She was not long out of school uniform when she had her first child. Admittedly that was the school uniform in her infamous (Hit Me) Baby, One More Time video. But at 24, Britney Spears was still the fresh-faced, girl next door.
Few would have believed then, that the next 16 years would be dominated by her breakdown and mental health issues - and that her experience of being a mum would be tainted by depression, controversy, custody rows and the constraints of her draconian conservatorship.
But with the singer finally released from her father Jamie’s control after a public court battle last November, Britney has at last been allowed to become that feisty independent woman she always sang about.
So it’s no accident, the first major life choice she’s made is to get pregnant again.
For this third baby - with her long-time rock Sam Ashgari - will be the makeover the 40-year-old’s been pining for, despite doting on sons Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden, 15.
It’s especially poignant as Britney claimed the conservatorship has been forcing her to use birth control since 2007 - making the announcement of her pregnancy in the early hours of Tuesday morning, an announcement of something else as well - another victory against her toxic family.
The question is, what happens now?:Will a new baby Britney ease the infamous tensions between her and her father and younger sister Jamie-Lynn?
Or is Britney about to get payback by proving she can manage her life without them?
“The pregnancy is wonderful news for Britney,” says a long-term close business associate. “Her early years with the boys had a lot of turmoil. She was young, promoting her music, recording, doing what the record company needed and running her family. It was a lot of pressure.
"This time, for the first time, she has full control. She can have the baby on her own terms. It’s her chance to find the right path of being a mother.”
Britney will be nearly 41 by the time she gives birth, while fiancé, fitness trainer and Iranian model Sam, turns 29 this month.
The biggest difference between carrying her first and third child will be the world’s changed attitudes towards mental health.
She suffered peri-natal depression with her previous pregnancies. It can provoke suicidal thoughts and starts when the woman is still pregnant and lasts for up to a year afterwards. In hindsight, it perfectly explains her subsequent downward spiral.
“It’s hard because when I was pregnant I had perinatal depression,” she said in her emoji-strewn post yesterday. “I have to say it is absolutely horrible. Women didn’t talk about it back then - some people considered it dangerous if a woman complained like that with a baby inside her. But now women talk about it everyday … thank Jesus we don’t have to keep that pain a reserved proper secret… ”.
A source close to former chef Jamie, who denies being personally involved in birth control issues, stressed that concerns aired in court documents for last year’s conservatorship case “haven’t simply gone away because it ended.”
They added: “In fact he’ll be worried a pregnancy will only confound them.”
The documents, written by Jamie’s lawyer Vivien Thoreen, state people have no idea of “all of the addiction and mental health issues” Britney has “struggled with”.
Her story had begun like a fairytale - her talent catapulting her from a trailer park in Louisiana, to first to Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club then as a bona fide pop princess.
But by the time she wed backing dancer Kevin Federline in July 2004, Britney had already raised eyebrows with her 55-hour marriage to school pal Jason Alexander, just months before.
Brit and Kevin, who left his pregnant girlfriend to be with the singer, went on to have Sean Preston in October 2005, then Jayden in October 2006, but filed for divorce two months later, citing irreconcilable differences – Kevin struggled with fame.
Soon her fairytale was no longer looking so rosy.
She was condemned for her parenting skills, by partying with Paris Hilton and driving with toddler Sean on her lap.
Then came the 2007 head-shaving breakdown - one that would be viewed very differently today. Instead, back then, she was dispatched to rehab, slapped with the conservatorship and the boys were taken into Kevin’s sole custody leaving her with just visitation rights.
The pair battled in the courts for years, finally settling on 70/30 shared custody in Kevin’s favour, yet tensions mean the boys having had “very few visits” to Britney’s house in recent years.
“They still think the the world of her,” says the source. As does Britney of them, saying on Instagram : “They are both extremely talented and I’m so incredibly blessed to have these two little men in my life!!!”
Blessed she may be, but there’s no denying this time Britney will hopefully get to be the type of mum she wanted to be all along - without the drama.
