Britney Spears’ ex-husband Kevin Federline has gone uncharacteristically quiet since the release of his tell-all book about his famous ex, likely because it proved to be a major flop.
You Thought You Knew failed to crack Amazon’s top 500 best-seller list and slid from No. 1,125 to No. 2,576 just days after its release.
Federline’s team reportedly invested heavily in promoting the book, but sales did not live up to the hype despite Federline’s salacious stories about Spears.
In the book, Federline claims his marriage to Spears fell apart after what he describes as a “final straw” moment, when he says he received a late-night call from her while she was out partying with friends, including Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. He writes that their sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, were crying in the background, and that he realized then “things would never be the same.”
He goes on to allege a series of disturbing incidents during Spears’ custody visits with their sons. According to Federline, the boys once found their mother standing silently at their bedroom doorway holding a knife, which deeply frightened them. He also recounts that one of the boys came home from a visit with bleached hair so chemically damaged that their skin was burned, forcing him to shave their heads.
Federline writes that Spears sometimes showed favoritism toward Jayden, leaving Preston “feeling left out,” and describes alleged instances of neglect, including feeding Jayden shellfish despite his allergy and forcing one of the boys to bathe with her when he was visibly uncomfortable.
Throughout the memoir, Federline expresses concern for Spears’ mental state, writing that he feared “something bad is going to happen if things don’t change.”
Spears responded publicly to the book’s release, calling it “extremely hurtful and exhausting.” On social media, she wrote that she has “always pleaded and almost begged” for a life with her sons, accusing Federline of “constant gaslighting.”
Her representatives noted that the memoir arrived just after his child-support payments ended, claiming the timing suggested an attempt to “profit off her name.”