Spat between Britney Spears, sons and ex-hubby turns ugly

The drama between US pop singer Britney Spears, her sons and ex-husband Kevin Federline has taken a turn for the worst, with the singer accusing her sons of being “hateful” and “harsh” while her ex has released videos of her yelling at her children.

The drama started when Federline gave an exclusive interview to Daily Mail last Friday, explaining the reason for the estrangement between Spears and her sons.

The sit down, which featured the former dancer and his family, saw Federline reveal that his sons Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden James, 15, are embarrassed by their pop star mother’s antics on Instagram and are refusing to see her as a result.

Federline, who was married to Spears for two years, also weighed in on the terminated conservatorship, showing his support for her father Jamie Spears.

Spears hit back a day later, posting messages on her Instagram page defending herself against the claims.

In one she said: “It saddens me to hear  my ex-husband has decided to discuss the relationship between me and my children.

“As we all know, raising teenage boys is never easy for anyone. It concerns me the reason is based on my Instagram. It was long before Instagram,” she said seemingly in reference to Federline’s claim that her nude posts embarrassed the children.

She stressed the issues should have remained private and should not have been  moved online.

While it seemed the heat died down, days later Spears again took to social media to share a lengthy post, since deleted, detailing her version of events about her troubled relationship with her sons.

She stressed the “situation should have 100% been dealt with privately and definitely not online”.

“I looked forward to seeing my kids every week. It was two days a week but I asked him to ask for more days, maybe three, but the next week they stayed for only one day.

“Yeah, I know teenagers are hard to deal with with at that age, but come on, there’s being rude there’s being hateful. They would visit me, walk in the door, go straight to their room and lock the door,

“The monitor would tell me he likes to be in his room. I’m like why come visit if they don’t even visit me.”

Spears insisted she “tried and tried” with her sons, and said perhaps this is why they stopped visiting her.

She revealed her sons recently told her they “may come [visit] here less”, and said while she accepted it, she felt they were being harsh.

This post did not sit well with Federline, who hit back by posting old videos of Spears arguing with her children about offences. 

Spears’ attorney Mathew Rosengart has since released a statement in defence of the Toxic hitmaker, telling Daily Mail Federline may have “not only violated the privacy and dignity of the mother of his children [but] has [also] undermined his own children, whose privacy he should protect”.

He described Spears as a devoted mother who “faithfully supported” her sons and who “loves them dearly”.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.