Britney Spears Calls Out Diane Sawyer For That 2003 Interview

Every story has a clear protagonist and antagonist, but in the case of The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears, there wasn’t just one villain, but a couple, both literal and metaphorical. For example, Britney Spears’ father Jamie Spears came across as a pretty clear villain, or Justin Timberlake (he’s since apologized to Britney), but so did “the media,” which is just a little less easy to point the finger at. However, there was one person that kind of covered both, and that was Diane Sawyer. Britney called Diane out for her participation in the judgemental scrutiny of Britney Spears.

In 2003, a 21-year-old Britney Spears sat down with Diane Sawyer and ABC News to promote her album In The Zone, aka the album with “Toxic” and Britney’s collab with Madonna, “Me Against the Music.” During the interview, Diane seemed to take every opportunity to turn the conversation on Britney’s public life, like her messy breakup with Justin Timberlake or why she doesn’t seem to want to wear clothes anymore. Other topics covered were Britney’s kiss with Madonna at the 2003 MTV VMAs, and her more adult-leaning performance wardrobe and photoshoots, which again came with a side of slut shaming vibes. You can watch the whole interview here, which definitely gets beyond awkward at some points.

Yesterday, Britney spoke about that interview in an Instagram post, which was deleted not too long after she posted it. People magazine says that Britney laid it all out, basically saying she hated every minute that Diane Sawyer was in her apartment grilling her about her bare stomach and Justin Timberlake, and how Britney believes it was a shitty move to throw an interview crew into her personal space when she wasn’t feeling safe or comfortable. Also, at one point during the interview, Diane Sawyer grills Britney about a possible shopping problem, and Britney explained in her Instagram post that it’s pretty difficult to have a shopping problem when you’ve been hiding out in your apartment for a year trying to survive a public break-up. Britney finished by telling Diane Sawyer that she can “kiss my white ass.”

BRITNEY DRAGGING DIANE SAWYER pic.twitter.com/xaDItxYB0b

— Fan Account (@breatheonmiley) December 13, 2021

The impetus of Britney’s post appeared to be about how happy she is to finally be able to go Christmas shopping in a mall and taking her own cash out of an ATM. That’s one hell of a segue, and maybe Britney will once again go after her father next because when People reached out to Jamie Spears regarding her accusation that he threw the ABC News crew into her apartment without her consent, he had this to say:

“Mr. Spears has no idea what Ms. Spears is talking about. Jamie never set up any interview with Diane Sawyer and was not present for any such interview. He had nothing to do with Britney’s career at this point and was completely uninvolved in this interview. Jamie loves Britney very much, wishes Britney nothing but the best and hopes that she continues to seek the help that she needs to stay safe and healthy.”

Obviously Britney’s Instagram only truly serves as a reminder that Britney had a terrible fucking time in the 2000s and 2010s, and that she never truly felt in control of her own life. But there is one kind of funny part in Britney’s little open letter, aside from telling Diane to kiss her ass (somewhere Connie Chung is cheering loudly). It’s when Britney said this:

“She said ‘A woman or a girl’…I would like to say now ‘Ma’am I am a Catholic slut!!! You wanna join me at a mass and I can serve your husband my certificate on shopping for anonymous players???'”

Diane Sawyer was married to Mike Nichols at the time, who made Closer a year later in 2004. And honestly, had Britney actually told Diane that, there’s no way Mike Nichols wouldn’t have instantly recognized that as perfect dialogue, and given every single word of it to Natalie Portman to whisper to Clive Owen.

Pic: ABC