Britney Spears reminisces about her 55-hour marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas. In her upcoming memoir, “The Woman in Me,” set to release on October 24th, the pop icon shares the details of the events leading up to their impromptu wedding and the aftermath. Back in January 2004, a 17-year-old Spears got intoxicated with Alexander during their time in Sin City. However, she admits that she has no recollection of that night, but from what she gathered, they spent their time together watching movies like “Mona Lisa Smile” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” before deciding to get married at A Little White Chapel at 3:30 in the morning.
Spears clarifies in the book that she and Alexander were not in love, despite people asking her about it. She confesses that she was simply very drunk and feeling bored with life at that time. Spears’s parents, Jamie and Lynne, were not pleased with the spontaneous wedding. She writes that they made too big of a deal out of what she thought was innocent fun. Spears believed that a Vegas wedding was something people did as a joke and did not take it seriously. However, her family’s reaction crushed her, and she cried throughout the rest of her time in Las Vegas.
During her stay in Las Vegas, her parents insisted on annulling the marriage, as they strongly opposed it. Spears begins to question if she unintentionally did something brilliant because her family’s control over her and her lack of a strong connection to someone else had become significant to them, especially considering she was financially supporting them at that point. Four years after this short-lived marriage, Spears would find herself under a court-ordered conservatorship that lasted almost 14 years.
Now, Spears finds joy in simple moments like playing with her dogs and watching her favorite TV show, “Friends.” She expresses her love for traveling and exploring new places. In an exclusive email interview with PEOPLE, she shares that after being freed from her conservatorship, she finally has the freedom to tell her own story without any consequences from those who previously controlled her life.
To read more about Britney Spears’ journey, including an exclusive excerpt from her memoir and the full interview, you can pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, available on newsstands this Friday.
