6/17/2006: Matt and Britney
"She gave her makeup man and her PR people the day off" -- Conan O'Brien
Matt Lauer interviewed Britney Spears, her chewing gum, her extensions, and her boobs on Dateline NBC June 16, 2006.
Transcript and screen captures by Another2cents.com - please provide a link back if reposted elsewhere, and please do not hotlink to pics.
So, I'm not a fan and never have been but I was mesmerized the other night by the trainwreck that is Britney Spears. She's got verbal evasiveness down to an art form although her body language denies it all. For every direct question about her marriage she looked to the side (like people do when lying) and responded in a small voice with what sounded like rehearsed answers - nothing like her exuberance when talking about herself, her roots or her success. For every direct question about her public parenting mishaps, she drew her arms inward and responded with non-answers which were often non-sense.
She cries about paparazzi harassment, yet she continues to keep herself in the public eye with a national TV interview. She whines about mean gossip and headlines, yet she continues to do and say the kind of things that make people point and laugh.
Note much of the background narration by Lauer has been omitted. Photos are placed with the corresponding text as it occurred.
Matt Lauer voiceover (VO): It's a Britney Spears you haven't seen before.. defiant.
Britney Spears: As a mother, I have to speak.
VO: Determined.
BS: I do not care what people think.
VO: And emotional.
BS: You have to realize that we're people.
[interview begins]
BS: I'm very very blessed, but my safety and my privacy and respect are three things that I feel like are trying to be taken away from me right now. As a mother I have to speak and I have to say something.
VO: The song is called "Do Something" and that's just what a defiant Britney Spears is setting out to do tonight: taking on the tabloids. Because after a year of screaming headlines scrutinizing her husband, their marriage, and most stinging of all her abilities as a mother, she's not just dealing with some bad press but an image implosion.
ML: Oftentimes in my end of the business we have to beg people to do interviews and yet it seems as if you're anxious to talk at this particular stage in your life. You've got some things you'd like to address.
BS: I think because I was pregnant I didn't - you know, with my son, I didn't want to do interviews and all that kind of thing, you know what I mean? I tried to want to be a little bit private. But I think 90% of the world would agree that the tabloids have kind of gone a little far with me lately [makes finger-quotes] and I think it's - you know, I do need to speak up a little bit. You know, you try not to respond to trash, because that's what it is, but you know know, when they've, I think they've crossed the line a little bit.
VO: So Britney's drawing her own line in the sand taking on what she sees as an overly intrusive and downright dangerous tabloid press. Just one of many things we discuss in a refreshingly honest, no holds barred interview. A pregnant Britney invited us to her California home to talk about it all: her career, her past loves, the state of her marriage, and those now infamous mommy mistakes.
ML: You know you've got this incredible place that you call home and you and Kevin have built together. Is it a sanctuary or at times does it feel a little bit like a prison?
BS: No, it's a sanctuary, totally. My dad comes here and he's like "Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm at a resort." It's awesome here, I love it.
VO: Although she seems to still be a sweet Southern girl dressed down in casual clothes, chewing gum firmly planted in her mouth, it may surprise you that Britney Spears has become one tough cookie.
BS: I don't allow anybody to change me. I still walk out of my house in rollers and I take walks. I do not care what people think. And I think that's the thing why they keep on talking is because they know they can't touch me.
ML: So you have a little bit of a blank you attitude about it now?
BS: Yeah, basically. I mean you have to. I mean I have to live my life. I have a family now and I just think it's absurd you know, to let other people influence the way you live.
[background info]
VO: She says the scrutiny she's living with now is a completely different ballgame.
BS: It's not just like how it used to be where they would just like take your picture, give you respect and then you'd walk by. It's like a scary - they just come out of nowhere and it's kind of, you know you're like "Oh my gosh" you know, and...
ML: Without giving anything away, you live in a house that's surrounded by a fence, you have a gate, you've got security - not a person, you've got a detail...
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: ...of people who are here all the time. Without that, you would feel vulnerable here?
BS: Oh yeah, definitely. And I still have helicopters that come twice a day.
ML: Just trying to get a picture of you at the pool or you with Sean?
BS: Mm-hmm, just anything, yeah. And they put the captions on their magazines "Baby in danger" and stuff like that which is really silly but I wouldn't be in danger if I didn't have like this you know, this impactful thing around me all the time. And I just feel like the editors, they don't realize that there's not just one magazine. There's other magazines and they're all paying to get a story [makes finger-quotes]. And I think that the energy from the people is getting, it's kind of scary. Like I can't really leave my home right now.
