Britney Spears’ New Book: Expected VMAs Performance to Be ‘Bad’
Britney Spears opened up about a pivotal moment in her music career, in her memoir The Woman in Me. In the United States alone, the book sold 1.1 million copies in a week.
Spears revealed that she experienced a panic attack before her performance at the 2007 MTV VMAs. Her performance was widely criticized all over the media.
“I didn’t want to, but my team was pressuring me to get out there and show the world I was fine,” she wrote in her memoir.
In 2007, Spears faced a challenging year marked by her divorce and the relentless paparazzi scrutiny. Nevertheless, her team urged her to make a comeback performance after a three-year hiatus, to promote her highly-anticipated album Blackout. “The only problem with this plan: I was not fine,” she stated.
Britney admits she was "not fine" during her infamous 2007 VMAs performance — detailing her run-in with Justin at the show on "one of the worst days of [her] life" (via @toofab) https://t.co/HpdXREp4YN https://t.co/HpdXREp4YN
— TMZ (@TMZ) October 24, 2023
The night of the VMAs, the popstar disclosed that “nothing was going right.”
“I hadn’t slept the night before. I was dizzy. It was less than a year since I’d had my second baby in two years but everyone was acting like my not having six-pack abs was offensive. I couldn’t believe I was going to have to go out onstage feeling the way I felt,” she expressed.
Spears explained that before the show she had a panic attack, and she wasn’t confident about her rehearsal. “I hated the way I looked. I knew it was going to be bad,” she continued.
Prior to her performance, she ran into Justin Timberlake for the first time in a while, her ex-boyfriend who split five years previously.
“You also don’t usually have one of the worst days of your life in the exact place and time that your ex has one of his best,” she wrote. Referring to the pop artist’s solo and joint performance with Timbaland and Nelly Furtado.
Excerpt from Justin Timberlake's performance at #VMAs 2007! pic.twitter.com/Lf8jkqJy5h
— Justin Timberlake Charts (@jtcharts) September 12, 2021
While performing, Spears stated it felt like looking in a fun-house mirror when seeing herself on video. “I went out there and did the best I could at that moment in time.” Spears recognized it wasn’t her best performance to date.
You can purchase your copy of The Woman in Me here.
