Britney Spears responded to comments made by 15-year-old son Jayden James in an interview that recently aired in part on “60 Minutes Australia.”
“Jayden, as you undermine my behavior just like my whole family always has with, ‘Hope she gets better, I will pray for her’ … Pray for what?” the superstar, 40, said in a voice memo shared via Instagram on Monday.
“I keep working so I can pay off [my mother Lynne Spears’] legal fees and her house,” continued Britney, who then suggested that Jayden’s “hateful” remarks were rooted in fear of her financial obligations ending soon.
Jayden turns 16 on Sept. 12, while his older brother, Sean Preston, turns 17 on Sept. 14. Britney shares both teen boys with ex-husband Kevin Federline, who also participated in the “60 Minutes Australia” interview.
“Do you guys want me to get better so I can continue to give your dad $40,000 a month?” the “Toxic” singer said, acknowledging her current contributions. “Or is the reasoning behind you guys deciding to be hateful is because it’s actually over in two years and you don’t get anything?”
Jayden told celebrity interviewer Daphne Barak that he and Preston — who skipped her June nuptials to husband Sam Asghari — no longer spend time with their mom, but hope to reunite with her in the future when she “[gets] better mentally.”
Britney told Jayden via Instagram that she needs “unconditional love and support” from her family, not disparaging comments about her mental state.
“It saddens me not one of you have valued me as a person,” she said. “You’ve witnessed how my family has been to me and that’s all you know. Like I said, I feel you all secretly like to say something’s wrong with me.”
The Grammy winner also detailed her memory of a conversation she had with Jayden before he and Preston decided to stop visiting her.
“I will say it. I sat in that kitchen and looked you straight in the eyes, beautiful boy, and said, ‘How come I can’t see you guys anymore? Or just see you guys more? I look forward to seeing you guys weekly,’” she recounted. “You said, ‘Mama, oh, it’ll change.’”
Britney elaborated, “You and your brother left me in that house always two hours early. Preston would sleep. You would play the piano the whole time. And if I didn’t shower you guys with gifts and have amazing food ready and play a motherf—king saint, it was still never good enough.”
The pop icon seemed to place blame on her estranged father, Jamie Spears, for her current dynamic with Jayden and Sean. Jamie, 70, implemented the nearly 14-year conservatorship that controlled his famous daughter’s life before its November 2021 termination.
“Honestly, my dad needs to be in jail for the rest of his life,” Britney said, a sentiment she has shared before.
Jayden defended Jamie in the “60 Minutes Australia” interview, insisting he had Britney’s best interests in mind when establishing the restrictive legal arrangement.
It should be noted that Jamie was slapped with a three-year domestic violence restraining order in 2019 after an alleged incident with Preston, preventing him from having contact with his grandsons. Additionally, when Jayden spoke out in a March 2020 Instagram Live session, he called his grandfather “a pretty big d—k” who “can go die.”
Britney concluded her Monday message by saying her family’s inaction to end her conservatorship — and the four-month stay at a mental health facility against her will — has halted her belief in a higher power.
“God would not allow that to happen to me if a God existed,” she stated. “I don’t believe in God anymore because of the way my children and my family have treated me. There is nothing to be believe in anymore. I’m an atheist, y’all.”