Britney Spears is redefining what freedom means to her after over a decade of feeling like she didn't have control of her own life.
"Freedom to do what I want to do has given me back my womanhood," she writes in her new memoir, "The Woman In Me," released Tuesday. "In my forties, I'm trying things for what feels like the first time. I feel like the woman in me was pushed down for so long."
The book is a harrowing account of the pop star's experience with public scrutiny and fraught familial and romantic relationships. She also details her experience with being placed under a court-ordered conservatorship -- and then getting herself out of it.
"Now, finally, I'm roaring back to life," she writes.
In 2021, a judge terminated a 13-year conservatorship under which her father, Jamie Spears, had been overseeing her finances and medical decisions.
Spears writes that she's been "trying to rebuild my life day by day."
"There's been a lot of speculation about how I'm doing," she writes, in reference to her post-conservatorship life. "I know my fans care. I am free now. I'm just being myself and trying to heal."
She adds that she's been "trying to have fun and trying to be kind to myself, to take things at my own pace," including meditating, traveling, seeing her sons and spending time with friends and her pets.
"When I regained my freedom, that was my cue to step out onto dry land -- and, any time I want, to take vacations, sip a cocktail, drive my car, go to a resort or stare out at the ocean," she writes.
The Grammy-winner adds that she is in no hurry to return to the recording studio or to the stage, noting that her music career isn't her "focus" right now.
Spears performed her Las Vegas residency "Piece of Me" between 2013 and 2017, but hasn't performed in front of a live audience since her 2018 performance in Austin at the US Grand Prix. In July, she released a new single "Mind Your Business" in collaboration with Will.i.am.
"Freedom means I don't have to perform for anyone -- onstage or offstage," she writes. "Freedom means that I get to be as beautifully imperfect as everyone else."
Most importantly, she writes, "freedom means the ability, and the right, to search for joy, in my own way, on my own terms."
