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☆ Opinion | The Despair at the Heart of Britney Spears’s Memoir
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first chapter of Britney Spears’s new memoir, “The Woman in Me,” includes the story of her paternal grandmother, Emma Jean Spears, called Jean; everybody says Britney Spears looks like her, but that’s not the only thing they have in common. “Tragedy runs in my family,” the passage about Jean Spears begins. “Jean wasn’t the only wife June sent to the mental hospital in Mandeville,” Britney Spears writes. “He sent his second wife there, too.”That’s the environment that her father, Jamie Spears, was raised in, Britney Spears writes. By now, most people have heard about her conservatorship (the subject of a Times documentary, “Framing Britney Spears”), which started in 2008, after her father petitioned for control over his daughter’s life and finances, citing concerns about her mental health.

Persons: Britney Spears’s, Emma Jean Spears, Jean, Britney Spears, that’s, Jean Spears, June Spears, “ Jean wasn’t, “, ”, Jamie Spears, Justin Timberlake Organizations: Louisiana Hospital Locations: Mandeville

☆ Britney Spears’s Memoir Sells 1.1 Million Copies in U.S. in First Week
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A news release from Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announcing the sales numbers quoted Spears as saying, “I poured my heart and soul into my memoir, and I am grateful to my fans and readers around the world for their unwavering support.”(Published figures put the price tag for Spears’s memoir between $12.5 million and $15 million.) The book is Spears’s first full account of her 13 years under a conservatorship, which her father, James P. Spears, was granted in 2008 amid a custody battle and Britney Spears’s series of public struggles. In the memoir, Spears describes an adulthood in which security personnel dispensed her medications and put parental controls on her iPhone. Kristen McLean, an industry analyst for Circana BookScan, which tracks book sales numbers, said on Wednesday that Spears’s memoir seemed as though it had a good chance of surpassing one million in print sales in the United States this year. Only one adult nonfiction title — Prince Harry’s “Spare” — has reached that height so far.

Persons: Simon, Simon & Schuster, Spears, Mickey, Justin Timberlake —, James P, Britney, Kristen McLean, Circana, Harry’s “, McLean, Walter Isaacson’s, Elon Musk, Michael Lewis’s, Sam Bankman, Jada Pinkett Organizations: Books, Simon &, Mickey Mouse Locations: Louisiana, Kentwood, United States

☆ Pairing Celebrity With Audiobook? It’s a ‘Kind of Matchmaking.’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Frank Rojas | More About Frank Rojas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s not clear how many takes it took to get that “fo’ shiz, fo’ shiz” just right in the recording studio. But however many it was, the actress Michelle Williams landed on a line reading that has resonated on social media. Ms. Williams narrates how the pop singer had an abortion while she was dating Mr. Timberlake, started drinking alcohol with her mother at age 14 and how she navigated her 13-year conservatorship. Simon & Schuster, which published “The Woman in Me,” did not immediately respond to questions about how Ms. Williams was selected to read Ms. Spears’s memoir. But in the world of audiobooks, the idea for many such pairings often comes from the producers.

Persons: It’s, ”, Michelle Williams, Britney Spears’s, Spears, it’s Ms, Justin Timberlake, Ginuwine, Williams, Timberlake, Simon & Schuster

There came a point during the 13 years that a conservatorship strictly governed Britney Spears’s life and career that she gave up fighting it, the singer recalls in her memoir, “The Woman in Me,” which is being released on Tuesday. Her father, James P. Spears, had been put in charge of her affairs in 2008 after she was twice hospitalized for involuntary psychological assessments. At times over the years that followed, she pushed back privately, but ultimately her exhaustion and fear of losing access to her two young sons won out, she recalls in the book. “After being held down on a gurney,” the memoir reads, “I knew they could restrain my body any time they wanted to. And so I went along with it.” Spears adds, “My freedom in exchange for naps with my children — it was a trade I was willing to make.”In the much-awaited 275-page memoir, which The New York Times obtained from a retail store in advance of its authorized release, Spears writes about her career as a teen idol, her struggles that became tabloid fodder, her time under the conservatorship and her eventual push for its termination in 2021, when she regained the right to make her own decisions.

Persons: James P, Spears, gurney, ”, “, ” Spears Organizations: New York Times

Britney Spears’s husband, Sam Asghari, whom she married after she was released from the conservatorship that controlled her life for more than a decade, filed for divorce on Wednesday after a little more than a year of marriage, according to Los Angeles court records. According to the divorce filing, which was submitted in Los Angeles Superior Court, the couple separated on July 28. Mr. Asghari cited irreconcilable differences as the legal grounds for divorce. A lawyer for Ms. Spears, Mathew Rosengart, declined to comment. But the rumors of her latest divorce made headlines around the world even before the court papers were filed, raising questions about how much has changed.

Persons: Britney, Sam Asghari, Spears, Asghari, Mathew Rosengart, Spears’s conservatorship Organizations: Los Angeles Superior Court Locations: Los Angeles, California

☆ This Evil Stepmother Has Perfect Comedic Timing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Juan A. Ramírez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Then, midsentence, she back rolls into a standing position — in heels. The move brings the house down, but doesn’t stop the show. As natural as it is indescribably comical, the action makes plain that Simard, 53, is more invested in continuing the larger story. “I had to get up, and it occurred to me that it’s a great juxtaposition between a dress that makes me look like a human feather duster, and ‘Why not?’” she said. “I’m of the school that says you have to take a bunch of spaghetti and throw it at the wall and see what sticks.”

Persons: ” Jennifer Simard, Britney Spears’s, Simard, “, ” Locations: “

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