On Monday, Britney Spears took to Instagram to post a searing attack against Diane Sawyer and the famous 2003 interview which saw the then 21-year old pop star crumble in tears.
“Do we dare forget the Diane Sawyer interview in my apartment almost 20 years ago?” she wrote, “What was with the ‘You’re in the wrong’ approach?? Geeze… and making me cry???”
According to screenshots posted by People and fan accounts, Spears continued, “Seriously though… I lived in my apartment for a year and never spoke to anyone… my manager put that woman in my home and made me talk to her on national television and she asked if I had a shopping problem!!! when did I have a problem with shopping ??? When I never left my apartment ???”
“Something I never shared when I had that big break up years ago was that I couldn’t talk afterwards. I never spoke to anyone for a long time …I was in shock.”
“Pretty lame of my dad and three men to show up at my door when I could hardly speak … two days later they put Diane Sawyer in my living room … they forced me to talk !!!”
“I was a baby …I was almost 22 and didn’t understand … but I f— know now !!!”
Spears has since deleted the Instagram post, though it shed some light into her state of mind at the time of her high profile breakup to then boyfriend Justin Timberlake.
In the post, the 40-year old also lashed out at her family, especially her father and former conservator, Jamie Spears, who controlled her under a protracted guardianship which was only recently eradicated.
The interview between Sawyer and Spears, which aired on ABC “Primetime Thursday” in 2003, has now become an example of the sexist and misogynistic style of intrusive network journalism typical of that time.
Sawyer made a number of nefarious suggestions, including the fact that former Maryland first lady Kendel Ehrlich was perhaps justified in saying she wanted to “shoot Britney Spears”…“because of the example for kids and how hard it is to be a parent.”
“Do you like your voice?” Sawyer asked at one point.
“Where are your clothes?” she asked, showing the young pop star images of herself on the front cover of magazines such as Esquire and Rolling Stones.
Sawyer also appeared to blame Spears for her high-profile breakup from Timberlake.
“He’s going on television and saying you broke his heart. You did something that caused him so much pain. So much suffering. What did you do?”
“He’s lost the impression that you were faithful.”
Jamie Spears’ lawyer, Alex Weingarten has since released a statement to People in response to his daughters latest deleted post, saying his client was not to blame.
“He had nothing to do with Britney’s career at this point and was completely uninvolved in this interview,” the statement said.
“Jamie loves Britney very much, wishes Britney nothing but the best and hopes that she continues to seek the help that she needs to stay safe and healthy.”