Britney Jean Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, but her family moved to Kentwood, Louisiana, and she was raised there from a young age. Britney is born to Parnell Spears, a building contractor, and Lynne Spears, a former grade school teacher. She has an older brother Bryan Spears who works as a manager for the family, and a younger sister Jamie Lynn who is an actress and singer. She was a raised a Southern Baptist by her parents. She regularly performed in her local Baptist Church choir.
Spears attended gymnastics classes until age nine and started to compete in state-level competitions. At eight years old, she auditioned for the Disney Channel series, The New Mickey Mouse Club. She was too young to join the series, but the producer of the show introduced her to a New York City agent. She ended up spending three summers at New York City’s Professional Performing Arts School. She also appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions such as Ruthless!. In 1992 she starred in the TV show Star Search and won only the first round of the competition. At 11, she earned the spot on The New Mickey Mouse Club in Florida, and was featured on the show until she was 13. Her cast members include Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Keri Russell, and Ryan Gosling.
After the ending of the show, Spears returned to Kentwood and went to High School for a year. In 1997, Spears joined an all female pop group Innosense. She ended up leaving the group and decided to go solo. She was eventually signed by Jive Records and became an opening act for pop groups ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys. Spears debut single “Baby One More Time” was released in 1998 and was an international success. It earned number one spot on the Billboards Hot 100 and earned nine million sales worldwide. She was featured in the April 1999 cover of Rolling Stones and triggered speculation that the 17 year old had breast implants.
In 2002, Spears’s four year relationship with Justin Timberlake ended. Rumors spread that Spears had been unfaithful after Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River.” In 2003 Fred Durst confirmed that he had a relationship with Spears, although she denied it. Spears married childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander in 2004 in Las Vegas at The Little White Wedding Chapel. The marriage only lasted 55 hours. In 2004, Spears announced her engagement to Kevin Federline and married in 2005. Together they have two children Sean Preston Federline and Jayden James Federline. Spears and Federline filed for divorce in 2006 and it has been down hill for Spears ever since. She had a public mental break down and was even admitted to rehab. She has been involved in an ongoing bitter custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Did you know…
- During the late 90's, Britney was known as the "Pop Princess" for all her hit singles including "...Baby One More Time."
- Britney has used the alias "Alotta Warmheart" when checking into hotels.
- In her first starring role in film, Britney's character was supposed to swear. Britney ordered that the curse words be taken out so not to tarnish her image for the younger pre-teen viewers of her movie.
- In April 2007, Britney attended an LA Lakers game in disguise, but was caught by the paparazzi. She was wearing a giant Kobe Bryant jersey, a blonde wig and a giant pair of sunglasses.
- For the movie Chicago, producer Harvey Weinstein wanted Britney for the role that eventually went to Lucy Liu. Britney was also offered a role in Scary Movie but was forced to turn it down, due to concert scheduling. She was considered for the part of Allie Hamilton in The Notebook but was beat out by Rachel McAdams. She also lost the role of Daisy Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard to Jessica Simpson. She also auditioned for a movie called Gordy when she was 13, but turned it down when they offered it to her. She finally made her big-screen debut in the movie Crossroads.
- Britney wrote the theme song to her sister Jamie Lynn's, Nickelodeon TV series Zoey 101.
- When Britney was a child, she used to lock herself in the bathroom and sing to her dolls. After each song, she practiced smiling and blowing kisses to her doll audience.
- Britney has an obsession with the late Princess Diana, and has started spending up on memorabilia.
- Britney Spears shaved her head in 2007 at Esther’s Haircutting Studio in Tarzana.
- For the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards she wore a nude colored outfit during her performance that sparked up controversy.
- Spears also had a multi-million dollar deal with Pepsi.
