The Fitness Conscious Britney Spears Once Spent $100,000 on Workout Gear

In an extensive Instagram post that has since been removed,Britney Spears criticized the setup and substance of an interview she had with Diane Sawyer on television in 2003. On ABC's Primetime Live over 20 years ago, Spears famously broke down in tears while talking about her "rough year." The journalist probed the celebrity about her buying habits after reading a story that claimed Spears had spent over $100,000 on sportswear. To this, Britney replied at the time, "Is it an addiction? No, I don’t think it’s an addiction. It makes me happy. I’ll go buy a hat, I’ll buy some shoes, and you feel pretty, you feel girly." However, Spears shared a post related to the interview back in 2021, after her conservatorship finally ended. 

Spears, as reported by People, gushed about the joy of finally being able to purchase things with her own money after a long period of financial hardship. At one point, she even said, "I do love shopping though…who doesn't??? Do we dare forget the Diane Sawyer interview in my apartment almost 20 years ago ??? What was with the ‘you’re in the wrong' approach?? Geez…and making me cry ???"

Britney, who was just 21 at the time, shared in the post, "My manager put that woman in my home and made me talk to her on national television, and she asked if I had a shopping problem!!! when did I have a shopping problem?" At that point, she was living alone in her apartment and had been "in shock" following her public breakup with Justin Timberlake. While referring to her unexpected split, she said, "Something I never shared when I had that breakup years ago was that I couldn't talk afterward. I was in shock... pretty lame of my dad and three men to show up at my door when I could hardly speak... two days later they put Diane Sawyer in my living room... they forced me to talk!"

When Britney and Justin started dating in 1999, they were pretty much the cutest thing people had ever witnessed. They shared stories about how they met and developed mutual crushes as tweens working on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club in 1992 (he was her first kiss!) and how they reconnected seven years later. In an interview with The Guardian from September 2001, Spears expressed how she felt about her then-boyfriend and said, "It is a deeper love now than when I was younger. Like, we've gone through so much together, and we've known each other since we were 12 years old. We know each other inside and out." However, their shocking and unexpected split in March 2002 baffled and saddened their devoted following. 

In the post, Spears later went on to criticize the journalist further on the questions related to her "shopping habits". She wrote, "I should spend a thousand dollars if I want every day of my life, and she can kiss my white ass." She responded to another one of Sawyer's questions about whether she identified as a woman or a girl. Spears concluded, "She said ‘a woman or a girl.' I would like to say now, ‘Ma’am I’m a catholic slut!!!" Since the publication of the Framing Britney Spears documentary, which was created in collaboration with The New York Times and Hulu, Diane Sawyer was under increased criticism for her behavior during the 2003 interview with Spears.