Britney Spears has taken aim at Ryan Seacrest over focusing on ‘whether she was a fit mother’ rather than her album during a 2007 interview.
The pop icon, 42, who has unleashed a string of bombshells in her new memoir The Woman In Me, recounts in the tome how she was interviewed by the American Idol host, 47, to promote album Blackout but questions centered around her child custody battle with ex Kevin Federline.
2007 was the year Spears suffered a mental health spiral, shaving her head and attacking a paparazzi car with an umbrella – in October of that year she would lose physical custody of sons Sean Preston, now 18, and Jayden James, 17, to Federline – the same month she released Blackout.
In the book obtained by DailyMail.com, Spears writes: ‘The only press I did for Blackout was a live radio interview with Ryan Seacrest when it came out in October 2007.
‘In the interview which was supposed to be about the record, Ryan Seacrest asked me questions like “How do you respond to those who criticize you as a mom” and “Do you feel like you’re doing everything you can for your kids?” and “How often will you see them?”
Spat: Britney Spears has taken aim at Ryan Seacrest over focusing on ‘whether she was a fit mother’ rather than her album during a 2007 interview (pictured 2012)
Released October 24: Spears’ memoir, The Woman In Me, has unleashed a series of bombshells
‘It felt like that was the only thing people wanted to talk about: whether or not I was a fit mother. Not about how I’d made such a strong album while holding two babies on my hips and being pursued by dozens of dangerous men all day every day.’
The star also recounted her court battle over her children, writing: ‘My management team quit. A bodyguard went to court with Gloria Allred by his side as a witness in the custody case. He said I was doing drugs; he wasn’t cross-examined.
‘A court-appointed parenting coach said that I loved my children and that we were clearly bonded. She also said that there was nothing at all in my home that could be called abuse.
‘But that part didn’t make headlines.’
Spears did not maintain ill-will towards Seacrest afterwards, having been interviewed by the host in the years since.
The 2007 interview also came weeks after Spears’ mental health had again been heavily scrutinized following a performance of lead album track Gimme More at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards – in which a disoriented Spears sloppily mimed and seemed to forget the dance moves
After taking to the stage in nothing more than her underwear and sporting extremely visible hair extensions due to shaving her head months before – the singer’s big comeback came to a grinding halt.
The performance shocked fans and was universally panned by the public and critics.
Mom: ‘In the interview which was supposed to be about the record, Ryan Seacrest asked me questions like “How do you respond to those who criticize you as a mom” and “Do you feel like you’re doing everything you can for your kids?’ (pictured 2013 with sons Sean and Jayden)
Tough time: In October 2007 – the same month she released Blackout – she would lose physical custody of sons Sean , now 18, and Jayden, 17, to ex Kevin Federline
In January 2008 Spears was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after police arriving at her house – after she locked herself in a bathroom with her sons and refused to turn them over to Federline – noticed she appeared to be under the influence.
Federline was given sole legal and physical custody and Spears was placed on a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold and committed to the psychiatric ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Spears would regain visitation rights to her sons in July 2008 and began a return to the spotlight with a documentary and TV appearances.
She would share occasional snapshots of her with the boys over the years – beaming at the camera at a baseball match, celebrating birthday dinners, splashing around in a swimming pool – suggested a tender bond between mother and sons was forged.
But Federline was reportedly given 70 percent custody in 2019.
Kevin now notably has full custody over their two boys and made the decision to move the family from Los Angeles to Hawaii recently.
In February 2008 Britney was placed under a conservatorship controlled by her father Jamie Spears, and attorney Andrew Wallet – which gave them complete control of her assets and worth and would continue for 13 years.
An insider previously claimed to the New Yorker that Spears previously had a multi-million dollar fortune in the early 2000s, but it had been whittled down to only ‘a few million dollars’ when her conservatorship was established in 2008.
All is forgiven? Spears did not maintain ill-will towards Seacrest afterwards, having been interviewed by the host in the years since (pictured 2011)
Over: In November 2006, Spears filed for divorce from Federline just two months after welcoming son Jayden James – citing irreconcilable differences (pictured 2004)
Family: Kevin now notably has full custody over their two boys and made the decision to move the family from Los Angeles to Hawaii recently (seen Sean right and Jayden left)
The arrangement doled out a $2,000-per-week allowance for the songstress, but her father paid himself around $16,000 per month to run the conservatorship, and her former court-appoint attorney Samuel Ingham III was paid a yearly salary of $520,000, according to the New Yorker.
Britney shocked her fans when she testified in June 2021 that her conservatorship, which was put in place in 2008, prevented her from getting married or even having another child.
‘I want to be able to get married and have a baby,’ she said during a conservatorship hearing in 2021.
‘I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby, I have an IUD inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant.’
Her wish was granted six months later, in November 2021, when a judge officially terminated the conservatorship.
