learned about how her father, Jamie, ran Spears’ life.

She couldn’t drink coffee, choose her own meals, drive a car, or remove her IUD. She couldn’t see her two sons without approval. She was forced to continue performing.

In The Woman in Me, Spears said she worried her parents were trying to kill her. She described her dad as an alcoholic with financial issues and said her mom, Lynne Spears, was enraged by Jamie’s drinking and tendency to disappear. Jamie Spears has not commented publicly about the memoir.

Spears also revealed that she felt “really let down” by her younger sister, Jamie Lynn, and “betrayed” by her family.

“My sister and I should have found comfort in each other, but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case,” she wrote.

Spears details the struggles she faced following the births of her sons in 2005 and 2006.

Tabloids ran headlines about her being an “unfit mother” and Spears describes the paparazzi following her around.

She said in retrospect, all the signs of postpartum depression were there.

“I now know that I was displaying just about every symptom of perinatal depression: sadness, anxiety, fatigue,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t the same conversation about mental health back then that there is now … I hope any new mothers reading this who are having a hard time will get help early.”

Coming off of her longtime conservatorship, Spears revealed what freedom means to her.

“Freedom means being goofy, silly, and having fun on social media,” she wrote. “Freedom means being able to make mistakes, and learning from them.”

She added, “And freedom means the ability, and the right, to search for joy, in my own way, on my own terms.”

Spears is known for her nontraditional Instagram posts — sometimes dancing, sometimes nude, and recently, with fake knives (inspired by Shakira’s recent VMAs performance).

“I know that a lot of people don’t understand why I love taking pictures of myself naked or in new dresses. But I think if they’d been photographed by other people thousands of times … they’d understand that I get a lot of joy from posing the way I feel sexy and taking my own picture, doing whatever I want with it,” she wrote.