VO: And also scary, in a world built on image is how all those headlines that Britney has a lousy marriage, that her husband plays around, that she's a bad mother, no matter how untrue, are affecting just how the public sees Britney Spears.
[background info]
ML: Let me ask you if there was a turning point. It seemed for awhile you lived a charmed life. You were that blond little girl that everyone loved...
BS: [smiles, nods]
ML: The squeaky clean image, even if every once in awhile you kind of sexed it up a little bit and caught people by surprise, and everybody said great things about you. They wanted you to be the role model for their daughter. And then all of a sudden it seemed that the press turned and they decided that maybe you were someone they wanted to take some shots at.
BS: They like to have a person they pick on [makes finger-quotes]. I feel I'm a target and I feel like other girls are - at a certain point at everyone's career they'll get it.
ML: But when did it happen in your career? Can you look back, was there an event, was there something that you did that you think brought it on?
BS: Usually breakups and personal lives, it starts to happen. Look at Jessica Simpson for instance. They're being so rude to her right now. It's her split up with Nick, it's like this whole thing.
VO: Britney says her own breakup with first love Justin Timberlake four years ago was the beginning of the end of not only their love affair but the press's love affair with her. By the time a wounded Justin alluded to a betrayal by Britney in his song "Cry Me a River" it was clear Britney Spears was no longer America's sweetheart.
ML: Do you think perhaps the breakup with Justin, was that when you started to sense the tide turning a little bit in your life? There were allegations about infidelity. Did that put the spotlight on you in a negative sense?
BS: I do think there was a little shift there. Definitely.
VO: And then she gave the tabloids a present wrapped in a big bow: a quickie Vegas wedding to her childhood friend Jason Alexander in January 2004. And almost as quick the annulment the followed.
BS: That was just silly. That was something...
ML: But do you think that gave the press something to talk about?
BS: Oh yeah, definitely.
ML: Another negative aspect?
BS: Yeah.
[background info]
VO: She says she now understands that the marriage was an act of rebellion on her part.
BS: I was on the road for awhile and like again, I was doing a lot of what I was told instead of what I really wanted to do and I didn't know how to break out of that. So in my young mind, I'm like I'm just gonna get married to someone of my home friends, you know what I mean? It was just like something, but I have no regrets with anything that I've ever done.
VO: And that includes her relationship with her present husband Kevin Federline, father of their nine month old son Sean Preston. When Britney met Kevin in a Los Angeles club two years ago he was a backup dancer and already a young dad, having fathered a young child with actress Shar Jackson, and another baby on the way.
ML: You know, so much was written and said about the way the relationship began between you and Kevin - not so much about the way it began but the timing of it beginning, that he left his girlfriend when she was pregnant.
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: I think six months pregnant Shar was. Did that bother you? Did you stop and think, wait a second, that's a very delicate situation.
BS: Actually I didn't know. I didn't know until you know, two months later. But I don't blame him because him and his friends, I've talked to his friend about this, they weren't technically together [makes finger-quotes] when he came to me anyways. They were, you know, apart. But that happened with Julia Roberts too. But it's more talked about and more of an issue with me. Like her husband was married and had kids when they first got together. But for some reason it's like boom in your face when it happens with me and it's really none of anybody's business.
VO: Britney is referring to Julia Roberts' relationship with husband Danny Moder, who was married when they met but did not have any children.
ML: You said to me a couple of times already today you believe in karma.
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: And as someone who is now several months pregnant do you ever stop and think, you know, he left someone else when she was a couple of months pregnant? Does that ever cross your mind?
BS: No, hmm-mm because we're very happy together right now.
VO: Not if you believe the tabloids that claim that he and Britney are breaking up, that he's dating others and living in the basement at home.
ML: So when the magazine screams on the cover "Pregnant and divorcing" you want people to know...?
BS: Oh no, none of that's true. [quietly]
ML: Let's talk about married life.
BS: Okay.
ML: All right? How's your marriage?
BS: Awesome, thank you.
ML: Awesome?
BS: Mm-hmm.
