Britney Spears memoir details how Madonna helped after abortion — and how Justin Timberlake did not
Britney Spears memoir details how Madonna helped after abortion — and how Justin Timberlake did not
The release of Britney Spears’ memoir “The Woman In Me” shocked the world with the bombshell revelation that she had an abortion with Justin Timberlake’s child.
In the Oct. 24 released memoir, the pop star shares more details about the painful experience, citing Madonna as the person who helped her through her “sadness” afterward.
“One of my few visitors during that strange, surreal time was Madonna,” Spears explains in the book. “I think she probably had some intuitive sense of what I was going through.”
Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears at ‘A Family Celebration 2001’ at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on April 1, 2001, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The “Toxic” singer admitted she needed guidance at the time and the musical icon was there for her and served as a “mentor.”
“Madonna’s supreme confidence helped me see a lot about my situation with fresh eyes,” Spears writes. “I needed a little guidance at that time. I was confused about my life. At one point, she did a red-string ceremony with me to initiate me into Kabbalah, and she gave me a trunk full of Zohar books to pray with. She told me I should be sure to take time out for my soul, and I tried to do that. She modeled a type of strength that I needed to see.”
Shortly after, the duo collaborated on “Me Against The Music” and shared that infamous onstage kiss at the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards. Their close dynamic explains why Madonna’s name is mentioned in the memoir 18 times.
Britney Spears (L) and Madonna perform onstage during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 28, 2003 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images)
Spears also explained in the book that her decision to abort the baby was mostly due to Timberlake’s apprehension about fatherhood at the time.
“Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young,” she writes of the pregnancy. “It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated.”
Determined to keep the abortion secret from the public, the couple opted for an at home procedure that Britney now says was “wrong.”
“We also decided on something that in retrospect wound up being, in my view, wrong, and that was that I should not go to a doctor or hospital to have the abortion,” she recalls. “It was important that no one find out about the pregnancy or the abortion, which meant doing everything at home.”
Spears describes the pain she experienced “on the appointed day” as “unbelievable” after taking “the little pills.”
“I went into the bathroom and stayed there for hours, lying on the floor, sobbing and screaming. I went down to the ground on my knees, holding the toilet.” She writes Timberlake eventually “came into the bathroom” and laid on the floor with her.
“At some point he thought maybe music would help, so he got his guitar and he lay there with me, strumming it.” But after continued pain she recalls, “Still, they didn’t take me to the hospital.”
Spears says, though the experience left her “messed up for a while,” she did it because of her love for Timberlake. “I still did love Justin so much. It was insane how much I loved him, and for me, it was unfortunate.”
Timberlake has yet to comment on any of these revelations in the book.
