It’s only been a few days since its publication, but Britney Spears’s long-awaited memoir, The Woman In Me, looks to be a runaway hit. And with revelations such as her The Notebook near miss, Justin Timberlake-era abortion, and details from rehab, how could it not be? The no-holds-barred volume even attracted Oscar nominee Michelle Williams as its audiobook narrator, it’s that hot a property. And now it appears the pop icon has even more secrets to reveal, as Spears announced via Instagram that a second volume is coming. But even that detail is now a subject of intense scrutiny and controversy, as sources close to the artist say the announcement was premature—or simply false.
“Humor is the cure to everything !!! Play on !!! Volume 2 will be released next year … get ready !!!,” Deadline reports that the since-deleted post read, with Spears claiming her current tome is “the highest-selling celebrity memoir in history.”
Data on the book’s sales will not be available until next week, Spears’s publisher Simon & Schuster says, but her assertion isn’t outside the realm of possibility: it’s currently listed as the top seller on Amazon’s complete list of available books. The extraordinary details on her conservatorship battle, texted breakup message from Timberlake, Colin Farrell fling, and various infidelities are clearly of high interest to the masses.
Is that attention enough to surpass the sales of the current record-holding memoir, Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare? The royal’s book sold over 1.43 million copies across all formats on its Jan. 10 release day in the U.S., Canada, and Britain, placing it at the top of the memoir sales game. It’s still unknown if the “Toxic” singer managed to topple it, but early sales word was enough that Spears apparently felt invigorated enough to tackle a second effort.
However, that announcement post is now gone from Spears’s account, and an unnamed source “close to Spears” told Variety that “there is no Vol. 2 in the works.” It’s unclear where the truth lies, but as Spears wrote on Oct. 20, most of The Woman In Me “is from 20 years ago … I have moved on, and it’s a beautiful clean slate from here !!!” Vanity Fair has reached out to a Spears spokesperson for clarification, but did not receive a response by publication time.
