i didn’t grow up with britney’s music (sheltered christian kids, where you at?! 🙋🏼‍♀️) but it’s impossible to not know her hits and the headlines that have marked her story over the years. i knew loosely about the abusive dynamics with her parents and the intensity of her conservatorship, but truly, reading this made me so sad for what she has endured at the hands of people who should have loved, cared, and supported her. the trauma and grief throughout her life is deep, and i cannot imagine how hard it had to have been to be so trapped in your own life with so little control because of the manipulation of your parents and other powerful people. 

i’m glad she told her story — this feels like a book where the goal was just to get the things out there after so long of holding them back, and while the writing style is a bit elementary and the chapters felt a bit hollow at times or gaps almost lost me, i didn’t expect brilliance in that regard. (tbh, with celeb memoirs and ghostwriters and such, i rarely do!)

all told, it was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me — i liked it, and i empathize more deeply with her after reading it, and i’m glad she’s free to live life on her own terms now.