Pop

Britney Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline have shared strong reactions to a British tabloid report over the weekend claiming that the star is using illegal drugs.
“[The] lies and attempts to exploit minors is click bait and another repulsive example of where, unfortunately, certain journalism has sunk today,” Federline wrote in a statement on his Instagram Story on Monday (June 12).

The singer’s former husband — with whom she shares sons Sean Preston, 17, and Jayden James, 16 — lashed out at The Daily Mail and The Sun, saying it saddened his family that the publications “decided to fabricate lies and publish the heart ache our family has endured, along with the trauma of our minor children” in the papers.

The Mail piece alleged that Federline and Spears’ family is afraid that she is using the highly addictive drug crystal meth. “It’s terrifying. She is the mother of my boys,” the Mail reported Federline saying, while claiming that her sons are “refusing” to meet their mother.

The British tabloid reports were claimed to have been the result of a series of conversations between Federline and the writer, and though K-Fed slammed the results as hurtful and untrue, he did not specifically call out any particular claim the writers made.

Spears was equally upset, posting a stock photo of a boy bullying a girl on the school ground along with a long note decrying the reporting, also without addressing the specific allegations on Instagram. “The fact that people are claiming things that are not true is so sad … This may not even be them saying such things because it doesn’t make any sense to me for them to be saying that,” she wrote in a lengthy caption. The rest of the note appeared to relate to the singer’s reportedly strained relationship with her teenage sons.

The Mail report appeared to suggest that the claims about Spears’ alleged drug use came as part of an in-process documentary that has been in the works since last July. The piece suggested that the star’s estranged father — who was in charge of her day-to-day affairs for 13 years during her restrictive conservatorship that ended in November 2021 — has worried that his daughter will meet the same fate as Amy Winehouse, who died at 27 after a struggle with drugs and alcohol.

“It’s sad because everyone sits back as if that’s ok to make up lies to that extent … Why am I told I have to sit back and rise above ???” Britney Spears asked her in post. “When they all go so low ???”

In his Instagram Story, Federline said that he did allow the Daily Mail writer and her team into his home “because we trusted them … but that was lost and we severed ties back in March for many reasons we choose not to go into here.” He said it was “very distressing” that the reporter continues to “harass our family when we have repeatedly asked her to leave us alone.” Federline said he and his family did speak with the reporters a few times in a fashion he described as “respectful” and “with love and compassion for Britney and the Spears family.”

A spokesperson for Spears had no additional comment beyond the singer’s post, and a spokesperson for Federline has not yet returned a request for comment.

In a statement to Billboard, a spokesperson for The Mail on Sunday says the publication stands by its story, saying that the writer and the team spent “months” working with Federline and his family – including Spears’ sons – for a new documentary, during which they spent 12 days filming together. “[The writer] has assured us that the quotes attributed to Kevin and the family are accurate and fairly reflect the interviews conducted, in which Kevin expressed his fears that Britney might be using crystal meth to [the writer]” and members of the film crew. “He did so clearly and repeatedly.”

Spears’ lawyer, Matthew Rosengart, confirmed to Billboard on Monday that he sent a legal note to the Mail on Sunday also vehemently denying the report of her alleged drug use. “Kevin Federline himself has now acknowledged the falsity of the story, asserting that it contains ‘fabrications’ and ‘lies’ about Britney. In addition to exploiting and making false claims about Britney, particularly regarding ‘crystal meth,’ the ‘story’ also exploits her minor children, which is beyond the pale,” read the letter, with Rosengart noting that Federline’s comments about “lies” specifically refer to what he said were the “false allegation regarding ‘crystal meth.’”

As guests filed into Sunday’s (June 11) music-filled memorial for Cynthia Weil, they smiled in recognition and sang along to a string of hit songs she co-wrote that were played on speakers in a lush courtyard of the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Weil, the Grammy-winning lyricist who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped compose “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “On Broadway,” “Walking in the Rain” and dozens of other timeless tunes, died last week at age 82.

Singer Tony Orlando, who hosted the private event from a small stage with a grand piano, admonished attendees that despite the cloudy skies the day was not to be mournful, but a sunny celebration.

“I want the applause to be loud!” he said. Orlando performed “Bless You,” the 1961 ballad that gave Weil and Mann their first top 20 hit. They were married within months of the song’s release.

White-coated waiters distributed trays of bright green apple martinis, Weil’s favorite cocktail, to her friends, family members and show business contemporaries. Among those raising their glasses were Mann, record producer Lou Adler, singer Carol Bayer Sager and songwriters Carole King, Jeff Barry, Mike Stoller and Diane Warren.

Weil and Mann were one of popular music’s most successful teams, part of a crew of young songwriters based in Manhattan’s Brill Building neighborhood, near Times Square. With such hit-making duos as King and Gerry Goffin and Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the Brill Building hit factory turned out many of the biggest singles of the ’60s and beyond.

The couple was collaborators with producer Phil Spector on songs for the Ronettes (“Walking in the Rain”), the Crystals (“He’s Sure the Boy I Love”) and other singers, and also provided hits for everyone from Lionel Richie to Leo Sayer.

Their most famous collaboration, a song that would become historic, was “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” a soulful anthem produced by Spector with epic strings and sung with desperate intensity by the Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” topped the charts in 1965 and was covered by numerous other artists.

Appearing at the memorial via a recorded video, Bill Medley said Weil and Mann didn’t just write the Righteous Brothers a hit, “They wrote us a career!” According to Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), no other song was played more on radio and television in the 20th century.

Dolly Parton, who also appeared on video, recalled her career being sent “out into space” when the country star scored a crossover pop hit in 1977 with “Here You Come Again,” written by Weil and Mann.

“She left a great body of work,” Parton said.

Weil and Mann were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. They were supporting characters in the hit Broadway musical about King, “Beautiful,” which opened in 2013 and documented the intense friendship and rivalry between the two married couples. Mann and Weil’s musical “They Wrote That?” had a brief run in 2004.

On Sunday, with Paul Shaffer on piano, King performed “Somewhere Out There,” a song Weil wrote with James Horner for the soundtrack of “An American Tail.” It won Grammys in 1987 for best song and best song for a movie or television, and was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe.

Weil’s daughter, Dr. Jenn Mann, said the songwriter died last Thursday at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She remembered her mother Sunday as a loving wife to Mann, a devoted grandmother to her two girls, a lover of animals, and a soft-hearted romantic who could surprise people with her no-nonsense business sense.

While many of Weil’s peers struggled once the Beatles caught on in the mid-1960s, she continued to make hits, sometimes with Mann, or with other partners. Weil helped write the Peabo Bryson ballad “If Ever You’re In My Arms Again”; James Ingram’s “Just Once”; and the Pointer Sisters’ “He’s So Shy.” In 1997, she was in the top 10 again with Hanson’s “I Will Come to You.”

And her talents extended beyond love ballads. She and Mann wrote one of rock’s first anti-drug songs, “Kicks,” a hit for Paul Revere and the Raiders in 1966. The Animals had a hit with her tale of working class frustration, “We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place.” The Crystals’ “Uptown” was a 1961 hit that touched upon race and class in ways not often heard in rock’s early years.

Appearing on video, rocker Paul Stanley of KISS recalled being a fledgling songwriter as a teenager in New York and scouring the credits on his favorite records.

“Invariably, songs that I loved, I would see her name on it,” Stanley said.

In the middle of Pride Month, Sam Smith and Madonna‘s “Vulgar” tops this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (June 9) on Billboard, choosing the pop pair’s new song as their favorite new music release of the past week. “Vulgar” brought in more than 45% of the vote, beating […]