After her high-profile split from Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears sat down with Diane Sawyer in 2003. In her new memoir , The Woman Inside Me , Spears reveals why the interview was a "turning point" that left her feeling exploited and embarrassed.
"This is a complete disgrace," Spears, then 21, wrote of the tentative sit-down. "I wasn't told ahead of time what the questions would be and they turned out to be 100 percent embarrassing. I was too vulnerable and too sensitive to be interviewed at that point."
Sawyer conducted the prime-time interview, which aired in November 2003, from Spears' apartment, often the singer's refuge. Spears recalled in her book that she was "forced to speak to reporters" who she said "relentlessly" asked "harsh" questions and wanted her to explain why she had caused Timberlake "so much pain." , as he said.
flip switch
Spears didn't want to participate in the interview, in part because she felt she didn't "owe" the media any details about her breakup.
"I felt like I was being used, taken advantage of in front of the world. This interview was a turning point for me - a switch was flipped," she wrote. "I felt like there was something dark coming over my body. I felt like I was almost a werewolf and I was turning into a bad guy."
Spears continued: "Honestly, I felt like that moment in my life should have been a moment of growth rather than sharing everything with the world. It would have been a better way to heal. But I had no choice. No one really seemed to care. my feeling."
#FreeBritney Reckoning
Sawyer also called Spears' abs "the most valuable square inch of real estate in entertainment," noting that she's "upsetting a lot of mothers in this country" by projecting a sexier image. The interview has drawn renewed attention in the wake of The New York Times ' Britney Spears 2021 documentary and prompted widespread backlash from fans.
Nearly two decades later, Spears posted a lengthy message on Instagram and later deleted Sawyer. "Dare we forget that interview with Diane Sawyer in my apartment nearly 20 years ago?" she wrote in December 2021, according to People . "What's up with the 'you're wrong' thing? Ouch... it made me cry???"
At the time, Spears revealed that she was "unable to speak" following the breakup. "I was shocked... When I could barely speak, my father showed up at my door with three men... Two days later they put Diane Sawyer in my living room... They forced me to talk!" (Jay Spears' attorney, Alex Weingarten, countered in a statement to People that Jamie "had absolutely no involvement" in planning the interview.)
In addition to her interview with Diane Sawyer, Spears opened up about her family and conservatorship treatment on "The Woman Inside Me."
