Britney Spears reflects on that infamous 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer

Now that her conservatorship is over, Britney Spears is speaking out about the media's treatment of her

By Tatiana Tenreyro | December 13, 2021 | 9:50pm

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Britney Spears reflects on that infamous 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer

Britney Spears and Diane Sawyer Photo: Jamie McCarthy

Britney Spears wasn’t able to speak about the media’s abhorrent treatment of her in the documentary Framing Britney Spears, but now that her conservatorship is finished, she has no qualms talking about many of her messed up experiences. In an Instagram post published on Monday, Spears wrote about her infamous 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer, and provided some more context.

“Do we dare forget the Diane Sawyer interview in my apartment almost 20 years ago?,” wrote the pop icon. “What was it with the ‘you’re in the wrong’ approach? Geeze… and making me cry?? Seriously though… I lived in my apartment for a year and never spoke to anyone… my manager put that woman in my home and made me talk to her on national television. She asked me if I had a shopping problem!!! When did I have a problem with shopping??”

Spears also explained that she was already feeling vulnerable after her 2002 breakup with Justin Timberlake, and that the interview with Sawyer harmed her mental state further. “Something I never shared when I had that big breakup years ago was that I couldn’t talk afterwards… I never spoke to anyone for a very long time… I was in shock… pretty lame of my dad and three men to show up at my door when I could hardly speak… two days later they put Diane Sawyer in my living room…they forced me to talk!!!,” she recalled.

“I was a baby… I was almost 22 and didn’t understand… but I fucking know now,” she added, with a middle finger emoji. “She said ‘a woman or a girl…’ I would like to say now, ‘Ma’am, I’m a Catholic slut!!! You wanna join me at a mass and I can serve your husband my certificate on shopping for anonymous players???’ I should spend a thousand dollars if I want every day of my life and she can kiss my white ass.”

In the Primetime interview, Sawyer interrogated Spears on many inappropriate aspects of her life, including her sex life, and she criticized Spears for posing nude on magazine covers like Rolling Stone.

Sawyer has yet to give a statement on Spears’ comment.

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