Britney Spears reflects on ‘hardest years’ during separation from her sons

By Laura Harding, Deputy Entertainment Editor

Britney Spears has reflected on “the hardest years” of her life, when she was separated from her two sons.

The Toxic singer has said her “secret to survival” was “denial and a lot of tears” when she was estranged from her children, Sean Preston (19) and Jayden James (18) after her conservatorship case, which lasted until November 2021.

Spears said she believes her marriage to actor Sam Asghari “felt like a fake distraction to help me deal with” the pain of being away from her children.

The couple married in 2022 but split up two years later.

In a post on Instagram, she wrote: “We’re just people so fragile and human.

“The hardest years of my life were my two sons gone for those 3 years… I was cut off from calling or texting and I remember in shock my secret to survival was denial and a lot of tears.

“It’s weird me and Sam were married but it almost felt like a fake distraction to help me deal with it…”

Spears had her two sons during her marriage to Kevin Federline, which ended in 2007, and she appears to have repaired her relationship with them, sharing videos and photos of them on social media.

In April 2025, she shared a video of one of her sons playing the piano and wrote: “Mamas don’t get enough credit at all these days !!! I mean just saying !!!

“I made a person !!! A live breathing person and I made two of them !!! And my boys are so incredibly sweet and charming !!! I’m so blessed.”

In the most recent post, which accompanies a nude photo of Spears taken from behind, the star also said she knows she is “healing” because she is “hungry again like a child or baby”.

She said: “I’m so hungry it hurts and when I eat it’s like it’s my first time ever eating in my life…”

Spears has previously claimed she was put on a strict diet during her conservatorship.