The Woman in Me

I wanted to like this book because I was such a fan of Britney growing up. The book started out innocently enough, detailing Britney's upbringing in the South. She had an emotionally absent father with a drinking problem and a mom interested in making money out of her daughter's God-given talents.

Britney portrayed herself as a naive, submissive, traditionally feminine girl who liked to sing and dance. In the book, she spoke/relayed her thoughts with a sort of middle-school mentality at times. Her story discussed two of her high-profile relationships- one with Justin Timberlake and another with K-Fed. This is when the book took a turn.

As much as the reader could empathize with Britney's problems with men and trust with her background of having an emotionally-absent father, it was kind of sad to see one of the time's most powerful women completely define her life and well-being through her relationships. Of course, fame and stardom don't fill the void that authentic security and self-worth do, but I was just in awe of how she had chosen to define herself and the power she gave these men.

The book worsened as she got to the part where she gave the reader a very topical perspective on her mental health struggles and she seemed to only victimize herself. I know this is controversial- but getting your children taken away and having a conservatorship placed over you can pretty much only happen if the circumstances/behavior are extreme and there is cause to do so. At this point of the book (and the rest of it) there was almost no insight or personal accountability, just about how these men and her family had wronged her.

There are nuggets of interesting information and celebrity drama that make the book slightly interesting. Overall, let's hope Britney has more insight into herself and what happened in her breakdown than what was articulated in this book.