Britney Spears’s Ex Kevin Federline Is Still ‘Profiting Off Her’

Britney Spears doesn’t appreciate her ex-husband Kevin Federline making it sound like she was a “Toxic” parent. In his new memoir, Federline is alleging new disturbing details from Sean Preston and Jayden James’ child, as well as critiquing the #FreeBritney movement. Federline and Spears were married from 2004 to 2007, and during that time they had two children together. Shortly after Federline’s kids aged out of child support age, he’s telling all in a new memoir. Spears is addressing his claims, and what she terms as his “gaslighting.” Here’s everything we thought we knew about Kevin Federline’s You Thought You Knew.

What does Kevin Federline say in his book?

In his upcoming memoir, You Thought You Knew, out October 21, Federline alleges that Spears sometimes used to watch their sons sleep “with a knife in her hand.”

Following Spears’s 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 2008, which Federline describes in his book as “one of the hardest nights of my life,” he was granted sole custody of Sean and Jayden. Federline suggests in the book that the children had reason to be afraid of staying with Spears, who was placed under a conservatorship after the psychiatric hold. “They would awaken sometimes at night to find her standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep — ‘Oh, you’re awake?’ — with a knife in her hand,” he alleges, per the New York Times. “Then she’d turn around and pad off without explanation.”

In the second-to-last chapter of You Thought You Knew, Federline says the #FreeBritney movement “started from a good place,” but argues that Spears’s long-term well-being is now at risk because professionals may fear being vilified if they try to help her. “All those people who put so much effort into that should now put the same energy into the ‘Save Britney’ movement,” he reportedly urges in his writing. “Because this is no longer about freedom. It’s about survival.” According to Federline’s book, he feels like “the clock is ticking” before something bad happens to Spears. Noting that he’s worried about his sons having to deal with the fallout, he called for fans to stand by Spears, Sean, and Jayden. “Now, more than ever, they need your support,” he writes. “I’ve been their buffer for years, but now it’s bigger than me. It’s time to sound the alarm.”

How has Spears responded?

“With news from Kevin’s book breaking, once again he and others are profiting off her and sadly it comes after child support has ended with Kevin,” a representative for Spears said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “All she cares about are her kids, Sean Preston and Jayden James and their well-being during this sensationalism. She detailed her journey in her memoir.” Spears stopped paying child support to Federline last November, the same month that Jayden turned 18 and reportedly reunited with her; Federline has denied to Entertainment Tonight that money “is at the root of” his book.

Spears also went on Twitter to more personally address what she called “gaslighting” from Federline. “I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys,” she wrote. “Relationships with teenage boys is complex. I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life.” According to Spears, her relationship with her children was damaged because they “witnessed the lack of respect shown by own father for me.” She says one child spent 45 minutes with her in the past 5 years, and the other had 4 visits total in that time. “Trust me, those white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank and I am the only one who genuinely gets hurt here,” she wrote. “ I am actually a pretty intelligent woman who has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past 5 years. I speak on this because I have had enough and any real woman would do the same.” 

This post has been updated.