Book #13 of 2024:
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
Three-and-a-half stars, rounded up. The personal story that Britney Spears has to tell is a moving one, centering the pain she felt over decades of mistreatment in the music industry and the public eye. Between releasing a succession of chart-topping hits, she was emotionally abused by the men in her life, including romantic partners like Justin Timberlake and Kevin Federline, and ultimately trapped in a restrictive conservatorship managed by her dishonest father, who profited tremendously off her talent while giving her a pittance of income and barring her from seeing her children. The news media was likewise horrible, publicly sexualizing her from a young age, gleefully speculating about her love life and mental health issues, and chasing her with cameras every time she left the house.
Much of that information had already trickled out before the author published this book last year — I think the only piece that surprised me was the bombshell that Timberlake pressured her into having a dangerous at-home abortion in 2000, when they were both still teenagers — but it’s valuable to hear it straight from the person most affected and understand why our paparazzi-fueled celebrity gossip culture is vastly overdue for a reckoning, even if things have likely improved somewhat since the experiences that Britney relates.
The writing itself isn’t particularly exceptional or insightful, and it’s hard not to compare this title to Jennette McCurdy’s searing work I’m Glad My Mom Died, a far sharper show-business memoir that came out around the same time. But Spears has been a household name for most of my life, and reading about the dark side of that fame in her own words (give or take a probable ghostwriter) does carry a certain undeniable power.
★★★★☆
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