As we previously reported, some of Britney Spears’ family feel worried ahead of her book release.
Now that the first trickles from The Woman In Me are coming out, we can understand why.
There is no one in Britney’s story — not Lou Taylor, not Jamie Lynn, not even Justin Timberlake — more infamous than her father.
Britney’s memoir describes Jamie Spears as an abusive alcoholic who belittled, terrorized, and controlled her for almost all of her life.
Ahead of the October 24 release of Britney Spears’ highly anticipated memoir, The Sun got a look at some of what she has to say.
In the early pages of The Woman In Me, Britney delves into her childhood. And she describes disgraced father Jamie Spears as “mean, apathetic, and cold” during her childhood.
That did not stop there. Britney writes that Jamie would continue insulting her into her 30s. During her 13-year conservatorship, she shares, he declared that she was “fat” and forced her to work against her will.
While all of that is awful, this goes beyond body-shaming and violations of her human rights as an adult.
Britney recalls his behavior during her pre-fame days, when she says that eh would regularly “drink until he couldn’t think.”
It reached a point where she was terrified to get into a car with him. Notably, this matches up exactly with anecdotes shared by family in the past.
“Dad drank until he couldn’t think,” she wrote “He disappeared from home for several days at a time.”
Britney continued: “And when he was drunk, he got really mean.”
Sometimes, awful parents (or partners) will blame alcohol for the things that they do while drunk. But that’s not how it works.
Jamie’s drinking did more than just leave Britney with mental and emotional trauma.
It also led to his various businesses failing. That led to financial stress — and he, of course, made that everyone else’s problem.
“The stress of not having any money was compounded by the chaos caused by Dad’s extreme mood swings,” Britney writes.
“I was especially afraid to get in the car with him,” she recalls.
She explains that this was “because he used to talk to himself while driving.”
Britney admits: “I didn’t even understand what he said. He seemed to be in his own world.”
As an adult, Britney has learned a lot more about where parents pick up their worst habits — and substance abuse.
She now believes that abuse from Jamie’s father, June Spears, shaped him into who she is. (If you’ve read up on that family … that is a reasonable assumption)
“But at the time I had no idea why he was so hard on us,” Britney writes, “and why nothing we ever did seemed good enough in his eyes.”
Also, obviously, understanding why Jamie decided to become who and what he is doesn’t make it okay. An explanation is not always an excuse.
“To me, the saddest thing was that I had always just wanted a father who loved me just the way I was,” Britney writes.
She longed for “Someone who said, ‘I love you, period. You can do anything. I would love you forever unconditionally.'”
Britney Spears’ Book Details Abuse from Alcoholic Dad Jamie was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.