Kevin Federline has defended his decision to write his memoir, You Thought You Knew, and strongly emphasized that he did not publish the book to “hurt” his ex-wife, Britney Spears, or bring anyone down, but rather from “a place of understanding”, in the recently published interview with Vanity Fair.
Federline claims his motive is rooted in co-parenting their sons—Sean Preston Federline, 20, and Jayden James Federline, 19—and in urging his former wife toward a path forward with the kids and people who care about her. He stated: “I want people to know that I played a part in all of this as well… I’m not pointing fingers here.”
While acknowledging that both he and Spears partied during their early parenting years, Federline writes in the memoir that the important difference was his focus on when he had actual custody of their sons: “None of that was happening. Nothing was going on that would affect my parenting.”
Federline criticized those who “stay silent” about Spears because they believe silence will help her heal, calling instead for truth and transparency: “It’s about trying to get to a place where … there is still a path forward that involves you and the kids and people around you that love you.”
When asked whether he is part of the group of people who want the best for Spears, he responded, “Absolutely. I mean, who would I be as a father if I didn’t advocate for my sons’ mom?”
Regarding Spears’s own 2023 memoir, The Woman In Me, Federline acknowledged he doesn’t know what’s accurate: “She has the right to tell her story … Everybody has a right to tell their story.”
Spears’ response and conflicting claims
Spears responded publicly to Federline’s book release, calling his actions “extremely hurtful and exhausting.” Her representative accused Federline of taking advantage of her for profit.
In a post on X, Spears wrote: “The constant gaslighting from [my] ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting. I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys. Relationships with teenage boys are complex.”
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She further asserted that her sons have witnessed “the lack of respect shown by [their] own father for me” and noted that one son has only seen her for about 45 minutes in the past five years and the other has had only four visits in that time.
The singer’s rep said Federline and others are “profiting off her” now that child-support payments have ended.
Allegations in the memoir
Federline makes multiple serious claims in his memoir: including that Spears cheated on him, allegedly with a woman during an Amsterdam tour; that she used hard drugs while breastfeeding their sons; and that she once stood silently in the doorway of their sleeping children holding a knife.
He also stated that their sons asked why they were being forced to be around their mother or witness her strange behaviour, and that the boys recorded incidents of her purportedly acting erratically.
Release and context
The memoir is published amid renewed media attention; Federline’s interview for Vanity Fair and the excerpted claims have already sparked sharp backlash from Spears and her team.