Britney Spears gives a glimpse into her life under her father’s control in her new memoir, “The Woman in Me,” which is set for release next Tuesday.
For over a decade, Spears struggled under a restrictive legal conservatorship, hindering her despite her global fame. The memoir marks the first time Spears opens up in detail about the conservatorship.
“She writes very honestly and painfully in the book that the conservatorship was soul-crushing,” said Wendy Naugle, People magazine’s editor-in-chief, who offered exclusive insights into the book on “CBS Mornings.”
“I think this is her attempt to reclaim her own life and her own narrative, but … one of her goals that she told us at People was, she wants people to speak up, you know, to not be afraid. She hopes if any one person can find some guidance and in their own trials, this will really be worth it for her,” Naugle said.
One part of the memoir, which is published by Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS News’ parent company Paramount Global, delves into Spears’ transformation during the conservatorship where “she became this child robot,” Naugle said.
“She would try to be an adult but they wouldn’t allow her to be an adult so she would regress into being a child,” Naugle said. “Becoming an adult is a process and she was really kind of denied that process of becoming a woman.”
Despite her circumstances, Spears worked on several projects, supporting many people financially while her own life was meticulously regulated — a situation Naugle said was starkly unfair compared to male celebrities facing personal difficulties.
“You know, there’s so many cases of men who have had family problems, addiction problems, but they were never put under this kind of constraint. And so really, it felt like it was not fair of her family to do this to her,” said Naugle.
Spears recently sat down for an interview with People and is featured on the cover of its Oct. 30 issue. The photo for the cover was taken at a closed-set photoshoot in Tahiti, Naugle said.
“I think one of my favorite moments was she was on a horse and she started riding off and she kind of went out of the frame of the camera and you saw this joy and happiness in her that I think she’s keeping private a little bit. She was riding off,” said Naugle.
Exclusive excerpts from “The Woman in Me” will be available on “CBS Mornings” and People magazine’s platforms this week ahead of the book’s release.
