The Britney Spears memoir finally has a release date.
Initially revealed by People magazine, the book, which is titled The Woman in Me, a lyric taken from Spears’s ballad “I’m Not a Girl Not Yet a Woman”, is slated for an October 24 release.
Described by publisher Gallery, a division of Simon & Schuster, as “a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope”, The Woman in Me marks the first time that Spears will tell her story in her own words.
Speaking to People, Jennifer Bergstrom, the senior vice president and publisher at Gallery Books, said that they were proud to help Spears share her story.
"Britney’s compelling testimony in open court shook the world, changed laws, and showed her inspiring strength and bravery,” she said. “I have no doubt her memoir will have a similar impact – and will be the publishing event of the year.”
News that Spears was writing a memoir was confirmed in 2022, with Page Six reporting that the singer had signed a book deal worth a rumoured $15 million following a bidding war.
Since then, news about the “brutally honest” memoir has been scant. While there were suggestions that Spears had finished writing the book as early as July 2022, a subsequent report in April 2023 by Page Six confirmed that the singer had wrapped up the writing process with ghostwriter Sam Lanksy, a novelist and former editor at Time magazine.
Nevertheless, doubts were cast whether the book would ever materialise after The Sun reported that a number of celebrities had sent legal letters to Spears’s publisher Simon & Schuster about the contents of the memoir.
In leaked audio from a court hearing in 2021, Spears called the legal arrangement “abusive” and “traumatising”. “I would also like to be able to share my story with the world,” she said
“The Woman in Mereveals for the first time her incredible journey – and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history,”reads a description of the book provided by the publisher. “Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love – and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.”
From October 24, it looks like Britney Spears’s wish will finally come true.