16 Most Surprising & Heartbreaking Revelations in Britney Spears’ New Memoir The Woman in Me

Timberlake’s Infidelity

Although there’s always been speculation that Spears cheated on Timberlake, Spears revealed that Timberlake also wasn’t faithful during their relationship. According to TMZ, Spears claims in her tell-all memoir that Timberlake cheated on her with “another celebrity.”

As for a name, however, Spears won’t be getting into specifics on who it was with. “The woman now has a family,” the outlet stated, noting that Spears “doesn’t want to embarrass [her.]”

Her Fling With Colin Farrell

After her relationship with Timberlake came to an end, Spears quickly dated none other than actor Colin Farrell.  She described their sudden coupledom as “a two-week brawl,” according to an excerpt obtained by Time. “Brawl is the only word for it—we were all over each other, grappling so passionately it was like we were in a street fight,” she explained. Their relationship, however, didn’t last long as she was still getting over Timberlake. 

Her Own Cheating Confession

As for her infidelity, Spears admitted in her memoir to cheating on Timberlake once, with choreographer Wade Robson. Per Us Weekly, Spears and Robson’s fling only went as far as a make-out session on the dance floor. After that, Timberlake found out about the cheating but he and Spears “agreed to move past” the incident because she “only had eyes” for Timberlake. 

She Had an Abortion

As revealed in her memoir, Spears had an abortion after getting pregnant in her relationship with Timberlake. “I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day,” she wrote. However, Timberlake “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.”

“I don’t know if that was the right decision,” she writes, looking back at her 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.”

“To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life,” Spears added. 

Her Brief Rehab Stint in 2014

In the memoir, Spears also opened up about her brief rehab stint in 2014 in the middle of her “Piece of Me” Las Vegas residency. According to the singer, she started taking energy supplements as recommended by her boyfriend at the time. The move, however, was frowned upon by her father, Jamie Spears.  

“My father didn’t like that,” she remembered. “He knew what I ate; he even knew when I would go to the bathroom. So when I started taking energy supplements, he saw that I had more energy onstage and that I was in better shape than I had been.”

Soon after, Jamie told her to get clean and forced her into rehab. “So he told me I had to get off them, and he sent me to rehab,” she wrote. “I was scared to be there by myself,” she said, adding that rehab was a “place with crack and heroin addicts.”

“When I got out, I started doing shows again in Vegas like nothing had happened,” she explained. “Part of that was because my father told me I had to get back out there, and part of it was because I was still so nice, so eager to please, so desperate to do the right thing and be a good girl.”

The Disaster Behind the 2007 VMA Performance

For the first time ever, Spears let fans into the behind the scenes of her disastrous 2007 performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. “There was a problem with my costume and with my hair extensions,” she wrote, per New York Post. “I hadn’t slept the night before. I was dizzy. It was less than a year since I’d had my second baby in two years but everyone was acting like my not having six-pack abs was offensive.”

While preparing, in addition to all the other problems, Spears ran into Timberlake, who she hadn’t seen in a while. “Everything was going great in his world,” she remembered. “He was at the top of his game in every way, and he had a lot of swagger. I was having a panic attack. I hadn’t rehearsed enough. I hated the way I looked. I knew it was going to be bad.”

“[I] couldn’t believe I was going to have to go out onstage feeling the way I felt,” she said, adding that she still “went out there and did the best I could at that moment in time.”

The Iconic Snake Moment

Speaking of another performance, at the 2001 VMAs, Spears remembered the “terrifying” moment she shared with the 7-foot python around her neck. “What nobody knows is that as I was singing, the snake brought its head right around to my face, right up to me, and started hissing at me,” she remembered. “You didn’t see that shot on the TV, but in real life? I was thinking, ‘Are you f— serious right now? The f—- goddamn snake’s tongue is flicking out at me. Right. Now.’ Finally, I got to the part where I handed it back, thank God.”

Denim on Denim

Looking back at another award show moment, Spears remembered the now-iconic matching Canadian tuxedo moment with Timberlake. “In the South, moms love to round up the kids and say, ‘Listen, we’re going to go to church today, and we’re all going to color-coordinate.’ That’s what I did when Justin and I attended the 2001 American Music Awards, which I cohosted with LL Cool J,” Spears wrote, per Page Six.

“I still can’t believe that Justin was going to wear denim and I said, ‘We should match! Let’s do denim-on-denim!'” she said, admitting that she “thought it was a joke” at first. “I didn’t think my stylist was actually going to do it, and I never thought Justin was going to do it with me. But they both went all in,” she continued. 

“I get that it was tacky, but it was also pretty great in its way, and I am always happy to see it parodied as a Halloween costume,” she continued. “I’ve heard Justin get flak for the look. On one podcast where they were teasing him about it, he said, ‘You do a lot of things when you’re young and in love.’ And that’s exactly right. We were giddy, and those outfits reflected that.”

