Britney Spears has spent most of her life in the public eye since she first came to prominence as a teenage pop singer.
Marriages, parenthood, mental health problems, family dissolution, and acrimonious legal disputes have all been depicted in the harsh light of the camera.
Others have stood with her in the spotlight as well, including Kevin Federline, a former backing dancer.
Following a brief romance that began in 2004, Kevin spent two years as Britney’s husband and the father of her two children, Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden, 15.
Since then, he has made a concerted effort to keep their sons out of the spotlight while his ex-life wife has continued to dominate news stories through family disputes and critical comments on social media.
In a lengthy, poignant TV interview, he finally broke his nearly ten-year silence and discussed the reality of life as the former “Mr. Spears,” as well as his continued struggle to keep his sons as far away from the mayhem surrounding his ex-wife as possible.
Despite the fact that his ex-wife, who wed American-Iranian model Sam Asghari, 28, in June, has purchased a £10 million mansion close to the Federline family home in Los Angeles, Kevin and his family reveal in a series of exclusive interviews that Preston and Jayden have not seen their mother for many months – at their own behest.
Kevin says, “The boys have agreed they are not seeing her right now.” They haven’t seen her in a few months. They decided against attending her wedding.
Additionally, he asserts that he thinks her father Jamie’s contentious 13-year conservatorship “saved” her.
Last November, Britney was finally freed from the contract, which had severe restrictions on her personal and financial life. But Kevin is now motivated by the possibility that his wife’s very public struggles will have an effect on their teenage sons.
This entire experience has been difficult to witness, difficult to live through, and difficult to watch my boys go through, he claims.
“It’s been difficult. It’s the most difficult task I’ve ever had to complete.
And throughout the ongoing Britney saga, there have been countless parenting difficulties. The 40-year-old celebrity has continued to draw attention since being released from her conservatorship last year and has started posting naked selfies on social media.
Kevin claims that at the moment, he felt compelled to apologize to the lads for any backlash they might have received as a result.
I try to explain to them, “Look, maybe it’s just another way she tries to express herself,” he says, insisting that the boys love their mother.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that it harms them. It’s hard. “I can’t even begin to understand how it feels to be a teenager having to attend high school,” he continues.
Kevin claims that he is speaking out about his estranged former wife to reveal a hitherto unseen side of this entertainment tale while he and the lads show nothing but sympathy to Britney.
The frenzied chaos that surrounded the 44-year-old father’s affair with a woman who rose from Disney child star to international stardom has long since passed in the father’s life. He maintains a calm home with his sons and Victoria, a successful former volleyball player, his wife of nine years.
Preston and Jayden are two sweet-tempered, artistic boys who have clearly inherited their parents’ creative tendencies. Preston has already begun to produce music and wants to take guitar lessons, and Jayden is an avid pianist.
All of Kevin and Victoria’s kids have been encouraged to express themselves.
Jordan, 11, and Peyton, 8, are also members of Kevin and Victoria’s blended family. Kevin’s older children, Kori, 20, and Kaleb, 18, from his previous relationship with actress Shar Jackson, also frequently visit.
The six siblings get along well. With cameras filming them eating cake in the garden to celebrate Kaleb and Kori’s birthdays and the boys diving in and out of the pool, Kevin makes fun of them for being like the Brady Bunch, a well-known American sitcom family.
It’s exactly what Kevin and Victoria want—the never-ending drama and controversy that Britney constantly seems to be at the center of.
Victoria tells me, “This is a typical home, a family… full of love.” “This house has nothing to do with whatever is going on outside.”
However, they assert that bringing the cameras inside their home today would assist Kevin’s ex-wife comprehend the challenges associated with growing up in the spotlight.
If there was any way, Kevin adds, “I could say anything to just open [Britney’s] eyes,” but thus far, he hasn’t discovered it. I imagine that if I discovered it, I would be attempting to call her and tell her.
Kevin, who was born and raised in Fresno, California, is the first to admit that he has seen controversy firsthand.
When he first saw Britney in a Hollywood Club in early 2004, he was an accomplished dancer. The timing was not perfect because Kevin was expecting his second child with Shar, his then-girlfriend, and Britney, then 26, had just ended a 55-hour marriage to her childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas.
Because of the less-than-ideal circumstances, Kevin was immediately the subject of rumors.
The couple’s romance, which included a brief engagement and wedding in October 2004, developed amid great public scrutiny but did not survive for very long. Spears filed for divorce in November 2006, two months after the birth of Jayden, alleging irreconcilable differences and requesting custody of their two sons.
On a promotional tour in Canada at the time, Kevin recalls being “blindsided” by the news as he participated in a live radio interview.
He explains, “I called my attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan and we sat down and I told him all I care about is having 50% custody.”
Nothing else was important. Nothing. I’m not the kind of person who would prioritize family over money.
