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Britney Spears had an abortion in 2000, she writes in an excerpt from her upcoming memoir — primarily because Justin Timberlake didn’t want to be a father.
As shared by People in an excerpt from The Woman in Me, out Oct. 24, Spears wrote that becoming pregnant “was a surprise” but not a “tragedy” for her. “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.”
The couple went through with the abortion, but Spears says she still questions it. “I don’t know if that was the right decision,” she writes. “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. Timberlake has yet to respond to the latest excerpt, but is allegedly concerned about what Spears shares in the memoir.
Spears is sharing the news during a period of change in her personal life, following the end of a 13-year conservatorship and her 14-month marriage to Sam Asghari. Her upcoming memoir details the depth of her mental health issues, which included nonstop criticism about her body from the people closest to her, including her father.
At the time of the abortion, the now 41-year-old star would’ve been 19 or 20, and her emotional reaction to it is normal, according to experts. “People experience a variety of emotions after an abortion,” Planned Parenthood notes, which can range from relief and elation to sadness or depression.
And while abortion itself has not been found to directly cause depression, the American Psychological Association notes that factors relating to the pregnancy or abortion can lead to it. These include perceived stigma around abortion, a history of mental health problems, low self-esteem, and features around the pregnancy (like whether it was wanted or not).
The decision to get an abortion is an intensely personal one, and patients’ reaction to it would vary just as much. For Spears, who has since spent decades watching other people control her life, money, and body, it sounds like the decision was influenced heavily by Timberlake, and is still one she finds painful to this day.
Before you go, read about other celebs who have talked about having abortions:
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