Britney Spears has detailed her battle with depression following the birth of her two sons in her new memoir, The Woman In Me.
The 41-year-old pop icon, who shares Sean Preston, 18, and Jayden James, 17, with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, has endured a public battle with her mental health over the years and wrote about how it happened to her shortly before and after her career went from bad to worse, mother went from bad to worse.
She wrote: “Unfortunately, there wasn’t the same discussion about mental health back then as there is today.”
“I hope that any new mothers reading this who find themselves in a difficult situation get help early.”
“Because I now know that I exhibited almost every symptom of perinatal depression: sadness, anxiety, fatigue.”
Tough time: Britney Spears has detailed her battle with depression after the birth of her two sons in her new memoir The Woman In Me (pictured in 2013 with sons Sean and Jayden).
Published October 24: Spears’ memoir The Woman In Me has sparked a series of bombshells
The first signs of Spears’ deteriorating mental health emerged in February 2006, when she was pictured driving with her then five-month-old son Sean Preston on her lap while holding the steering wheel with one hand.
Spears was followed by photographers as she stopped near her home in Malibu, California, and sent her minder to a Starbucks for a few drinks.
At first she was unrepentant, saying: “I had a terrible, terrible encounter with the paparazzi when I was with my baby,” she said.
“I was afraid they would put us in danger. I instinctively took action to get my baby and myself out of harm’s way.”
Her comments sparked widespread criticism.
She later took partial responsibility, saying: “I made a mistake and I guess it is what it is.”
In May 2006, her parenthood came into question again when she nearly dropped her then eight-month-old son on his head.
The pop star, who was pregnant with her second son at the time, fell while leaving the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York, holding Sean Preston in one arm and a drink in the other.
First baby: The 41-year-old pop icon, who shares Sean Preston, 18, and Jayden James, 17, with ex-husband Kevin Federline, wrote about how she spiraled shortly before and after giving birth ( pictured with Federline in 2005 when Spears was pregnant). )
As she walked to her car, her pants appeared to get caught in her open-toed shoes just as she tried to avoid a pothole, according to testimony.
Britney is said to have been distraught over the accident and burst into tears.
In 2007, the pop megastar experienced some of her most high-profile public meltdowns, including shaving her head and attacking a paparazzo’s car. In her memoir, she explained that after her aunt’s death and a custody battle, she “lost her mind with grief” over her sons with ex-Federline.
She said, “Since my head was shaved, everyone was afraid of me, even my mother.”
“During these weeks without my children, I kept losing my temper. I didn’t even really know how to take care of myself.’
Sharing an even more intimate glimpse into her life at the time, Britney continued, “I’m ready to admit that I was in the midst of severe postpartum depression, abandonment by my husband, the anguish of separation from my two babies, and the death of…” “My beloved Aunt Sandra and the constant pressure of the paparazzi made me think like a child in some ways.”
After a performance of “Gimme More” at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2007, during which a disoriented Spears mimed sloppily and appeared to forget the dance moves, Spears’ mental health came under intense scrutiny again
After taking the stage in only her underwear and extremely visible hair extensions after shaving her head months earlier, the singer’s big comeback came to an abrupt end.
In 2007, the pop megastar experienced some of her most high-profile public meltdowns, including shaving her head
Family: In January 2008, Federline was granted sole custody and Spears was involuntarily committed to Psychiatric Hospital 5150 and admitted to the psychiatric ward at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Concern: Spears’ mental health came under intense scrutiny again after a performance of the album’s lead song “Gimme More” at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards – during which a disoriented Spears mimed sloppily and appeared to forget the dance moves
The performance shocked fans and was met with widespread criticism from audiences and critics.
In January 2008, Spears was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after police arrived at her home – after she locked herself in a bathroom with her sons and refused to hand them over to Federline – and noticed she appeared to be under influence stood.
Federline was granted sole custody and legal custody and Spears was involuntarily committed to the 5150 Psychiatric Detention Center and admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Psychiatric Unit.
In July 2008, Spears regained visitation rights with her sons and returned to the spotlight with a documentary and television appearances.
Over the years, she occasionally shared snapshots of herself with the boys—beaming at the camera at a baseball game, celebrating birthday dinners, or splashing in the swimming pool—suggesting that a tender bond had formed between mother and sons.
But according to reports, Federline was awarded 70 percent custody in 2019.
Kevin now has sole custody of the two sons and recently made the decision to move the family from Los Angeles to Hawaii.
In February 2008, Britney was placed under a conservatorship controlled by her father, Jamie Spears, and her lawyer, Andrew Wallet – which gave them complete control over her assets and worth and would last for 13 years.
An insider previously claimed to The New Yorker that Spears already had a multimillion-dollar fortune in the early 2000s, but that had been reduced to just “a few million dollars” when she created her conservatorship in 2008.
Family: Notably, Kevin now has sole custody of their two boys and recently made the decision to move the family from Los Angeles to Hawaii (pictured is Sean on the right and Jayden on the left).
The agreement called for a weekly allowance of $2,000 for the singer, but her father paid himself about $16,000 a month to run the conservatorship, and her former court-appointed attorney Samuel Ingham III received an annual salary of $520,000 US Dollar New Yorker.
Britney shocked her fans when she testified in June 2021 that her conservatorship, which she put in place in 2008, prevented her from getting married or even having another child.
“I want to get married and have a baby,” she said during a 2021 conservatorship hearing.
“At the conservatory I was just told that I can’t get married or have a child, I have an IUD inside me at the moment so I won’t get pregnant.”
Her wish was granted six months later, in November 2021, when a judge officially ended the conservatorship.
Postpartum depression
Postpartum depression occurs after the birth of a baby.
It affects up to 20 percent of women in the US and 10 percent in the UK.
This is different from the baby blues, which are often accompanied by mood swings, crying spells, anxiety, and difficulty sleeping.
This is a more severe and long-lasting form of depression.
There may be problems bonding with the baby, enjoying motherhood, periods of anger or rage, sadness and crying.
There may be a constant feeling of being overwhelmed or having thoughts of harming yourself or running away and escaping.
PPD is a disorder from the group of so-called perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
Source: Mayo Clinic and Postpartum Progress
For confidential support in the UK, call Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. For more information, visit www.samaritans.org.
For confidential support in the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255.
For confidential support in Australia, call Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14.