According to him, Kaplan promised to obtain it for him because of his confidence in him.
Following a protracted legal battle, Kevin and Britney were duly granted shared custody.
In the months that followed, Britney had a very public breakdown, abruptly cutting off her hair, and was sent to the hospital for drug usage. Federline received sole physical and legal custody of their sons in January 2008. She was given the contentious legal conservatorship the following month.
Kevin asserts that despite the chaos and confusion, he thinks everyone made an effort. “So many diverse things were occurring in a brief amount of time.” Everything simply came to a head at once, and I don’t believe anyone knew what to do. He questions, “How can anyone prepare you.
The 2021 documentary Framing Britney Spears’ publication added to the increasing media attention around that conservatorship, which in turn sparked the formation of a global movement to abolish the conservatorship that was mostly conducted online and went by the hashtag “FreeBritney.”
Britney broke her silence during a court hearing four months after the documentary aired, saying, “I just want my life back,” and pleading with the judge to dissolve the conservatorship. She said, “It’s enough and it makes absolutely no sense.” I’m through.
Her wish came true six months later, in November 2021, when the conservatorship was formally ended by a judge.
Kevin admits that he has his own concerns about why the arrangement persisted for so long, but he insists that Britney’s father acted with the greatest of intentions at all times.
I witnessed this man who genuinely cared about his family and wanted everything to go smoothly, the speaker claims. “When Jamie took charge, everything was in order.” She was saved by him.
Nevertheless, he admits that although the conservatorship was a part of his sons’ upbringing, it become harder to explain the circumstances surrounding it.
He admits, “They’ve asked a lot of questions about it.” I tried to explain to them that your mom needed help, you know, and that people were involved in trying to make it happen or make it better, but I’m not sure if I can address all of their questions for them.
This hasn’t stopped his own relationship with Jamie from having its ups and downs: in November 2019, Kevin obtained a restraining order against his former father-in-law due to allegations of a fight with one of his sons.
Today, though, any animosity is in the past as the restraining order is soon to expire.
Kevin affirms, “I would certainly welcome Jamie Spears back in the boys’ life.” especially if the boys desired that. I don’t hold Jamie Spears responsible for anything. Errors are made by people. I’m sorry for him. He’s been put through the wringer, in my opinion.
That love also permeates Britney’s mother Lynne, affectionately referred to by her grandsons as “memaw,” brother Bryan, who resides nearby in Los Angeles, and sister Jamie Lynne.
All of them know Kevin, the sons, and Victoria well.
Family is meant to stick together, and just because they aren’t my direct family doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated as such since they are my sons’ or my kids’ immediate family, Kevin explains. They cherish their maw. It has always been my first priority to do what is best for the guys.
When Kevin explains that Sean Preston and Jayden have been delaying seeing their mother for some months, the significance of this extended family unit becomes even more poignant.
The guys described to my producer Erbil Gunasti and myself how difficult their choice had been. Even so, they continue to love her.
After the initial conservatorship period, there was a period of comparatively greater stability, and Kevin remembers enjoying pleasant co-parenting with his ex-wife. However, mother-son relationships have been worse recently.
Although Kevin obviously doesn’t want to bring any shame on his ex-wife, he does admit that he grew increasingly uncomfortable with what his then-younger teenage kids confided they were seeing during their visits in recent years, but he chooses to remain vague.
He simply states, “There were many things going on that I didn’t feel comfortable with.”
He reveals that in recent months, as a result of Britney’s increasingly erratic Instagram postings—in addition to routinely sharing images of her bare body, she has also publicly attacked him and other members of her family—his lads have made their own decision.
They made an effort to view her favorably, but despite that, he adds, “I can tell that sometimes it hurts to be in that situation.” Therefore, I ensured that all of my children could talk to me about anything at any time. The boys, along with the rest of my children, are aware that they can talk to my wife and I about anything.
They are currently teenagers, he continues. We talk about drugs, sex, and all the other stuff that teenagers experience, you know. I want my children to make whatever mistake they can in my home so that I can then shield them from those mistakes.
Kevin explains that it is one reason why his sons missed Britney’s most recent nuptials to Asghari.
Her children did not accompany her to the ceremony in California, which was attended by a number of A-list celebrities. He states that although “[the lads] were delighted for her, they took the decision not to attend her wedding because they aren’t currently seeing her.
It is consistent with Kevin’s overall feelings for his ex-wife, which are still measured and courteous. The boys are urged to talk about their mother in a loving manner and to comprehend the difficulties that have plagued her life over the years.
Whatever is happening outside, Victoria assures me, “has nothing to do with what is happening within this house.”
Kevin echoed this viewpoint. More than everything, he wishes that someday, not only for his sons but for the entire Spears family, all the drama would be over.
He continues, “I wish for them to forgive, to find inner peace, and then peace with one another.” The future.
