LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: American journalist and media personality Megyn Kelly expressed her support after Britney Spears disclosed in her upcoming memoir, 'The Woman in Me', that she allegedly had an abortion during her relationship with Justin Timberlake.
In an excerpt from her memoir, released on October 17, the pop singer revealed that she had an abortion while dating Timberlake, as he wasn't ready to start a family at the time.
Britney, 41 years old, shared, "I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated," according to the excerpt obtained by PEOPLE.
This revelation has been described as one of the "bombshells" in Spears' memoir, 'The Woman in Me', set to be released on October 24.
Megyn Kelly reacts to Britney Spears' choice to have an abortion
Addressing Spears' decision to disclose her past abortion experience, journalist Megyn Kelly said during her podcast appearance on 'The Megyn Kelly Show' on Tuesday, October 17: "We don't talk about things like that. I applaud her for admitting it."
She added, "It does feel like a personal detail that others would have chosen not to share," adding, "But I applaud her for revealing it because there are real risks to this sort of carefree, ‘Oh yeah, we're gonna have premarital sex, and we're going to have the celebrity lifestyle.’"
She further commented, "If you find yourself pregnant and you're not yet ready to be a mother or a father, these are your choices."
"You either have to give birth to a baby and you didn't really want to have and raise it or potentially give it up, which also is emotionally tough, or you have to kill your own baby," she stated.
Kelly continued, "Whether you're pro-choice or not, you can’t argue that killing that life growing inside of you is killing a baby on its way to becoming a viable baby."
The podcast host continued, "This is somebody who's been one of America's sweethearts saying, 'I did this thing with one of the most famous men on the planet, and I'm really deeply regretful about the whole experience and how painful it was.' I'm sure that memoir is going to be quite a best seller."
Though Kelly praised the 'Toxic' singer for being open about the decisions she made as a young woman, she also voiced her worries for the pop star due to her nearly continual aberrant behavior on social media.
According to Kelly, Spears had been "punched in the face in so many different ways" throughout her life, and her social media posts were "proof of the hard knocks she's received."
Megyn Kelly receives mixed response for her take on Britney Spears' abortion
Viewers of the YouTube clip of Kelly's podcast neither whole-heartedly agreed nor disagreed with Kelly's take on Spears' choice to abort when she was carrying Timberlake's baby.
One comment thanked Kelly and said, "Thank you so much Megyn for showing Britney compassion and love."
A second YouTube user said, "Thank you for talking about this. I suffered the torment of a forced abortion for 3 decades until I found healing."
A third user asserted with Kelly and said, "I’ve always loved Britney. Who knows how many women have felt the way she did/does about it. Being young and in love, you do things that later in life you wish you didn’t. I wish her peace with that."
Another netizen did not approve of Spears' choice and said, "Sorry Megan (sic), but once a child is conceived, it's a baby. It's muddy and disingenuous to call it anything less than the sacred thing that it is - a human life."
"A baby on the way to becoming a viable baby? Life is so precious and the minute that we don’t treat it like the miracle that it is we lose our soul," exclaimed another one.
One user slammed Kelly and explained, "Megyn, Britney Spears has herself earned approx 2billion dollars. She’s a brilliant entertainer & artist. You’re a journalist/attorney n should do your diligence if you’re going to report on Britney. She is not n never was mentally unstable nor mentally ill, not a drug addict n not an alcoholic. She was vulnerable due to 2pregnancies a nasty divorce n constant media attention n was taken advantage of. For gods sakes, do some research!"