Her 55-Hour Marriage to Jason Alexander

Back in 2004, Spears married Jason Alexander in Las Vegas only to have the whole thing annulled 55 hours later. Looking back, Spears was quite candid about the whole thing. “I was just honestly very drunk,” she wrote, per E! Online. “And probably, in a more general sense at that time in my life, very bored.”

Spears added that her family hated their impromptu union, adding that it felt like “I’d started World War III.” For her, however, the whole thing was just “innocent fun.”

Her Troubled Family

Also in the memoir, Spears revealed going to rehab and seeking help wasn’t something that unfamiliar to her family. According to her, her paternal grandmother, Jean, was sent to an asylum by her husband, June, Billboard reports. During her stay, Jean was prescribed with psychiatric medication lithium, a strong drug that Spears would later be one. 

Drinking With Mom

Also in the memoir, Spears opened up about her struggles with alcohol, and being used to drinking from a very young age. “I loved that I was able to drink with my mom every now and then,” she said, adding that their drinking hangouts began at around 14 years old.

According to Spears, she and her mom, Lynne, would take Britney’s younger sister, Jamie Lynn, to the beach and drink white Russians, which Britney writes she thought tasted like ice cream, Billboard reports. 

Her Struggles With Drugs

In addition to alcohol, Spears also opened up about her addiction to her “drug of choice,” Adderall. “What I found far more appealing was that it gave me a few hours of feeling less depressed,” she revealed. “It was the only thing that worked for me as an antidepressant, and I really felt like I needed one of those.”

As for other drugs, Spears admitted she was never into hard drugs or hard liquors, and prefers to drink beer instead. 

Her Relationship With Jamie Lynn

Speaking of Jamie Lynn, Spears remembered a moment where the former Zoey 101 alum pitched her a sister talk show, sitcom or romantic comedy following her stay at a treatment facility. “She talked for what felt like hours at a time while I looked at the floor and listened,” Spears wrote. “And the phrase echoing around my head was ‘What the f–k is going on?’”

Her True Feelings About Xtina

A beef between Spears and fellow singer Christina Aguilera has long been speculated, and now we know the whole truth! As it turns out, Spears was especially hurt when Aguilera partnered with Timberlake for The Justified & Stripped Tour in 2003 and posed with him on the cover of Rolling Stone, per Daily Mail. “They were together on the cover of Rolling Stone, him in a black tank top, looking at her with sexy eyes, her looking out at the camera, wearing a lace-up black shirt,” Spears remembered.

“In that story, she said she thought Justin and I should get back together, which was just confusing, given how negative she’d been elsewhere,” she added. “Even if they weren’t trying to be cruel, it felt like they were just pouring salt in the wound. Why was it so easy for everyone to forget that I was a human being — vulnerable enough that these headlines could leave a bruise?”

Her Brief Acting Career

Also in the memoir, Spears looked back at her acting career, which included the hit movie Crossroads. According to Spears, she took the role a little too seriously and embraced “method acting.”

“This is embarrassing to say, but it’s like a cloud or something came over me and I just became this girl named Lucy,” she said of her character, per Daily Mail. “When the camera came on, I was her, and then I couldn’t tell the difference between when the camera was on and when it wasn’t.” 

Soon after, Spears was offered the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago but turned it down. “Chicago would have been fun,’ she wrote. “It’s all dance pieces – my favorite kind: prissy, girly follies, Pussycat Doll-like, serve-off your-corset moves. I wish I’d taken that offer. I would have gotten to play a villain who kills a man, and sings and dances while doing it, too.”

“I probably could have found ways, gotten training, to keep from becoming a Chicago character the way that I had with Lucy in Crossroads,” she said. “I wish I’d tried something different.” 

As for another role she turned down, Spears also almost starred in The Notebook opposite Ryan Gosling. “The Notebook casting came down to me and Rachel McAdams, and even though it would have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on The Mickey Mouse Club, I’m glad I didn’t do it,” she wrote. “If I had, instead of working on my album In the Zone, I’d have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night.”

Her Parent’s Drinking Habits

In an excerpt from the book shared by Katie Couric Media, Spears claimed she was first introduced to alcohol by her mom, Lynne, when she was still in middle school.

“For fun, starting when I was in eighth grade, my mom and I would make the two-hour drive from Kentwood to Biloxi, Mississippi,” Spears wrote, “and while we were there, we would drink daiquiris. We called our cocktails ‘toddies.’ I loved that I was able to drink with my mom every now and then. The way we drank was nothing like how my father [Jamie] did it.” She says Jamie was “more depressed and shut down” when he drank while her mom became happier.