In “The Woman in Me”, Britney Spears is Trapped between her Childhood and her Adulthood
Britney Spears is familiar with what it’s like to be denied adulthood. Her story, as revealed in her much-awaited memoir, The Woman in Me, is one of quick development followed by a halt to it, of freedom followed by captivity. Spears compares herself to the time-traveling character Benjamin Button in the book.
When Spears released the 1998 single “…Baby One More Time,” she shot to fame at the age of sixteen and swiftly shattered the record for the most sales of songs by female artists. She lived and toured without her family in support of her debut album, commanding the stage with the grace and charisma of an older pop artist. However, Spears discovered that she was under an infantilizing conservatorship as an adult, which was mainly overseen by her father, Jamie Spears. He was given the legal authority to manage his daughter’s assets and personal affairs by a court. He micromanaged her nutrition, her finances, and even her birth control for thirteen years. Finally, in 2021, a judge decided that Spears could exercise her right to self-determination and effectively resume her adult life.
Before its Oct. 24 release, TIME was able to get a copy of The Woman in Me, which is the first major album that Spears has released to the public in nearly ten years. Up until now, her 2021 court testimony, in which she requested the termination of her conservatorship, and sporadic Instagram videos, which her followers have closely examined for hints regarding her well-being, have been the sole sources of information about her current existence. Even the most horrific parts of Spears’ life are presented in a conversational, informal tone in this buzzy memoir, which exposes the facts of her life in a shockingly plain manner.
By telling her story in a detached manner, Spears condemns the forces that kept her stuck between two phases of life and puts herself at odds with the immature, helpless picture of herself that her caregivers helped to spread. The narrative she presents in the book gives her well-known song’s title, “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” new meaning.
The real adult world was much more terrifying. What the pop diva now feels is a case of postpartum depression, exacerbated by her divorce from Kevin Federline and the custody battle between her and her two sons, which was detailed by the media that pursued her and her kids. Though she emphasizes that she always organized proper child care and that Adderall was her drug of choice rather than the heavier narcotics she saw other musicians frequently using, she acknowledges in Britney Spears memoir The Woman in Me that she occasionally partied to escape during these years.
Spears wonders to herself as she leaves the MTV taping where she was made to watch people criticize her provocative costumes. I was a Southern adolescent girl. I used a heart to sign my name.” Furthermore, Spears has greater self-awareness than most people have realized throughout the years. “I liked looking cute,” she continues. Why was I treated like a dangerous person by everyone, even as a teenager?”
Still, reflective moments pass quickly. The reader gets the impression from the book that she still doesn’t fully understand who she is. In the end, Britney Spears is a traumatized lady getting well. And we should provide her with the room to do that.
