Book: The Women in Me by Britney Spears

Troubling. That's how I would sum up this memoir.
The opening is fabulous; it successfully sets the scene as we learn about her childhood, where she escaped into her dreams, which for her, came true. And then the long nightmare started.

I knew this would be a tough read and yet halfway through, I started to find it difficult to be empathetic. 

My family made me feel paralyzed.

By this point in the book, one of the world’s most beloved pop stars of the 21st century has met the best of all time. Having worked with Madonna, one would think, that will teach you everything you need to know about being a strong person.

You’ve admired how JLo handles fame, learn from it.

You know your first true love manipulated you. Do things differently next time!!! 

Like everyone else reading the book, I want her to make some trusted friends and gain control of her life.

That is easier said than done for someone overly trusting and constantly in the spotlight. And even more so when the two kids are held as a bargaining chip to make you work.

“I gravitated toward anyone who would step in and act as a buffer between me and them, especially people who would take me out partying and get me temporarily distracted from all the surveillance I was under. Not all of these people were great in the long run, but at the time, I was desperate for anyone who seemed to want to help me in any way and who seemed like they had the ability to keep my parents at bay..”

Rightly, there are comparisons about how men (in her life) are treated so differently to her,

Her major exes, Justin and Kevin were able to have all the sex and smoke all the weed in the world and no one said one word to them. 

Britney was marketed as virginal while Justin was not.

She was advised to start divorce proceedings to save face only to be branded a homewrecker and lose full custody of the kids. This is the bit I find hardest to read in The Woman In Me, how her kids were kept from her. The utter cruelty of it all.

And then Britney comes home from a night out and her own mother tears her to shreds - but we know how the story of her family ended after 13 years of holding her a slave. She astutely likens her treatment to how women thought to be witches were treated in the past.

Where was her latest ex during the frightening months of confinement in unnecessary rehabs? Or when she wanted to change the set? Or when she wanted out?

“Even my family seemed not to care.“ 

Girl, you've been telling us this for 160 pages. 

I already can no longer listen to any Justin stuff. That's that. 

Britney made her favourite/best album at a time when she was accused of being “incapacitated”. And says she won 20 awards that year. But yeah, some court decided she shouldn’t be allowed to make any decisions for herself. 

The book, clearly the ghostwriters - I assume -  have left it written in her language and voice as it feels like it’s written by someone younger than 40. Of course, not everyone is a writer, but that’s why we can turn to ghostwriters and editors. There are contradictions abound. In the same few paragraphs, Britney cites herself as a very bad person and then I did it because I'm good - I want to please everyone.

I don't recall her doing Vegas. Her recollection of not ‘moving her hair’ because she was rebelling against her parent/captors differs from the evidence on YouTube. Unless that was later in the run when she put out the album, she was proud of, Glory.  This is another contradiction. A few pages later saying lost the joy of singing by the end of the Vegas run in 2017 and was bored of doing the same set for 4 years. 

I cannot believe they did the same set for 4 years. I guess the family were selling out constantly and didn’t feel the need to change anything.

The number of Vegas shows is repeated several times - did nobody read this book or is it deliberate to show her personality - how she naturally talks?

She says of her 13 years under conservatorship, she had less freedom than when she was able to seek solace as a child running about in the woods. Less chance to do that when she has 2 kids to bring up in distressing circumstances 

It feels naive (that would have been a good title) to think it was her spiritual connection to her fans that bought about the #FreeBritney movement; I figured they noticed she had disappeared and done some research to piece it together all rather brilliantly.

One for the legions of fans, which is why it sold by the truckload. 

Welcome back, Britney a stronger woman. Maybe that’s what the next memoir will be called.