Britney Spears has wished her sons, Preston and Jayden, a happy birthday despite their recent estrangement.
The singer shares the teens, Preston, 17, and Jayden, 16, with her ex Kevin Federline.
Sharing photos of her and her sons which she said were taken last year, she wrote on Instagram: “Happy birthday Preston and Jayden!!! Love you both so much!!! These photos are from last year !!!”
Preston, 17, and Jayden, 16, have their birthdays two days apart in September.
The birthday wish comes just weeks after Jayden granted an interview corroborating his dad’s claim that he and his brother don’t want to see their mum again.
In his interview, Jayden also took his grandparents’ side after they received heat from Britney for the 13-year conservatorship she blames them for.
After Jayden’s interview, a heartbroken Britney said something in her has “died”.
“Literally, I have no purpose anymore. They were my joy. They were my everything. I looked forward to seeing them. That was what I lived for. And then all of a sudden, they were gone,” the singer, 40, said in a series of audio clips posted to her Instagram late Saturday.
Spears also stated that she “used to have my kids at one point, way more” than Federline, 44.
“I mean, people don’t remember that part because they always focused on the negative, but from when they were 6 to 9 years old, I had them 70 percent of the time,” she said.
“I don’t understand how it’s so easy for them, just to cut me off like that. I don’t understand it.”
In September 2019, it was reported that Spears and her ex-husband, to whom she was married from 2004 to 2007, had amended their joint custody agreement – with Federline now getting the boys 70 percent of the time, instead of a 50-50 split.
While Spears’ nearly 14-year-long conservatorship was terminated in November 2021, it soon became clear that she and Federline weren’t on the best terms.
The former backup dancer admitted, via his attorney, to Page Six in April that he’d found out that Spears was expecting another child with now-husband Sam Asghari through Instagram.
In May, Spears and Asghari, 28, announced that the pregnancy tragically ended in a miscarriage.
Tensions seemed to escalate in June, as news broke that neither Federline nor the two teens would attend Spears’ wedding to Asghari.
Things reached a boiling point in early August after the DJ shared videos of Spears allegedly reprimanding her sons. Federline and their youngest son also spoke about Spears in an interview that aired on “60 Minutes Australia.”
“There’s being rude then there’s being HATEFUL,” Spears wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post.
“They would visit me, walk in the door, go straight to their room and lock the door !!!”
She her kids had allegedly been choosing to cut down on time they’d spend at her house from two or three days to just one day per week, the “Me Against the Music” singer added: “I don’t know what’s going on in their heads !!! … I always TRIED and TRIED, and maybe that’s why they stopped coming here !!! I wanted them to love me so much that I might have overdone it !!!”
Addressing the boys’ decision to not see her right now, Spears admitted to having reservations of her own. “I’m afraid to inform you guys, I’m not willing to see you until I feel valued,” she said.
Spears said she has been made to feel “desperate” and “pathetic” for trying to be involved in her sons’ lives, saying she “was desperate to see you guys” and later adding, “but honestly, I should have valued myself way more.”
“All I know is my love for my children is more than anything and I’m sorry if I ever hurt you guys in any way,” the pop star said.
Britney, however, put all that behind her to celebrate them on their birthday.