Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign:
12/02/1981, Sagittarius
Profession: Singer;
actor
A multitasking megastar, Spears was neither
the best looking nor most talented of the crop of teen pop artists unleashed on MTV in the late '90s. Yet she bested her competitors
with her knack for staying the center of attention and changing her image as often as she changed her outfits. While her catchy
singles and sexy videos (which had a barely legal appeal) initially made her a household name, Spears quickly added acting
to her résumé as the star of the tepid 2002 coming-of-age flick Crossroads.
Busy as she was, the bubbly blonde found the time to open a restaurant, launch a fragrance, write books (with assistance)
and carry on a much-scrutinized love life: a long-term romance with 'N Sync front man (and fellow Mickey
Mouse Club costar) Justin Timberlake; rumored dalliances with Colin Farrell and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst; an annulled,
two-day Las Vegas marriage to a childhood friend in 2004; and finally, her "real" marriage later that year to dancer and aspiring
rap star Kevin "K-Fed" Federline (whose second child with actress Shar Jackson was born less than two months before the nuptials).
As the '00s wore on, Spears seemed more famous for her personal than her professional life, although she picked up her first
Grammy for the song "Toxic" in 2004. But with a little-watched 2005
reality show (Britney and Kevin: Chaotic), two babies, questionable parenting skills, a
pending divorce and no showbiz projects on the horizon, Britney-mania seemed to be subsiding. In February 2007, after
months of nonstop, often pantyless partying, Spears seemed to completely lose her mind. Within one drama-filled week,
she shaved her head, got two tattoos, and checked in and out of rehab twice. It seemed her lifestyle had become completely
"Toxic."Britney Spears Fast Facts:
Auditioned in 1990 at age 8 for The Mickey Mouse Club but
was turned down due to being too young.
Played a murderous child in the campy off-Broadway musical Ruthless! in 1991.
Competed on Star Search in 1992
and won (but was defeated the second week).
Appeared alongside Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera on
The Mickey Mouse Club after finally joining the cast in 1993.
Guest-starred on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
in 1999 and The Simpsons the following year.
Shared a headline-making kiss with Madonna at the 2003
MTV Music Video Awards.
Gave birth to her second child in September, 2006.
Filed for divorce from Kevin Federline in November, 2006.
Britney Spears Relationships:
Bryan Spears - Brother
Jamie Spears - Father
Jason Allen Alexander - Ex-husband
Jayden James Federline - Son
Sean Preston Federline - Son
Jamie Lynn Spears - Sister
Kevin Federline - Ex-husband
Justin Timberlake - Ex-significant Other
Lynne Spears - Mother
Britney Spears Awards:
2004 Grammy: Best Dance Recording - Winner
Britney Spears was only 17 when she reached #1 on the U.S.
pop music charts with her 1999 debut album ...Baby One More Time. Her catchy tunes and hubba-hubba
physique made Spears one of America's biggest pop stars, and she became a near-constant presence on MTV, radio broadcasts
and magazine covers around the world. Spears's second album, Oops!...I Did It Again, was
released in May of 2000 and went gold in its first week. In 2003 she released In the Zone,
but by then her personal life got more press than her singing career. On 3 January 2004 she married childhood friend Jason
Alexander (not the Jason Alexander of Seinfeld), then had the marriage annulled the same
day. Later in the year she married Kevin Federline, a professional dancer whose claim to fame was fathering two
children with Moesha star Shar Jackson. Spears and Federline had two sons, Sean (b. 14 September 2005) and Jayden (b.
12 September 2006), but Spears filed for divorce in November of 2006 (their divorce became final on 30 July 2007). During
2007 Spears was in the gossip columns on a weekly basis and made headlines by shaving her head, entering rehab and, after
repeated missteps with the courts, losing custody of her children to Federline. With very little publicity, she released Blackout, her fifth studio album, in November.
Extra credit: Spears was in the cast of the Disney
Channel's The Mickey Mouse Club during its 1993 and 1994 seasons. Future pop stars Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and J.C. Chasez of the band 'N Sync got their starts on the same show (Spears and Timberlake were romantically
linked on and off from 2000-2003)... She starred in the 2002 teen road-trip film Crossroads. In that film the younger
version of her character, Lucy, was played by her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, star of the cable TV comedy Zoey 101... The wedding ceremony
for Spears and Federline was held on 18 September 2004, but papers formalizing the wedding weren't filed until October 7th...
After Spears filed for divorce, Federline was nicknamed "Fed-Ex" by the press... Spears's middle name is often incorrectly
reported to be "Jeau" rather than "Jean."
