Britney Spears’ long-awaited memoir, The Woman in Me, which details her struggle for freedom and tumultuous relationships with the men in her life, has sold 1.1 million copies in its first week in print, pre-sale, e-book and audiobook formats in the United States.
“The Woman in Me was released on 24 October and has officially been out for just over a week. According to the book’s publisher, Gallery Books (a division of Simon and Schuster), Spears was quoted as saying: “I have poured my heart and soul into my memoir and I am grateful to my fans and readers around the world for their unwavering support”.
The publisher also announced that it has gone back to press for a fourth printing of the book, bringing the total number of hardcover copies in print to more than 1.4 million. These sales figures represent the high demand for Spears’ side of her well-publicised battle to break out of her 13-year conservatorship.
“The Woman in Me” was the No. 1 book on the list of most-read and best-selling non-fiction titles before Matthew Perry’s memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” took the spot following his death on 28 October.
The memoir is 275 pages long and has also been released as an audiobook narrated by actress Michelle Williams. The book contains a wild mix of revelations that touch on Spears’ career, family, conservatorship and high-profile relationships. Among other things, Spears revealed that she and ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake had an abortion, and she also claims Timberlake cheated on her with unnamed celebrities. Elsewhere, Spears reflects on her acting career, from ‘Crossroads’ to missing out on the lead role in ‘The Notebook’ to Rachel McAdams.
Spears landed the massive publishing deal for a tell-all in February last year, just months after her conservatorship ended. Simon & Schuster acquired the rights to Spears’ book last year after a bidding war involving several publishers, although the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. A person familiar with Spears told Variety that the deal was “record-breaking”. Reports at the time suggested the deal was worth as much as $15 million.
