Britney Spears has accused her ex-husband Kevin Federline of “constant gaslighting” after he made a series of explosive claims about her in his upcoming memoir, You Thought You Knew.
The Toxic singer’s former husband, who shares two sons with her — Sean Preston, now 20, and Jayden James, 19 — alleged that Britney once stood over their children’s beds while holding a knife. The pair were married for three years before divorcing in 2007, a turbulent period that preceded Britney’s widely publicised struggles and subsequent conservatorship.
According to excerpts published ahead of the book’s release, Federline claims the boys occasionally woke up to find their mother silently watching them, before she would quietly leave the room. He said he found the incidents deeply unsettling, adding that he feared “something bad is going to happen if things don’t change.”
Federline wrote: “The truth is, this situation with Britney feels like it’s racing toward something irreversible. It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK. From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the 11th hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.”
In the years following their split, Kevin was granted full custody of the boys, while Britney continued to battle for time with them during her long and highly publicised legal fight to end her conservatorship — a battle that resonated strongly with Irish fans who followed the global #FreeBritney movement.
Taking to Instagram this week, Britney issued a lengthy statement addressing the latest round of claims. Writing over a plain white background, she accused her ex-husband of “extremely hurtful and exhausting” behaviour, saying she had spent years begging for a relationship with her sons.
“The constant gaslighting from my ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting,” she wrote. “I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys. Relationships with teenage boys are complex. I have felt demoralised by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be part of my life.”
She went on to reveal that she has had very limited contact with her children in recent years: “With one son only seeing me for 45 minutes in the past five years and the other with only four visits in the past five years, I have pride too. From now on I will let them know when I am available.”
In a pointed reference to Federline’s new memoir, Britney added: “Trust me, those white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank and I am the only one who genuinely gets hurt here. I will always love them and if you really know me, you won’t pay attention to the tabloids of my mental health and drinking.”
The 42-year-old pop icon — who detailed her own version of events in her 2023 best-selling memoir The Woman In Me — concluded her message by saying she was done staying silent: “I am actually a pretty intelligent woman who has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past five years. I speak on this because I have had enough and any real woman would do the same.”
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A representative for Britney told The Irish Mirror that Federline’s decision to release the book comes “just as child support has ended”, adding that “once again he and others are profiting off her.” The rep said: “All she cares about are her kids, Sean Preston and Jayden James, and their well-being during this sensationalism.”