VO: Britney Spears and Kevin Federline will celebrate their second anniversary in September. They have a nine month old son Sean Preston and another baby on the way which Britney chose to publicly announce on "The Late Show with David Letterman". A televised birth announcement. No surprise there considering Mr. & Mrs. Federline had been living in front of the cameras ever since they started their relationship. And don't just blame the paparazzi. Although Britney claims she wants her privacy, she had no problem turning her relationship with Kevin into a reality show Britney & Kevin: Chaotic which aired on UPN. And with the Federlines feeding the very hand that bites them, it's no surprise that the marriage of a multimillionaire pop star and a former backup dancer and aspiring rapper who left his pregnant girlfriend to be with said pop star, has raised the tabloids' interest in Britney she couldn't have imagined back in those Mouseketeer days.
ML: Let me show you some magazines okay?
BS: Okay.
ML: These are all current, all right? I don't have to show you them all but we got one here "Britney moves on without Kevin", "Brit's new man".
BS: Oh no. That's my - my security guard.
ML: "The final days", "Fed up with Kevin's lies", "He's sleeping in the basement". We'll get to these individually but basically this is the tone, that this marriage is over, there are problems in paradise and it's not gonna last.
BS: You know what? I need to create my own magazine. These people like they, I mean they want stories to sell and they're very good, you know? I need to come out with my own magazine and say the real deal.
ML: Well, set the record straight. I mean, first of all, can I, in an effort of full disclosure...
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: When I came through the gate today, the first person I saw was Kevin.
BS: Yeah.
ML: So, he's living here?
BS: Oh, definitely. He's working very hard.
ML: Living on the ground floor, the main floor?
BS: Yes, of course.
ML: He's not - there's not a basement somewhere?
BS: He helps me. He has to, I'm emotional wreck right now.
ML: Are you really?
BS: Not in a bad way, just the whole, just you know, I'll start laughing hysterically and then I'll just start crying like just because...
ML: So it's the hormones of the pregnancy racing through your body?
BS: It's my hormones, yeah, so it's nice to have my husband there to keep me company.
ML: Do you get the sense Britney, that people are rooting against this marriage? And I don't mean just the magazine editors, I mean people.
BS: Um, I don't really know. I don't know. If they are, then I think that's sad. I think everybody should be pro love [makes finger-quotes] you know? And I know it sounds so silly but I feel like love conquers all. I know that sounds like - but it does.
ML: One of the magazines asked the question on the cover, it said "Can this marriage be saved?" and then they went on and answered their own question and said "We hope not."
BS: Aww. What magazine was that?
ML: It's here somewhere I think. "Can she work it out with Kevin? We hope not."
BS: Like I said, I try not to respond to trash.
ML: What do you see in him? What is it about Kevin that makes you love him?
BS: He's very simple. Women complicate everything! He's so simple. His simplicity and just, he's like a boy. He just, you know, and he cares. He cares so much in his heart and he's awesome. He has a really big heart and I love that.
[background info]
VO: And although Britney is clearly the breadwinner in this family, she's well aware just how important it is for her husband to pull his own weight.
BS: You know he has children now that he - you know, with me - that he wants to support and not just let it be on me. You know, he's a man and so I think it's very important to him that he is doing his own thing.
ML: Do you think there's a sense out there Britney, that some people who love you and have watched you grow up, go through the pop princess years and into young adulthood, get some feeling that he's not good enough for you?
BS: Oh that would hurt me for some, anybody to say that. You know that's, that would be horrible for someone to say that because I love him and that's all that matters.
ML: So if there's a headline to come out of the marriage portion of this interview, it is that you're happy and there is no end in sight to this marriage?
BS: No. Hmm-mm.
ML: You look at me sometimes when I say things like that almost in a, almost like a little puppy dog, like you...
BS: No, because I say it because I just feel for him you know, 'cause he's a man and he has to, you know he's trying to work and do his thing and I feel bad for him.
ML: Well, how does it affect him when he hears about this? When he hears everybody, you know, predicting that this marriage is over, that he's living in the basement, that he's on the way out?
BS: Oh, it makes him want to cry. That hurts for him.
[background info]
VO: ...now a very rich woman with a report net worth of more than $100 million, Britney says she's still the same down home girl from Kentwood, Louisiana.
ML: It seemed for awhile people would describe you, they'd say "she's this great young thing from the South you know, small town girl..."
BS: I still am, man! [slaps Lauer's knee]
ML: I know, I know but then all of a sudden...
BS: I make good tea! Okay?
