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Following in her sister Jamie Lynn’s footsteps, Britney Spears has decided that she too wants to write a tell-all memoir, and given that she’s spent the past 13 years in complete silence, I think it’s fair to assume that she’ll have plenty of stories to fill its pages with.
According to Variety, a source close to the singer confirmed that she has landed a massive publishing deal for the book, which will give an in-depth account of both Spears’ life and music career as well as a detailed account of the fraught nature of her relationship with her family.
While deal terms were not revealed, the source described it as “record-breaking” in nature, while Page Six claimed that the agreement is worth as much as $15 million – apparently making it “one of the biggest [book deals] of all time, behind the Obamas”. Interestingly, Forbes only estimated Britney’s entire estate at $60million during her conservatorship, but that seems shockingly low judging by the fact that she’ll be earning one quarter that amount for one single book deal.
Simon & Schuster publishers were the victorious winners of the hugely competitive bidding war for the memoir, which comes just a few short weeks after Jamie Lynn’s own book, Things I Should Have Said: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out, was published. Already a national bestseller, the book has caused considerable drama which ultimately resulted in Britney’s lawyer, Matthew Rosengart, sending her younger sibling a cease and desist letter.
Rosengart also accused Jamie Lynn of exploiting her sister for monetary gain, adding that her book contains several “misleading or outrageous” claims about Britney. “Although Britney has not read and does not intend to read your book, she and millions of her fans were shocked to see how you have exploited her for monetary gain. She will not tolerate it, nor should she.
“You of all people know the abuse and wrongdoing Britney had to endure during the conservatorship, after initially growing up with a ‘ruinous’,’ alcoholic father. In fact, your own book reportedly states that your father ‘spent most of my life in that cycle of ruinous behaviour. His bouts of drinking caused me periods of torment and sorrow’,” Rosengart continued in a letter to Jamie Lynn.
“As I have previously stated, having endured a 13-year conservatorship that stripped her of civil rights and fundamental liberties, Britney will no longer be bullied by her father or anyone else. Britney was the family’s breadwinner and she also otherwise supported you. Publicly airing false or fantastical grievances is wrong, especially when designed to sell books. It is also potentially unlawful and defamatory.”
Later noting that Jamie Lynn had previously stated that the book was “not about [Britney]”, Rosengart said that Britney “will be forced to consider and take all appropriate legal action” if her sister does not cease and desist from referencing her derogatorily during her promotional campaign.
Fans first noted that there was trouble in the sisters’ relationship during Britney’s court testimony last summer when she said that she wanted to sue her family for how they treated her during the conservatorship. Jamie Lynn’s book tour only aggravated the situation even further and everything came to a head in mid-January after Rosengart sent the above-mentioned cease and desist letter.
Britney won her years-long fight to end her conservatorship – and remove her father as conservator of her estate – in November 2021 after Judge Brenda Penny ruled that the suspension was “in the best interests of the conservatee”. A lot has happened in the three months since she got her freedom, with Britney already commenting “Lord have mercy on my family’s souls if I ever do an interview.”