Britney Spears’ childhood may have seemed like a dream to the young fans who watched her on the Mickey Mouse Club, and in many ways it was.
The former Mouseketeer, 41, writes about her time on the Disney show in which she worked with future greats Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake in her new memoir, The Woman in Me.
In an excerpt shared by People, the Circus singer writes, ‘Being in the show was boot camp for the entertainment industry: extensive dance rehearsals, singing lessons, acting classes, time in the recording studio, and school in between.’
The Piece of Me artist talks about the hierarchy among the cast members.
‘The Mouseketeers quickly split into our own cliques, divided by the dressing rooms that we shared: Christina Aguilera and I were the younger kids, and we shared a dressing room,’ she wrote.
Dream: Britney Spears write about her time on The Mickey Mouse Club in her new memoir. The singer describes her experienced as ‘a kid’s dream — unbelievably fun, particularly for a kid like me’ (Pictured with Ryan Gosling)
‘We looked up to the older kids — Kerri Russell, Ryan Gosling, and Tony Lucca, who I thought was so handsome.’
‘And I quickly connected with a boy named Justin Timberlake.
The structure and work ethic on the set seemed to appeal to the young performer saying 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.’
Behind-the-scenes, the cast would hang out even when they weren’t working.
‘[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.’
Britney worked on The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 through 1994.
After she left the show, she returned home to Kentwood, LA.
Connection: Britney and Christina Aguilera were assigned the same dressing room. She writes ‘We looked up to the older kids — Kerri Russell, Ryan Gosling, and Tony Lucca… And I quickly connected with a boy named Justin Timberlake’
No offense: After receiving backlash about some of the revelations in the book, Britney released a statement on Instagram writing ‘My book’s purpose was not to offend anyone by any means!!! ‘
‘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,’ she admitted, ‘I had to let normalcy win.’
After getting some backlash resulting from articles being written about the book, which will be released Tuesday, Britney took to social media to try to calm her critics.
‘My book’s purpose was not to offend anyone by any means!!’ she wrote.
‘Most of the book is from 20 years ago… I have moved on and it’s a beautiful clean slate from here!!’
Release: The Woman in Me will be release October 24
The Grammy winner said, ‘This is actually a book I didn’t know needed to be written… although some might be offended, it has given me closure on all things for a better future!!!’
In her memoir, Spears revealed that she was devastated when Timberlake broke up with her through text message.
‘I was comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood,’ she recalled.
Additionally, the mother-of-two finally admitted to cheating on the NSYNC member with the dancer Wade Robson following years of hearsay.