ML: But then all of a sudden they started to use that southern background in a different way. The tone of it changed. All of a sudden...
BS: They make you feel like you have to have your transformation. Madonna reinvents herself, right? Yeah.
ML: But they started saying maybe she's a little bit a redneck? You started to hear that maybe it wasn't a good thing that - all of a sudden it wasn't a good thing, your roots, they started to try and make it a negative thing. How did you feel about that?
BS: I think anybody who's doing well in the public eye or whatever, there's always going to be a shift because people don't want to see somebody happy all the time. And they're going to try to take shots at people. You know they did the same thing to Goldie Hawn when she did her show and before she did Private Benjamin and all that, and all of a sudden she became like this "Oh my God, she's a star" you know. But they still gave her flak for her past and her...
ML: Does the term bother you when you hear redneck? Because it's not used in a Gretchen Wilson, proud of...
BS: I'm proud of who...
ML: Well it's not used that way, I think...
BS: I think it's just cruel. You know I think that's cruelty when you judge people and... I'm not a Bible belt but I just, you know, I feel like when you put labels on people like that and you do that - at the end of the day, they're just words. And that's what I have to look at them. I mean I have to, you have to be really strong and just be like, if that's what you want to say then you know, okay.
VO: And this Louisiana girl now lives in luxury in California. Because of security concerns she didn't want us to show her home. She did give us a tour of her lush backyard [huh?] and admit, although she's not desperate, she's a housewife through and through.
BS: I like to cook, try to cook [makes finger-quotes] and I like to clean. I clean and I'm obsessive like that, and I like to - if I watch tv, I do watch the home, the redoing the household thing.
ML: Right.
BS: And I get into like redoing the living room and the baby's room and all that stuff.
ML: So do you clean the house by yourself?
BS: Yes, I have a maid that comes once a week but she slacks a little bit.
ML: So if I were to come here and ring the doorbell by surprise...
BS: I would be cleaning.
ML: Vacuuming? Doing the toilets?
BS: Doing the laundry, everything. Mm-hmm.
ML: See, there's a side of you we didn't know.
BS: Oh honey, that is the real me, honey.
ML: I pictured there'd be housekeepers around here.
BS: No, no. I mean this house is so big I have to have some help.
VO: In early fall Britney will have another room to clean, never mind diapers to change when baby number two arrives.
ML: How far along are you?
BS: I am... ooh, I don't know. I think six to seven months.
ML: So you're due in... September?
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: September? Do you know what you're having?
BS: I do not know.
ML: Are you going to find out?
BS: No I want to be surprised. I'm very excited.
ML: Talk about motherhood.
BS: Motherhood?
ML: Yeah.
BS: It's amazing.
ML: Is it what you thought it would be?
BS: It's more.
ML: In what way?
BS: I mean you could possibly never realize you could love something that much.
ML: Was that the way it was from the very beginning?
BS: Oh yeah. The moment I saw him, just, it's amazing. I can't, words can't really describe.
ML: Tell me about him. Describe him a little bit for me. I love to hear mothers describe their children.
BS: We'll make this interview about other stuff now if that's okay.
ML: Okay, that's all right.
BS: I love my son and you know, that's great, and I wanted to touch on some things with my husband because of the tabloids but I try to keep my baby out of this whole thing.
VO: But of course Britney has not been able to keep her baby out of the spotlight or the tabloids. When we return Britney Spears explains those infamous pictures, the ones that triggered so much controversy and you'll see the toll it's all taken on a young mother... [background info] Tonight for the first time she's taking on her critics and explaining one by one each of those damning pictures which seem to show her child in danger. As our emotional interview continues Britney goes after not just the paparazzi and the tabloids but even the doctors who recently treated her son.
[background info]
VO: In February Britney was photographed driving on the Pacific Coast Highway with her baby in her lap in the front seat. It was a picture that became not only a punchline but the source of serious debate all across the country. Tonight for the first time Britney explains just what happened.
ML: You were photographed I guess by the paparazzi again pursuing you, and there was Sean on your lap in the car.
BS: Yeah.
ML: Take me through what happened there?
BS: If right now we got in the car and went to Starbucks you would see 20 photographers there. And I went to Starbucks and I see a bunch of photographers and I'm scared and I want to get out of the situation and my baby's crying. They're coming up on the, you know the sides of the car which is a scary situation for me. You know and they're banging on the window and that's not something I want my baby to - you know, so I get my baby out of the car and I go home [shrugs]. So I mean, and I just feel like that they're taking cheap shots.
