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Follow the star’s rise, fall and comeback
Britney Spears' Life in Photos
Segev
Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981 in the small town of Kentwood, Louisiana (population 2,200). Her mother, Lynne, devoted herself to nurturing her eldest daughter's talent from the time Britney was three. Her father, Jamie, had a drinking problem that magnified as his construction business faced a downturn.
MICKEY MOUSE CLUB, clockwise from far left: Tate Lynche, Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, Nita Booth, T.J. Fantini, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears (center). 1989-94. © Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett Collection
Everett Collection
When she was eight, Spears' mother brought her to Atlanta to audition for The Mickey Mouse Club, though Britney was too young to make the cut. For the next four years, Spears lived part-time New York with her mom, where she played the lead in the off-Broadway play Ruthless and performed on Star Search. When she was 12, Spears finally did join the Mickey crew, where she starred alongside Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. Here, she poses with the cast.
Segev
After the new Mickey Mouse Club was canceled, Spears returned to New York and tried to grab the attention of the music industry through demo tapes and auditions. Jive Records was interested, and she paired with manager Larry Rudolph and went to Sweden to record with songwriter Max Martin. She returned with her hit first single, "… Baby One More Time," which was released in late 1998. Here, Spears poses backstage at New York's Madison Square Garden on December 17th, 1998.
Frank Micelotta
In January 1999, Spears released the video for "… Baby One More Time" and her album of the same name. She appeared on her first Rolling Stone cover that April, and won several Billboard and American Music Awards. She attended her first MTV Video Music Awards at New York's Lincoln Center on September 9, 1999. By the end of the year, her debut album had sold 10 million copies.
Getty
Spears' second album, Oops! … I Did It Again, was released on May 16, 2000. It broke records by moving 1.3 million copies in its debut week. (The blockbuster single of the same name came out one month prior.) Here, Spears poses with her Oops!-inspired doll in October 2000.
Getty
By the time Spears attended the Grammy Awards on February 23, 2000, in Los Angeles, she had embarked on her first world tour for Oops! … I Did It Again.
Hogan
Spears makes her debut on the Grammy Awards stage at Los Angeles' Staples Center on February 23, 2000. She was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She did not win either award, though she sang "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" and "… Baby One More Time."
Hogan
By the time Spears posed for this 2000 portrait, she was an international superstar and public attention had shifted to her personal life. She began dating Justin Timberlake of 'NSync – her former tour mate – in 1999, though her manager insisted that they keep the relationship quiet and tell the press that they planned to abstain from sex until marriage.
Hogan
Spears poses with the Eiffel Tower during a 2000 Oops! tour stop.
Scott Gries
Spears stirred up her first major performance controversy at September 7, 2000's MTV Video Music Awards in New York. She stripped down into a sparkly, tight, flesh-colored outfit to perform her cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as well as her own "Oops! … I Did It Again."
Hogan
Spears and her former fellow Mouseketeer, Christina Aguilera, present a statue at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 7, 2000. (Aguilera also performed that night, joined by Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst.) For years, the press portrayed the two pop sensations as bitter rivals.
Nicholson/AFP
Spears and her boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, suit up at the 28th Annual American Music Awards in Los Angeles on January 8th, 2001.
Pensinger
Spears' third studio album didn't come out until November 2001, but she spent most of that year in the spotlight. On January 28, 2001, she performed at the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Florida, alongside 'NSync and Aerosmith.
Gabe Palacio
Britney was released on November 6, 2001. Spears took a more active role in the album's songwriting, striving to reflect her conflicted feelings about growing up and exploring her sexuality in public (as evidenced on the singles "Overprotected," "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"). The album debuted at Number One, replacing Michael Jackson's Invincible. Here, Spears performs at Uniondale, New York's Nassau Coliseum on one of the first dates of her accompanying Dream Within a Dream Tour.
Donald Miralle
Spears acts as Grand Marshal during the NASCAR Winston Cup Pepsi 400 at the Daytona Speedway in Florida on July 7, 2001. The following summer, Spears got a movie about NASCAR green-lit, but the project never came to fruition.
