"At what point did I promise to stay seventeen for the rest of my life?"

I knew this was going to be a tough read, but my god did my heart absolutely break for Britney throughout. She tells her story in such a raw, vulnerable way and it was just so surreal finding out everything that was going on with her that I either only knew about vaguely before or wasn't aware of at all. 

It's such an intensely moving and powerful read and, whilst I did find some parts lacking in detail, I can also see that going over everything would have been so traumatic for her and that she probably had to limit certain parts for her own sake. She also weaves in some great commentary on celebrity culture and the music industry and just does such a great job of holding multiple powers and abusers to account and really getting her own story and feelings and self across. 

Thank god she's free.

a beautiful telling of her real honest truth

 This was definitely a challenging read. It's not incredibly well-written, but the story feels real and heartbreaking. Spears' love for her kids is obvious, and it was really sobering to hear some of the "classic" Britney stories from her perspective. It's also a reminder that we still have so far to go in terms of supporting people, and that the child star industry really needs to stop existing.

F- the patriarchy. Five stars. 

Coincidentally I read this book in the same week I watched episode 4 of The Penguin, which tells the story of Sofia Falcone’s gaslighting, forced institutionalisation, imprisonment and torture. 

We’re not supposed to feel bad for rich powerful privileged women right? 

Well, dammit, men will find a way regardless. To control, to silence, to gaslight, to abuse. 

Britney is certainly not the first woman celeb in history to go through this, and indeed many women have experienced this and worse, but this story matters so much. For these themes to come through in a bestseller by someone who the tabloids (i.e. abusers of the precious right to free speech, which others in the world are denied and die for) and streaming services love to exploit could be a good way to get these issues on the table in a big way, which is difficult for the “little guy” to achieve. Britney got the chance to publish a guaranteed bestseller and used her platform to highlight lifelong patterns of these issues. 

I will admit that I am not a very critical reader: I find something to like in almost everything I read, I can read almost any genre, and I tend to be especially forgiving of autobiographies/memoirs, because public figures are seldom the best writers! 
Britney is not a writer. But she tells her story authentically, with much reflection and what feels like a difficult honesty. The pacing is not slow and she doesn’t really belabour any points. Where she does refer to certain chapters of her life a lot, such as her relationships with Justin & Kevin, or her father’s many flaws, it’s clearly because those affected her profoundly, and she had a lot to say that could not be said before. Tbh I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. She describes the awful things that happened to her while admitting to her own faults and apologising. 

After the forced mental “treatment” and rehab, violation of privacy, denial of basic rights, after all the content made without her consent, after having no control of her life for so long, after her creativity and passion were repeatedly stifled, after tabloids provoking then exploiting her merely to keep media shareholders rich, it’s great to hear her own voice.