ML: But the fact of the matter is while they pursue you and we can argue for a long time that they shouldn't be doing it and I would agree with you on that completely, they managed to snap a picture that didn't cast you in the best light.
BS: Oh, of course. That is their job and they do a very good job of, at it, and they've crossed the line so many times you know, and I think because I'm this sweet young girl nothing ever gets really done about it, you know?
ML: When you were driving with Sean on your lap did it - clearly you're trying...
BS: And it, that driving incident, I did it with my dad. I'd sit in his lap and I'd drive. We're country. That's what, you know what I mean? It's not...
ML: But what happened though, it crossed from a paparazzi incident to next day it's in the newspapers. And you've got all these legitimate people weighing in, saying "You know what? That's dangerous" and "She put her child at risk." You saw the questions that were being asked. "Is Britney a bad mom?"
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: It's not like "did Britney record a bad song?"
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: "Is Britney wearing a bad outfit?" "Is Britney in a bad marriage?"
BS: Yeah.
ML: "Is Britney a bad mom?"
BS: Mm-hmm. That's America for you [laughs]. Yeah.
ML: As a mother that has to hit pretty close to home.
BS: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it makes you really strong.
ML: Make you weep?
BS: Oh I've wept. Yeah. I've definitely wept just with the world, you know, how judgmental they are. You know, I know I'm a good mom.
VO: But just a few weeks after the baby in the lap incident, Britney's son, while in the care of a nanny, fell out of a high chair and banged his head.
ML: You took him to the doctor?
BS: Mm-hmm. Oh yeah, of course.
ML: So you walked into the hospital and said he bumped his head, fell out a high chair...
BS: And then the doctors acted really funny with me. I know, it was really bizarre.
ML: What happened? How'd they act funny?
BS: Um, I don't want to say what they did.
ML: Suspicious?
BS: Um, like I said I don't want to say what they did or what they said but it was bad. It was really, really bad. I was just happy that my son was okay and I wanted to get home and get out of there.
ML: And then not long after that you got a visit from the family services people?
BS: Yeah, and which actually they felt really bad about it. They said "we don't even know why we're here."
ML: So in other words they came because it's their job to come. They have to investigate...
BS: They didn't have to come. The doctor there made them come because I didn't bring my doctor there with me. So people a lot of times think because you're a celebrity that you're taken care of more. In some situations people - you're not, you get it worse.
VO: And it didn't end there. In May Spears was photographed driving her baby in a front-facing carseat. Not illegal, but against federal safety guidelines.
BS: It was fine, they're just taking again, cheap shots. Yeah.
VO: And just days after that photo appeared, on a visit to New York City Britney stumbled again, this time literally.
ML: You're walking with Sean and you tripped on, what was it, your pants?
BS: Um I think actually I didn't trip on anything. There was, it was a New York street, there's cobblestones and I was walking and I only just prepared with one security because I've never had that much paparazzi EVER on me in New York. So we didn't even know there was gonna be that many people. So I think it was a mixture of so many paparazzi and just how the road was all messed up, me just trying to get in the car.
ML: It was a close call. I mean, it seemed as if for a second, you know...
BS: Accidents happen!
ML: Right.
BS: And when he gets - my brother, when he was like 13 years old he got in like four motorcycle accidents, had to be airlifted, you know. Stuff happens with kids. It's reality. You know. Unfortunately not everybody has 80 cameras on them 24/7. You know.
ML: And there was a picture taken shortly afterward and you appeared to be crying, very upset.
BS: Oh yeah.
ML: Were you upset because you just had a close call with your son or were you upset because the lenses were still on you?
BS: Because, well because I got in the car and because I was hungry. And we stopped to get something to eat and it was again a bad situation. And instead of the people inside of the place like being like "ohhh..." you know, trying to help or whatever, they wanted to take pictures as well. And I did, that's when I started crying when I thought you know what, you're a mom, why are you asking to take my picture right now? And you see that I'm crying, are you that ignorant? So that's why I cried.
ML: And that headline on that picture was "Oops number 3".
BS: Exactly. There'll be an Oops 100. There'll be plenty more oopses. I'm not perfect. I'm human.
ML: What do you think it'll take to get the paparazzi to leave you alone?
BS: Um, I don't know. I don't know.[crying]
ML: Is that one of your biggest wishes?
