This week, Britney Spears finally released her candid new memoir, The Woman in Me, in which she shares what it was like growing up in the limelight, her relationship with Justin Timberlake, and her conservatorship.
For years, the media has covered so many of these pivotal moments in her life, so it's been refreshing to watch Britney reclaim her voice and share her own point of view. Of course, so many things about the way she was treated by the media have been completely reexamined for how horrible they really were — particularly some of the questions she fielded that, looking back, are completely inappropriate. Here are 11 of those truly awful interview moments she had to deal with:
1. First, when she was just a teenager and this interviewer randomly brought up the topic of her breasts, and then joked about how she got upset over similar questions during prior interviews:
2. When this interviewer asked if Justin Timberlake was jealous that she kissed "another boy" in her movie, and she said no, because movies literally aren't real:
3. When Diane Sawyer made her cry after bringing up her breakup with Justin Timberlake and insinuated that she insulted her fans*, so Britney asked to stop the interview:
4. And when Diane pulled out photos of Britney from different photo shoots and asked her where her clothes were:
5. And then, when Diane told Britney that the then–first lady of Maryland, Kendall Ehrlich, said that she wanted to "shoot" her:
6. When this interviewer asked why she told people she was a virgin, and she simply responded by saying she just answered the question she was asked:
7. When someone asked Britney how much she spent on her house, and she refused to answer:
8. When Matt Lauer asked Britney if she thought people were rooting against her marriage with Kevin Federline, after she kept trying to reiterate that she was happy in her relationship:
9. And when Matt kept referring to Britney as a "bad mom" and questioned all of her choices, which were only amplified because of the constant paparazzi:
10. When this interviewer asked Britney if she would give her a kiss on the cheek, and Britney was speechless:
11. And finally, when this interviewer asked how Britney felt about the constant questions about her virginity and then rudely followed up with a question about whether there were "any changes on that front":
Make sure you check out Britney's memoir, The Woman in Me.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.