Title: The Woman in Me
Author: Britney Spears
Genre: Adult, nonfiction, memoir
Publication date: October 2023
Published by: Gallery Books
Source: Borrowed from library
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Buy it: Amazon | B&N
Synopsis: The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.
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.
Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
Singing bridged reality and fantasy, the world I was living in and the world that I desperately wanted to inhabit.
I loved Britney growing up—I listened to her music a lot! And even now I still listen to it every now and then. And I did follow the legal proceedings of her conservatorship semi-closely thanks to Emily D. Baker who broke down all the legal stuff. Everything she’s been through has been horrific, but we heard a lot of it secondhand, so I am very happy that Britney was finally able to tell her story. Going into this I was excited but also approaching the book with a bit of trepidation because I knew that whatever lay inside was going to be heartbreaking. And I was right.
I was a little girl with big dreams. I wanted to be a star like Madonna, Dolly Parton, or Whitney Houston. I had simpler dreams, too, dreams that seemed even harder to achieve and that felt too ambitious to say out loud: I want my dad to stop drinking. I want my mom to stop yelling. I want everyone to be okay.
These last couple of years I have been reading more and more nonfiction books, but this was the first memoir I have read. Now, I know nothing about memoirs, but I think this was a good one to start with. I’m sure Britney had help writing it, but regardless, it was very well-written and just easy to read and follow. The storytelling was very linear, starting from when Britney was very young to the present day. It touched on the biggest milestones in her life, from when she really hit it off with ...Baby One More Time at the age of 15-16 years old. She was SO young! But one thing I loved was how much she loved doing this! She was made to sing and dance. Unfortunately, with fame comes attention, and the attention she was given as a teenage girl was disgusting. She talked about the inappropriate things she was asked in interviews and just the sheer misogyny of it all. She was just a kid and they were asking her about boyfriends and plastic surgery and whether her breasts were real??
She also talked about her relationship with Justin. I remember back when I was a kid they were the IT couple. They were everywhere! But goddamn, none of us really knew what went on behind closed doors, or how dirty Justin did her. She did not deserve any of that. One thing I learned about Britney from reading her memoir is that when she loves something or someone, she loves them with her whole heart. She feels very deeply, so when the breakup happened and she threw herself into her work instead of taking the time to heal, things just snowballed from there. The abortion, Justin painting her as the bad guy... she was not in a good place. And she unfortunately would not be for a long time.
When her first son was born, she suffered from perinatal depression, and back then there was not only the stigma around mental health, but also the help she needed wasn’t readily available. So that was another thing to add on top of everything. But again, she loves her kids SO much, and the way she loves so deeply is something I admire about her.
And then there’s the conservatorship...
There were times when I needed my father over the years and I reached out, and he wasn't there. But when it came time for him to be the conservator, of course he was on the case! He's always been all about the money.
I hate this man so much! Anyone who does this to their child does not deserve to be a parent. Parents are supposed to protect and encourage their kids to succeed, but Britney’s parents literally smothered her passion for her music by putting her in this conservatorship. Her dad not only managed her money but also her life. Everything from what she ate to who she saw—she was constantly monitored. But the funny thing is, for someone who apparently couldn’t take care of herself or her money, she sure was forced to shoot an episode of TV and then sent off on a world tour only a few weeks after the conservatorship was put in place.
This was so INFURIATING! Daddy didn’t care about anything but the money.
"I just want to let you know," he said, "I call the shots. You sit right there in that chair and I'll tell you what goes on."
I looked at him with a growing sense of horror.
"I'm Britney Spears now," he said.
It was devastating! Especially considering she went through this for THIRTEEN years! And the only reason why she didn’t fight back immediately was because she hoped that they would see how good she was and that they would let her go 😠And not only that but if she didn’t do what she was told to do, they wouldn’t let her see her kids!! She literally gave up her freedom just to be able to continue seeing her kids. This was such a nightmare.
This book got me right in the feels 😩 What she went through was horrifying. She did not deserve any of that! But I'm glad that she is finally free and is rebuilding her life and finding herself again. And I'm glad her family isn't in her life anymore. She doesn't need them. They're horrible.
I’m finding it hard to review a memoir because it’s literally someone’s life and I don’t want to say, “Oh, I enjoyed that!” That feels icky, especially considering everything Britney went through. But I am very glad she shared her story.
There have been so many times when I was scared to speak up because I was afraid somebody would think I was crazy. But I've learned that lesson now, the hard way. You have to speak the thing that you're feeling, even if it scares you. You have to tell your story. You have to raise your voice.
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