BS: [fighting back tears] Yeah.. it's okay.. I would like for them to leave me alone.
ML: If you could talk to them as individuals, not as a group, what would you say to them?
BS: I would just say that you have babies at home, and you have a wife, and if you don't, you have to realize that we're people and that we just need privacy and we need our respect. And those are things that you have to have as a human.
ML: And yet as upset as it makes you, you wouldn't trade your life now, it seems.
BS: I have... [crying]
ML: [smiling] That seems strange for some people to understand. If they're making you this miserable how can you still say "but I'm lucky"?
BS: Because I have to believe that I'm here for a reason.
ML: What's the reason?
BS: I don't know. I keep searching every day just like you do. But I'm so blessed with my baby. That's the happiest thing that's ever... it's like a miracle. You know, but I just want the most normal life possible for him. That's all.
ML: Is that possible?
BS: I will manage. I will create that.
ML: Higher fences? Bigger gates? I mean, how are you going to do that Britney?
BS: There's always a way. Where there's a will there's a way, you have to believe.
VO: She says the birth of Sean Preston has changed her not only personally but professionally.
BS: It's hard for me to work right now. I tried to do a photo shoot the other day and my son was not even letting me leave, you know. Like, we're very attached.
VO: Sorry Britney fans, it looks like she has no plans to go back into the recording studio anytime soon.
BS: I'm thinking about waiting like a year or two to come out with music again. We'll see. It's just I feel like I want my boo-boos to be a little bit older 'cause when I do music I want to do it for real, and I want to travel and I just want to make sure they're old enough to be able to be on that kind of pace with me.
ML: What kind of music would you be thinking about, because you're at that kind of...
BS: I have no idea!
ML: Well, but it's an interesting time in a career for someone like you because you're not 17 anymore.
BS: Right.
ML: You know, you're going to be what, 25?
BS: Mm-hmm.
ML: And so, what kind of music is going around in your head these days?
BS: I think the key to good music is it's gotta be timeless. You've gotta work with the best people and you have to just, you know, and finding, experimenting in the studio and finding your knack.
ML: But because you're a business woman, you know when you release new music there is an audience out there. Who is that audience now for Britney Spears?
BS: I don't know!
[background info]
ML: Was [appearing on "Will & Grace"] fun for you?
BS: It was awesome.
ML: Why, what was so good about it?
BS: Because I hadn't been out there in, for so long, so it was really exciting for me, and I just love funny people. Funny people are great, you know, and so hilarious. You know, that was awesome.
ML: Do you have someone out there today that you pattern yourself after that you would like to duplicate in terms of a career?
BS: I love Goldie Hawn, I think she is so brilliant. I think she's like a free spirit. I also, as far as music goes, I love Shania Twain because her music is timeless. I love Pink, I think she's a great entertainer. She's always making statements which stands out. She has something to say, she's a very smart girl.
ML: There was a time where something was made of the fact that you kind of looked up to Madonna. Do you still have a relationship with her?
BS: No. I respect her work and I, you know I think she's a very smart lady. She introduced me to Kaballah.
ML: Mm-hmm.
BS: But I think that was at a time in my life where I was kind of searching for something? I needed something to really believe in and I still, I do believe that Kaballah has codes to the world and all that but um, I don't live by it like those people do.
ML: I think I read somewhere that you said "Right now my baby is my religion"?
BS: Yeah.
VO: And being a mom has inspired Britney Spears, business woman, to launch a new venture.
BS: I've a baby clothes line that's supposed to be coming out and it's called Baby Soul Rock & Roll and...
ML: You're designing all the...?
BS: Designing everything. There's two separate categories. There's the more elite line and there's the Rock & Roll part too. But it's the cutest stuff you've ever seen in your life.
ML: You like business don't you?
BS: Mm-hmm, yeah, I like money. [laughs]
ML: If I had said to you when you were 17 and we were doing some interview in Rockefeller Center, I said "Britney, here's what it's gonna be like when you're 24 or 25" do you think you would have had second thoughts about pursuing this career?
BS: Um, no. I have no regrets. I love where I'm at right now and actually I find everything happens for a reason and the reason why maybe this is happening is I won't take BS from anyone. And I think it's making me stand out on my own and be very independent and fight for what I believe in, whereas before I was a young blond girl [makes finger-quotes] who would do what she was told. And I know who I am as a person and I'm getting damn strong.
