Kevin Federline‘s bombshell-filled memoir about his marriage to Britney Spears did not cause the pop star to spiral out of control, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly, contrary to a recent report.
“Kevin’s book wasn’t the catalyst for this,” the insider says of Spears’ arrest for driving under the influence. “It did upset her deeply and definitely didn’t help matters, but her issues predate the book.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Spears’ rep for comment.
In October 2025, Federline, 47, released You Thought You Knew, in which he claimed Spears, 44, called her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake the night before their 2004 wedding and used cocaine when she was still breast-feeding their sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, among other allegations. Federline also said he worries about Spears’ “survival” after the 2021 termination of her 13-year conservatorship.
“This situation with Britney feels like it’s racing toward something irreversible,” he wrote. “It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK. From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the eleventh hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.”
Both Spears and her team slammed Federline at the time, with the “Toxic” singer writing in part via social media, “The constant gaslighting from [my] ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting. … Trust me, those white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank and I am the only one who genuinely gets hurt here.”
In response, Federline exclusively told Us that money was “not the root of” his tell-all. “If she has the right to tell her story, why don’t I?” he argued, referencing Spears’ 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me.
Spears was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of drugs and alcohol near her home in Ventura County, California, on March 4. She was released from jail the following morning.
Spears’ rep subsequently called the incident “inexcusable” in a statement to Us, adding that her family is “going to come up with an overdue, needed plan to set her up for success.”
A source told Us on Monday, March 9, that Spears’ loved ones are “looking into treatment options for both addiction and mental health.”
“Everyone is just praying that she doesn’t get jail time for this,” the insider added. “That would be the worst-case scenario.”
Federline, for his part, wished Spears “the best,” with his lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, telling TMZ, “If help is necessary, he hopes that she will neither resist it or those who are attempting to work with her.”
