Last week, it was confirmed that Britney Spears had given permission for her sons to move to Hawaii with their dad, Kevin Federline.
Britney and her ex Kevin — who separated in 2007 after two years of marriage — coparent their two boys, Preston and Jayden, who are 17 and 16 respectively.
While Kevin was granted sole custody of the boys when Britney was placed under a tight conservatorship in 2008, she has continuously provided him with a monthly child support payment of $20,000 for each of the boys. She has also covered their school, insurance, and clothing expenses.
Kevin came under fire in 2018 after he requested an increase on the amount of money that Britney was providing him in child support, especially given that the singer was still living under the terms of the strict legal arrangement at the time.
Elsewhere, Kevin faced backlash last August after he publicly discussed Britney’s relationship with their kids during an interview with the Daily Mail. Not only did he claim that Jayden and Preston were uncomfortable with the singer’s nude Instagram photos, but Kevin also noted that the boys had “made the decision” to stop seeing her.
Weeks later, Jayden opened up about his strained relationship with his mom, telling ITV News that lots of “time and effort” would be needed to repair things between them.
“I don't think she showed enough to Preston and I feel really bad for that,” he said. “We've both been through so much pressure in the past that this is our safe place now, to process all the emotional trauma we've been through to heal, heal our mental state.”
Britney responded to Jayden’s interview by expressing how hurt she was in a lengthy statement shared to Instagram. She later posted a now-deleted audio clip discussing her emotions further, during which she noted that in two years’ time, Jayden and Preston won’t be getting “anything” from her anymore. This specific comment sparked heaps of backlash at the time.
But in spite of all this, Britney has also repeatedly posted about how much she loves and misses her boys. Just last month, for example, she wrote alongside a now-deleted Instagram post, “I miss my children desperately and think of them everyday.”
A few weeks later, it was revealed that Kevin had reached out to Britney and asked for permission to move Jayden and Preston from California to Hawaii — something that her lawyer confirmed she had approved.
While this decision to relocate is reportedly based around the fact that Kevin and his wife, Victoria Prince, are set to pursue professional careers there, some of Britney’s fans have accused the DJ of purposefully moving the young boys in order to benefit from the fact that Hawaii is the only state where child support is ordered for children until they turn 23, so long as they’re enrolled in full-time education.
Now, referencing her kids publicly for the first time since the news broke, Britney has shared a throwback photo of herself and Preston.
Taking to Instagram, Britney posted a paparazzi photo of herself walking through a parking lot and holding a young Preston in her arms. She simply captioned the photo with two flower emojis, and turned off the comments.
And while the subtle photo may not seem like much, the timing of Britney’s rare throwback photo with Preston seems pretty pointed in light of their current situation — especially given that the singer is known for relaying subtle messages through her Instagram posts.
