Britney Spears Ex Kevin Federline Prepping ‘Extremely Intimate and Transparent’ Tell-All Memoir ‘You Thought You Knew’
Two years after Britney Spears released her tell-all memoir, The Woman in Me, the “Toxic” singer’s ex-husband, Kevin Federline, is preparing to tell his side of their story. According to a press release from publisher Listenin, Federline’s You Thought You Knew will be distributed via audiobook and hardcover on Oct. 21, marking the first time the former dancer will open up publicly about “the events, relationships and realities that have defined his life.”
Father of six Federline — who shares two adult sons with Spears, Sean, 19, and Jayden, 18 — got his start as a back-up dancer in the mid-90s before marrying Spears in 2004. The memoir of “fame, fatherhood and the private cost of public life” is described in the release as “a deeply personal and emotionally grounded memoir that traces Federline’s journey from a working-class childhood to life in the global spotlight. It explores how he weathered the scrutiny of relentless media coverage, high-profile relationships, and the painful reality of raising children under a microscope, all while trying to hold his family together.”
Federline, also known as K-Fed, went from dancing behind P!nk, LFO, Justin Timberlake, Destiny’s Child and Michael Jackson to becoming a tabloid staple two decades ago thanks to his whirlwind romance with Spears. The couple were broadsheet staples during their tumultuous marriage, which thrust Federline into the global spotlight before his retreat following the couple’s divorce in 2007.
“This book is extremely intimate and transparent. I achieved my biggest dreams, dealt with crushing heartbreak, and endured constant ridicule, all while becoming the father my children needed as they experienced nonstop emotional turbulence,” Federline wrote in a statement announcing the project. “If you’ve ever had questions, you’ll find answers here.”
In addition to co-starring with Spears in the warts-and-all UPN reality series Britney & Kevin: Chaotic, Federline, 47, released his debut (and so far only) album, the critically savaged Playing With Fire, in 2006, which was previewed by the hip-hop-adjacent non-album lead single, “PopoZão.” Federline also landed some commercial endorsements during his marriage to Spears, as well as cameos on shows including One Tree Hill and the big screen sex comedy American Pie Presents: The Book of Love.
In the years after their split, however, he’s largely avoided the spotlight and appears to have spent his time DJing. Federline, who had two children with former fiancée actress Shar Jackson before starting a family with Spears, married for the second time in 2013 to former volleyball player Victoria Prince, with whom he has two daughters. Federline had sole custody of Sean and Preston for a number of years in the midst of Spears’ 13-year conservatorship, during which the singer’s personal and financial affairs were tightly controlled by her father and a series of lawyers following a troubling series of public mental health crises and erratic incidents.
Federline’s memoir will be the debut effort from Listenin, a new audio-forward imprint from Barracuda Bay Productions (Hockey 24, This Is North Preston) that says it will specialize in “self-narrated biographies of renowned personalities.” The release will focus on audiobook platforms, but Listenin also promised print and digital versions of the Federline memoir as well.
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