The Britney Spears, Kevin Federline & Sam Asghari Drama Explained

Nobody wins when a family feuds.

It’s 2022, but we have Britney Spears and Kevin Federline once again publicly beefing. What’s more, the drama keeps on growing as more and more people get involved, including Spears’ new husband Sam Asghari. Here’s what you need to know about their latest spat.

People often say that relationships involving kids never actually end even if the couple gets divorced, and the saga between Britney Spears and Kevin Federline is living proof of that. When they met, Spears was a 23-year-old international superstar and Federline was a 26-year-old backup dancer who starred in her “My Prerogative” music video. Right after meeting, Spears and Federline got themselves into a very intense relationship that felt like a roller-coaster ride for the media and the public watching from the outside.

Unfortunately, Spears’ personal life would be heavily affected by some of her behavior back in 2007 while she struggled with mental health issues. This resulted in the conservatorship drama that would plague the singer’s personal life and career for the next 13 years. After over a decade of having no agency to make decisions for her own self, Spears was finally able to terminate her conservatorship in November 2021 following the fan movement dubbed “#FreeBritney.”

Spears is back to being her authentic self and living life in her own terms as of 2022. This year, she even got married to longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari in a beautiful ceremony that included Madonna and Drew Barrymore as some of the special guests.
While fans celebrated, Federline instead chose to come out of the woodwork recently in an attempt to expose Spears’ relationship with her sons in an extremely public manner.

Here’s a timeline of how it all went down.

Britney & Kevin got married in 2004 and had two kids together.

Spears and Federline dated for three months before getting engaged in July 2004. They then got married just a few months later in September 2004. Despite having a very chaotic relationship, the couple had two sons together: Sean Preston (currently 16 years old) and Jayden James (now 15 years old).

They filed for divorce in 2006 – and it was a really, really messy split.

Unsurprisingly, Spears and Federline filed for divorce in November 2006 due to “irreconcilable differences” and both fought for legal custody of their kids. Spears was originally granted custody and Federline was given visitation rights. However, the singer’s turbulent year in 2007 – which resulted in her infamous conservatorship – had an impact on those custody rights.

After a court determined that Federline would have custody of their kids starting in October 2007, Spears reportedly locked herself in a room with her kids and refused to relinquish her rights over the children. This resulted in Federline being granted sole legal and physical custody over Sean and Jayden. He retained custody for many years and received child support payments from Spears.

Kevin recently revealed that their kids haven’t seen Britney in months.

According to Daily Mail, Federline revealed during a televised interview with ITV that Sean and Jayden don’t wish to see their mother. “The boys have decided they are not seeing her right now. It’s been a few months since they’ve seen her. They made the decision not to go to her wedding,” he remarked.

According to Federline, part of the reason why Sean and Jayden don’t want to see Spears is due to her posting
risqué pictures of herself on Instagram. He noted, “I try to explain to them, ‘Look, maybe that's just another way she tries to express herself.’ But that doesn’t take away from the fact of what it does to them. It’s tough. I can’t imagine how it feels to be a teenager having to go to high school.” While Federline maintained that he defended Spears to their sons, one can’t help but notice the shady and judgmental undertone of his statements.

Britney clapped back at Kevin’s statements via Instagram.

Spears was obviously very hurt by what Federline shared with the whole world regarding her personal relationship with her two sons. The singer denied that the root cause of their strained relationship has to do with Instagram, noting that the distance between them started before she shared any of those pictures on social media. Spears’ full statement shared via Instagram Stories read:

“It saddens me to hear that my ex husband has decided to discuss the relationship between me and my children ... As we all know, raising teenage boys is never easy for anyone … It concerns me the fact that the reason is based on my Instagram ... it was LONG before Instagram ... I gave them everything ... Only one word: HURTFUL ... I’ll say it ... My mother told me ‘You should GIVE them to their dad’ .... I’m sharing this because I can … Have a good day folks !!!”

Sam came to Britney’s defense and threw major shade at Kevin.

Asghari and Spears met while shooting her music video for “Slumber Party” in 2016. They started dating right away and got engaged in September 2021. The couple was finally able to get married in June 2022 following Spears’ release from her long-standing conservatorship. Just a few hours after Spears reacted to Federline’s claims on Instagram, Asghari also took to social media to defend his new wife. The actor wrote via Instagram Stories:

“To clarify my wife has never posted a nude selfie except of her butt which is quite modest these days. All other posts were implied nudity which can be seen in any ad for lotion or soap. There is no validity to his statement regarding the kids distancing themselves and it is irresponsible to make that statement publicly. The boys are very smart and will be 18 soon to make their own decisions and may eventually realize the ‘tough’ part was having a father who hasn’t worked much in over 15 years as a role model. Kevin’s gravy train will end soon which probably explains the timing of these hurtful statements. I do not know him personally and have nothing against him aside him choosing to vilify my wife. His character is revealed by approval of the cruel 13-year [conservatorship] and his loyalty to Jamie [Spears] indicates his approval at time of its conception as well. Things that are now considered normal issues and behavior easily dealt with therapy or other ways were magnified to justify a 13-year prison sentence. Anyone approving of it is wrong or benefiting from it somehow. I will not comment on this matter again except to say I have a job.”