Britney Spears and Kevin Federline may have only been married for two years, but the impact of their dark marriage has made a lasting impression on both their lives as the former couple currently find themselves embroiled in a bitter row over parenting.
Pop icon Britney, 40, tied the knot with Kevin, 44, in October 2004 but their marriage was short-lived as the pair divorced less than three-years later in 2007 after welcoming two sons - Sean Preston and Jayden - together.
Following their crumbling marriage, Britney spiralled into a dark place and experienced a very public breakdown in 2008 which was to impact the rest of her life as she was placed under a strict conservatorship 'for her own wellbeing'.
Kevin and Britney found themselves in a long and bitter custody battle for their sons, with their father gaining full custody as the pop singer remained under a conservatorship which was to last a gruelling 13-years.
While relations between the former couple appeared to be civil in recent years, with Kevin celebrating Britney's freedom after her conservatorship was lifted last year, in recent weeks, her ex-husband has 'thrown her under the bus' with an explosive tell-all interview where he claims their sons Sean Preston and Jayden have chose not to see their mum for 'months on end'.
Of course, Britney hit back at the claims, calling Kevin a liar, but tensions between the pair have reached an all-time high after the rapper released a shocking video which shows Britney arguing with her sons on a furious car-ride.
As the drama continues between the former husband and wife, here, we take a look at how things turned so dark so quickly from their shotgun wedding to their custody battle and everything in between.
Secret shotgun wedding
After meeting on the dance floor at a Hollywood club, Britney and Kevin announced their engagement in July of 2004.
Swerving tradition, pop singer Britney famously popped the question to Kevin during a flight.
Lifting the lid on her unconventional proposal, Britney previously explained: "Then all of a sudden I said, 'What if you want to get married?' And I kind of went from there to asking him if he would marry me. I asked him. He said no because he thought it wasn't the right way to do it."
However, one week later, Kevin slipped a 5-carat diamond engagement ring on Britney's finger and the pair set their sights on the wedding of their dreams.
As media attention began to grow however, the smitten couple decided to swerve a traditional wedding, and instead, they tied the knot in a top-secret wedding surrounded by just 30 members of their closet friends and family as they said their 'I do's' in private just three months after Kevin's romantic proposal.
The pair invited their nearest and dearest round to their gaff for a party before revealing plans to tie the knot there and then.
"It became this huge thing and I was like, 'What are we waiting for? We know this is the real thing, why not just do it now?' That's why I wanted to sneak and do it our little way," Britney told People after the ceremony.
One year after their wedding, Britney and Kevin welcomed their eldest son, Sean Preston in September 2015.
Crumbling marriage
While Britney appeared to have found the man of her dreams to onlookers, behind the scenes, their relationship had started to crumble early-on as things took a turn for the worst.
After just two-years of marriage, Britney and Kevin called it quits in 2006 - two months after the birth of their second son, Jayden, with them divorcing in 2007.
According to reports, relations between the pair had been rocky following the arrival of their sons as their relationship was pushed to breaking point.
At the time of their marriage breakdown, an insider told People that only three weeks after they welcomed Jayden, Kevin took off to party in Las Vegas with friends, leaving Britney feeling overwhelmed and abandoned with two young sons in her care.
Shortly afterwards, while Kevin was in Toronto to promote his new album, Britney, who was in New York City, filed for divorce, claiming irreconcilable differences.
In a recent scathing Instagram caption, the singer shed light on their troublesome marriage as she called out her ex-husband for 'ignoring her' while she was pregnant after she got a flight to see him, but he refused to meet her while his baby 'was in her belly'.
In the now-deleted Instagram caption, Britney claimed that Kevin refused to visit her while she was pregnant even though she flew out to meet with him.
“My ex-husband wouldn’t see me when I flew to New York with a baby inside me and Las Vegas when he was shooting a video," she claimed.
Britney also wrote: “I got a text saying, ‘If you don’t divorce Kevin he will publicly do it to you’. Since I hadn’t seen him in a while I already knew it was over. I had my baby.”
Messy custody battle
After their divorce came Britney's very public breakdown and then a nasty custody battle between the former lovers.
Britney's parenting came under the spotlight after she was pictured nearly dropping baby Sean amid a swarm of paparazzi.
A few short months later, the pop icon was once again slammed for driving with her young son on her lap.
Following the controversy, Britney insisted that she was 'terrified' and kept her son as close to her as possible as she attempted to flee the photographers.
Then, in late 2007, things took a dark turn as Britney's troubles boiled over which led to her now infamous public breakdown, during which she shaved her head and smashed up a photographer's car windscreen with an umbrella.
Shortly afterwards, Britney lost custody of her two boys, with Kevin being granted with full responsibility for Sean Preston and Jayden.
Britney was only allowed supervised visits with her sons, while Kevin had full custody.
The court ruling tipped Britney over the edge and in 2008 she was arrested after a four-hour stand-off where she had locked herself and Jayden in a bathroom.
After going through counselling, she was then granted two visits and one overnight stay a week by a Los Angeles judge.
In light of her desperate attempt to stay with her children, Spears lost custody of her sons.
This also meant that her father stepped in and the wheels of the conservatorship started rolling.
Parenting potshots
Relations between Kevin and Britney appeared to have remained civil in recent years - that was until the rapper released an explosive tell-all interview where he claimed his sons have chose not to see their mother due to her loud social media presence and nude snaps.
A shocking video of Britney arguing with her sons has also now released which has added fuel to the already blazing fire.
Kevin posted videos taken by their kids, after Britney claimed her teenage sons Sean, 16, and Jayden, 15, had acted 'hateful. towards her when they visited.
The furious former professional dancer, 44, shared footage of the singer, 40, arguing with their sons on Instagram on Thursday, telling Britney: "The lies have to stop.
Kevin wrote: "I can not sit back and let my sons be accused in this way after what they’ve been through.
"As much as it hurts us, we decided as a family to post these videos the boys took when they were 11 and 12.
"This isn’t even the worst of it. The lies have to stop. I hope our kids grow up to be better than this. #NeverFearTruth".
In one clip the singer can be heard telling her son Sean she was 'shocked' that he didn't wear shoes in an ice cream shop in Alaska and told him she was confiscating his phone over it, which sparked a row between the pair.
In a car journey, Britney said: "Have you lost your f*****g mind? I do care but I'm shocked as f**k with you. I don't know what to do. And I'm shocked with you because you're weird and going through puberty. I don't know what to say.
"But I do care more than you know. Sometimes I just don't know what to say with you."
It comes after Britney took to Instagram to slam her ex for not keeping their business private after he broke his decade-long silence on their marriage in recent days.
K-Fed opened up about his past relationship with Britney in a bombshell interview, which will air on ITV this week.
From how he believes the 13-year conservatorship 'saved Britney's life' to how their children feel about her many nude photos, K-Fed has discussed it all as he blasted his ex-wife for the first time in over ten years.
Kevin - who said he wanted to show an untold side of the story - has been prioritising his two teens' well-being and discussed how he feels about Britney's many nude photos.
The singer has been expressing herself by sharing naked snaps with her 41.9 million followers - concerning many of her fans.
K-Fed said Jayden and Sean love their mother but said the photos have been 'tough'.
"I try to explain to them, 'Look, maybe that's just another way she tries to express herself," he said.
"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."
The Mirror have contacted Britney's representatives for comment.
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