Kevin Federline and Jamie Spears Are Collaborating on a Book About Fatherhood…?

Well, here’s something I didn’t have on my 2022 bingo card: Kevin Federline, Britney Spears’ ex-husband and the father of her two teenage sons, and Spears’ notoriously controlling dad, Jamie, confirmed to the Daily Mail on Sunday that they’re collaborating on a book about “fatherhood.” Their partnership is especially bizarre given that in 2019, Federline sought a restraining order against Jamie Spears on behalf of his son after an incident in which Spears was allegedly violent.

But according to the Daily Mail, Spears and Federline have buried the hatchet and “are now speaking to each other once again,” specifically “because [Jamie] wants to help [Federline], who is writing a book on his experience of fatherhood amid such turmoil” and “public drama.”

Personally, the list of fathers I would consult for input before Jamie Spears for my book on fatherhood is long. Like, very long. Britney Spears has long called her father abusive, sometimes allegedly due to struggles with alcoholism, and he was the architect of a 13-year conservatorship, which controlled and surveilled every aspect of her life. In 2021, she testified that her father denied her time with her children; put her in abusive rehabilitation centers; and forced against her will to keep an IUD in despite wanting more children—all while her father and her family pocketed nearly all of her earnings.

Despite Jamie Spears’ alleged actions—both toward his daughter and her son—Federline has been more publicly critical of Britney Spears than her father. In September, Federline shared several private videos of Spears and her sons appearing to have an argument. And, of course, it speaks volumes that Federline would write a book about fatherhood and consult not Spears—the mother of his children—but instead the parent she says controlled and abused her for over a decade.

The Daily Mail’s Daphne Barak, who interviewed Federline and Jamie Spears, said she also spoke with Federline and Britney Spears’ sons, who haven’t been in contact with Jamie Spears in years. “When I spoke to the boys, they made it clear that they miss their grandfather,” Barak wrote. She described a potential reunion between grandfather and grandsons, too: “As [Federline] told me, ‘it should be when they [Federline’s sons] feel ready,’ a point that Jamie, too, acknowledges.” Jamie told Barak that while he “really [does] want to see” his grandkids, “that’s not my call right now.”

Another of the many uncomfortable aspects of Federline’s forthcoming book is that Britney Spears seems to want privacy right now. She’s deactivated her Instagram account several times in recent months, and her current husband, Sam Asghari, said she’s done so to take a break from being in the public eye. Meanwhile, some of Spears’ fans have propped up a conspiracy theory that her more recent social media posts suggest she’s still being held against her will.

The embattled singer has been through enough for a lifetime, and yet her father and ex are clearly nowhere near done exploiting their relationships with her for money and fame.