I've read about 2/3rds of Britney's book so far. The conversational style maybe isn't for everyone but it's pretty readable and not as garbled and fractured as I thought it'd be.
It's interesting that she relates her public breakdown (when she shaved her head) very lucidly - which I was not expecting. Usually when you're traumatised, stressed, mind racing, a lot of the time you can't pinpoint your feelings or explain your actions afterward - sometimes you can't even remember large parts of it. Maybe it's your mind protecting you, but cynics may say she's had many years to get her story straight and that's why she's now able to explain it.
Really shitty that her mother wrote a book about Britney not long after her breakdown - even if you don't fully believe Britney's family were leeching off her fortune, to do that to your own daughter is really low and not a great reflection on Lynne.
The way Britney tells it, she had her public meltdown solely due to not seeing her boys and was desperately sad about it all - and she was accused of being an addict - though she does admit to taking Adderall to excess during this time.
Is there part of this story missing? Her parents and even Jamie-Lynn (who has also written a book - more recently, none of which I have read) all deserve a right to reply as nobody in her close family comes across as that sympathetic a character.
It does feel as if there's parts of her life story missing. At the same time I admire Britney for carrying on and putting herself under scrutiny even though she was dealing with this resentment and hurt...and I don't think her father, as an ex-addict who ruled the household by fear when she was a child, had her best interests at heart.
At the same time, if her mental health issues are as serious as some people suspect, people who are really ill can rewrite history. They deny. They blame. Because maybe it makes their hurts easier to deal with (which I can kinda understand, and I know someone like this).
I even appreciate her saying she doesn't feel her emotional stamina (if you want to call it that) is as strong nowadays and she didn't feel she had the ability to continue doing shows like The X Factor. She seems to have found it too draining, and that's maybe more of a reflection where her head's at nowdays. She mentions how she feels more safe and secure at home.
I was expecting to read it thinking my bullshit-ometer would go off constantly, but you know what? I kinda like her and I do feel for her, even if I don't know whether to believe exactly everything. She has suffered and managed to persevere, that's for sure, and that deserves respect.
How she is, emotionally and physically, now? I don't really know...!
