The Woman In Me by Britney Spears | Book Review
I’m not usually a fan of celebrity memoirs, but like a lot of people, I couldn’t resist downloading The Woman In Me on Audible. After everything we’ve seen Britney Spears go through over the last decade, I was excited to finally hear her story, from her point of view.
about
The Woman In Me is writen by Britney, from her own perspective. It starts with her childhood, and takes us through all of the pivitol moments in her life and career.
I won’t go too far into the ins and outs of the book, as you’ve probably seen a lot of quotes from it in the media already. I do think if you’ve been following the “free Britney” movement over the last few years, this is definitely a book you’ll want to read.
Did she use a ghost writer?
A lot of speculation has been around the question of whether or not she used a ghost writer to write this book. I will say, this book reads very much like a teenager’s diary. I listened to the Audible version of the book, and really enjoyed Michelle William’s narration of the story. If you’ve been following Britney on Instagram for a while, she very much speaks in the same manner in her book as she does on IG. If this book was being written by someone non-famous, there is no way it would have passed as a professional book. I think she probably did use a ghost writer, but they wrote it exactly how it was being told to them, by Britney.
The Tea
Here are some of the main takeaways from the book (spoilers ahead):
Her father was an alcoholic when she was growing up. Her parents seemed to fight a lot.
Most of her childhood was spent working in one way or another.
She seems to resent her little sister for having a better childhood than she did.
She had an abortion because Justin did not want to be a father.
Justin broke up with her by text message. She mentions having a hard time getting over him, A LOT throughout the book, and I feel the vibe that she is still has not worked through what happened.
All of her stints in rehab seem to be over ridiculous things, and she gets vilified a lot for being a normal young adult. At one point, she got her mom to babysit the boys so she could go out with friends (something she rarely did), and her mom attacked her for it when she got home. She was painted as an alcholic for just being a normal young adult. She also got sent to rehab once for taking energy supplements from her health guru boyfriend- something that was actually helping her get through long work days with little rest. From a very early age, she had no say over what she did with her body, who she spent time with, or any other very normal choices everyone else gets to make.
Her kids were used as currency a lot to get her to do what her ex, family, and handlers wanted.
The entire conservatorship should have never happened. The point of a conservatorship is for “ the court to appoint a person to manage the financial and personal affairs of a minor or incapacitated person.” Through the entire conservatorship, she was forced to work constantly (someone an incapacitated person could not do), not allowed to date who she wanted, or eat what she wanted. She was a caged circus animal being forced to perform, while her parents benefited from her money.
There was a point for 2 years where she was not allowed to eat anything except chicken and canned veggies. She begged people to let her have something different, and no one would let her. WTF. She was one of the most famous women in the world, and she wasn’t even allowed to eat what she wanted? Also- CANNED veggies? They couldn’t even give her fresh produce?
She talks a lot about reverting to a child like mentality because of all the abuse she endured over the years. I think this is evident in her writing as well. She is in her forties, yet writes/speaks like a teenager. I feel this is partly because of how sheltered she was all these years (not even allowed to have a phone at some points), and partly because of the trauma she went through. She did not get the chance to mature as a woman, in her own way and on her own time.
What I feel was missing from the book:
I would have liked to hear more about her journey as a singer, with an explanation on why she has always lip synced during live performances. She obviously has real talent. Was the lip syncing something they forced her to do? How did she feel about not being able to sing live?
I also would have liked to hear more about why she acts the way she does on Instagram. I think we can gather that it’s because she spent her entire life sheltered, and now has the freedom to act how she wants. She makes small comments about it here and there, but nothing really substantial. I know she has mentioned online before that her sons are embarrassed by her online behaviour- BUT if that’s the case, why doesn’t she tone it down some?
We know her sons have been brainwashed by their father, and kept from her many times throughout their lives. If that’s the case, why wouldn’t she be doing anything possible to get on their good sides and win them back? As a mother, I know that our kids get embarrassed by their parents all the time- but when it’s to THIS extent, and they’ve expressed how they feel about it, you’d think she would be willing to bring it down a level.
I think that she was SO sheltered for so many years, that she is just enjoying her new found freedom, and having fun doing things on social media that she hadn’t done before. She didn’t get to have that embarrassing and awkward social media stage that we all had in our teens + early twenties ( I cringe at some of the things I used to post), so she’s having it now. I truly want her to experience fun and freedom, but there does have to be a certain amount od decorum involved- especially when you have children that can be negatively affected by your behaviour.
She has mentioned that she does not have a desire to sing as much as she used to- but she is a very creative woman, and could be doing SO much more with her creativity than making non-stop instagram dance posts. She could open a dance studio for kids (something she talks about loving in the book), start a lifestyle brand, raise more awareness for the types of abuse she endured, etc. OR she could just enjoy life, travel with her kids, step away from the spotlight and just BE.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed listening to this audio book, and would reccommend it to anyone who wants some insight into her life. It was a fast read with a good pace, that made listening to it very easy and enjoyable.