We’re just one week away from the release of Britney Spears‘ explosive memoir The Woman In Me, and if these excerpts are any indication, we’re in for an emotional ride.
On Tuesday, People released several sneak peeks at the bombshell tell-all, which naturally included some powerfully written sections about the trauma she endured during her 13-year conservatorship. But seeing as the book will span Brit’s entire lifetime, she also let fans take a deep dive into her childhood rise to fame. From her time on The Mickey Mouse Club to her parents’ drinking habits to losing her passion for performing, let’s get into it!
The Mickey Mouse Club
When she was just 11, Britney famously got her start on The Mickey Mouse Club along many others. Recalling her time as a Mouseketeer, she said the kids formed “cliques” based on their “dressing rooms.” As the youngest, she was paired with Christina Aguilera and found herself looking up to the older kids, Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, and the “handsome” Tony Lucca. Of course, she also “quickly connected with a boy named Justin Timberlake.”
For her, the job was “boot camp for the entertainment industry: extensive dance rehearsals, singing lessons, acting classes, time in the recording studio, and school in between.” While it sounds intense, she LOVED it:
“It was honestly a kid’s dream — unbelievably fun, particularly for a kid like me. But it was also exceptionally hard work: we would run choreography thirty times in a day, trying to get every step perfect.”
As for the boy she sparked a connection with, she added:
“[Once] at a sleepover, we played Truth or Dare, and someone dared Justin to kiss me. A Janet Jackson song was playing in the background as he leaned in and kissed me.”
Aw!
Starting off so nice when it comes to JT. Doesn’t sound like the *NSYNC star has anything to be worried about… yet!
Drinking
Things changed when the show wrapped and she went back to her regular life. Like most teens, she started drinking — but this time it was her mom Lynne who was encouraging it! She noted:
“When the show ended a year and a half later … I decided to go back to Kentwood. Already within me was a push-pull: part of me wanted to keep building toward the dream; the other part wanted me to live a normal life in Louisiana. For a minute, I had to let normalcy win. Back at home, I returned to [high school], settling into normal teenage life — or the closest thing to ‘normal’ that was possible in my family.
For fun, starting when I was in eighth grade, my mom and I would make the two-hour drive from Kentwood to Biloxi, Mississippi, and while we were there, we would drink daiquiris. We called our cocktails ‘toddies.’ I loved that I was able to drink with my mom every now and then. The way we drank was nothing like how my father [Jamie Spears] did it. When he drank, he grew more depressed and shut down. We became happier, more alive and adventurous.”
They started drinking cocktails together in… EIGHTH GRADE?! Jeez. That’s young! But it’s also telling that Britney was already so attuned to her father’s seemingly problematic reaction to alcohol. Oof.
While it’s hard to imagine the Toxic star being a regular teen, she looks back fondly on this time — and as her last taste of normalcy, adding:
“There was something so beautifully normal about that period of my life: going to homecoming and prom, driving around our little town, going to the movies.”
But that was all about to change!
Becoming A Superstar
The 41-year-old performer quickly missed performing, as she noted:
“But, the truth was, I missed performing. My mom had been in touch with a lawyer she’d met on my audition circuit, a man named Larry Rudolph, who she would call sometimes for business advice. He suggested I record a demo. He had a song that Toni Braxton had recorded for her second album that had ended up on the cutting room floor. This would become the demo that I would use to get in the door at record labels.
Larry took me around [New York City], and I went into rooms full of executives and sang Whitney Houston’s ‘I Have Nothing.’ Gazing out at the rooms full of men in suits looking me up and down in my small dress and high heels, I sang loud.
I ended up getting a record deal with Jive Records at the age of fifteen. The label wanted me in a studio immediately. I worked for hours straight. My work ethic was strong. If you knew me then, you wouldn’t hear from me for days. I would stay in the studio as long as I could. If anyone wanted to leave, I’d say, ‘I wasn’t perfect.’ When all the songs were done, someone said, ‘What else can you do? Do you want to dance now?’ I said, ‘Hell yeah, I do!'”
Crossroads
With singing and dancing under her belt — including an “iconic moment in VMAs history” when she performed I’m a Slave 4 U with a “terrifying” snake — the Baby One More Time artist tried out acting. Reflecting on Crossroads, which she filmed with Zoe Saldaña and Taryn Manning, she shared:
“The experience wasn’t easy for me. My problem wasn’t with anyone involved in the production but with what acting did to my mind. I think I started Method acting — only I didn’t know how to break out of my character. I really became this other person. Some people do Method acting, but they’re usually aware of the fact that they’re doing it. But I didn’t have any separation at all.
I ended up walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently. I was someone else for months while I filmed Crossroads. Still to this day, I bet the girls I shot that movie with think, She’s a little…quirky. If they thought that, they were right.”
Interestingly, the mother of two had other opportunities to star in films, but they didn’t pan out:
“That was pretty much the beginning and end of my acting career, and I was relieved. The Notebook casting came down to me and Rachel McAdams, and even though it would have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on the Mickey Mouse Club, I’m glad I didn’t do it. If I had, instead of working on my album In the Zone I’d have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night.
I imagine there are people in the acting field who have dealt with something like that, where they had trouble separating themselves from a character. I hope I never get close to that occupational hazard again. Living that way, being half yourself and half a fictional character, is messed up. After a while you don’t know what’s real anymore.”
Wow!
Could you imagine her in The Notebook tho??
She’s really taking us through EVERY aspect of her life! The good, the bad, and the ugly. There’s lots more to come on October 24 when the book hits shelves. Thoughts so far? Let us know (below)!
[Image via MEGA/WENN/Christina Radish]
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