Britney Spears shocked the world when she shaved her head back in 2007, and now she has revealed why she did it.
The then-26-year-old's dramatic makeover made headlines around the world at the time and the images of Spears shaving her head from a Los Angeles hair salon remain an infamous pop culture moment.
Now, 16 years on, the 'Baby One More Time' singer has opened up in her new memoir The Woman in Me about how her decision behind the transformation was in response to the tabloid scrutiny she has dealt with from a young age.
“I’d been eyeballed so much growing up. I’d been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager,” she told People.
“Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back."
From 2008, Spears was under a court-mandated conservatorship which her father Jamie Spears was in charge of and this meant the pop star didn't have control over certain matters in her life such as her personal and financial affairs.
“Under the conservatorship I was made to understand that those days were now over,” she wrote.
“I had to grow my hair out and get back into shape. I had to go to bed early and take whatever medication they told me to take.”
Spears was under the conservatorship for 13 years. Jamie was removed as her conservator in September 2021 before it was completely lifted in November 2021, following the singer's plea to a judge to end the ruling as she declared: "I want my life back."
In celebration of the conservatorship ending, Spears was pictured holding a glass of champagne and in the post wrote:
"I’m celebrating my freedom and my B day for the next two months."
“I mean after 13 years…I think I’ve waited long enough. I’m so happy my lawyer Mathew Rosengart came into my life when he did… he has truly turned my life around… I’m forever thankful for that.”
Elsewhere, the 41-year-old also claimed in her memoir that she fell pregnant during her three-year relationship with fellow superstar Justin Timberlake.
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