George De Sota
Spears chats with Mick Jagger at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 6, 2001, in New York. She covered the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on Oops! … I Did It Again and performed it live at the VMAs the prior year; however, when she found herself in an elevator with Jagger, she didn't recognize him. Spears made a similar gaffe while promoting Britney in 2002, telling a reporter that she covered "I Love Rock & Roll" because she loved Pat Benatar.
Frank Micelotta
Spears alluded to her newfound sexual freedom, as explored on Britney, during her 2001 MTV Video Music Awards performance. She took the stage almost naked, accompanied by a gigantic albino python. Around that time, she reportedly began sleeping with her choreographer, Wade Robson, one of Timberlake's close friends and collaborators.
Pepsi
Spears films a Pepsi commercial for the Super Bowl in January 2002. In the clip, Spears portrayed characters from the 1950s to the future. She made her big-screen debut in February 2002 in the coming-of-age movie Crossroads.
Justin Timberlake uncovered Spears' alleged affair with Wade Robson when he discovered a note in Spears' room in February 2002, on the night that the two pop stars were scheduled to appear on Saturday Night Live. Spears tried to make amends, but a shaken Timberlake refused to reconcile, and many assumed that his biting solo smash "Cry Me a River" was written about their breakup.
Frank Micelotta
Record executive Clive Davis meets with the recently split Timberlake and Spears at his 27th Annual Pre-Grammy Party in Los Angeles on February 26, 2002. At the Grammy ceremony, Spears' "Overprotected" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, but she didn't win.
Frank Micelotta
At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, Spears presented Michael Jackson with a birthday cake, but he misinterpreted Spears' brief introduction and gave an acceptance speech thanking her for proclaiming him "Artist of the Millenium."
Franco Origlia
In the wake of her split with Timberlake, Spears became a fixture at parties, nightclubs and events. Here, she poses with Donatella Versace at a fashion show in Milan on October 1, 2002.
Matthew Peyton
Spears spent her first New Year's Eve sans Timberlake with actress Natalie Portman; the two hosted a party at New York's Hudson Hotel on December 31, 2002.
Winter
As Spears became increasingly disillusioned with the music industry, she turned her focus to her social life, seeking love from Hollywood bad boys such as Colin Farrell. Here, the two attend the premiere of The Recruit in Hollywood on January 28, 2003. Around this time, Spears also had a fling with Fred Durst, which the Limp Bizkit rapper bragged about on The Howard Stern Show.
Mel Bouzad
Spears exits the drive-thru window of a Hollywood In-N-Out Burger on February 27, 2003. Paparazzi photographs of the singer at fast-food restaurants soon became a thriving industry.
Frank Micelotta
Spears hugs younger sister Jamie Lynn at Nickelodeon's 16th Annual Kids' Choice Awards on April 12, 2003, in Santa Monica, California. The younger Spears began appearing on Nick TV shows in 2002 but didn't score true fame (and infamy) until late 2007, when she revealed that she was pregnant at age 16.
Splash News
Spears demonstrates her feelings toward tabloids and celebrity coverage by rocking a Page Six Six Six shirt at an MTV party in Hollywood on June 28, 2003.
Hogan
Spears performs with Christina Aguilera and Madonna – Britney's future "Me Against the Music" collaborator – at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York on August 28, 2003. The threesome (plus Missy Elliott) performed Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood."
Gries
Spears' 2003 VMAs performance became famous for its two brief kisses. When Madonna lip-locked with Spears, the camera instantly cut to Timberlake for a reaction shot, forcing Aguilera's similar kiss to lose most of its airtime. After the awards, Spears decided that she and Madonna were soul mates and began to look to the elder pop superstar for advice.
Frank Micelotta
Spears performs at the NFL Kickoff Live from the National Mall special in Washington, DC, on September 4, 2003.
Getty
Spears poses with Queen's Roger Taylor and Brian May while filming the Pepsi "We Will Rock You" gladiator commercial in Rome on September 22, 2003. The flashy clip also starred Beyoncé, Pink and Enrique Iglesias.
