Entertainment
Weakly
Me Against the Music
Britney: Do as I say, not as I do?
by Gary Susman
2002 Worst
Actress RAZZIE® “Winner" Britney Spears
acknowledges that her skin-baring, Madonna-smooching ways
may not make her the best role model, but she says some of her
contemporaries are even worse.
''Why? Why are
they mad at me?'' she says to Newsweek, in reference to
angry moms like Maryland First Lady Kendal Ehrlich, who
recently said in a speech she'd shoot the singer if she could.
(She has since apologized for the remark.) ''Why are they not
going at Christina Aguilera? Have they seen what she has
on?'' She says she knows it sounds bratty for her to complain,
''but Beyoncé dresses provocatively. Why don't they say
something about her? What is too sexy to them? My family, we
walked around the house naked, we really did. By the time I was
13, my dad was like, 'Uh, Britney, it's time to start covering
yourself up.' I'm very free like that.''
Still, she says,
she's going to tone down the sexuality for a while, even though
she has a new album to promote, ''In the Zone,'' and has been
appearing on covers of magazines like Esquire wearing very
little. ''I did feel kind of weird after those photos,'' she says
of the Esquire shoot. ''I learned my lesson and you won't
see me like that for a while. I'm kinda over it myself. Not that
it's dirty or tacky, but it is really revealing and I wouldn't
want my kid, at 21, to be dressing like that.''
She's also
avoiding relationships, despite rumors (which she denies) that
she's dating a married member of her backup dance troupe. She
blames her ex, Justin Timberlake, for his televised
revelation that he took her virginity. ''Justin said it on
'Barbara Walters,''' she says. ''The world knew after he frickin'
told them all. What am I supposed to say, 'No, I didn't'? Can you
say I'm a little bitter with men? Just a little.'' She adds,
''There was a time when I was like, 'OK, I'm over men. They're
mean.' For like six months, not a single thing happened. Not like
they weren't drawn to me, but there wasn't a single real
attraction. I'm like, 'What's happening? I know I'm not a
lesbian.''' Still, she tells Newsweek: ''My personal life
is no one's business.'' Thanks for clearing that up.
©2003, Entertainment Weakly
