Britney Spears Opens Up On Her 2003 VMAs Kiss With Madonna In Her Memoir

Pop star Britney Spears mentions Madonna quite a few times in her tell-all memoir, “The Woman In Me.”

The Queen of Pop has been supporting the Princess of Pop throughout her divorce from actor Sam Asghari, which is why fans are glad to see her not only praise Madonna, but also open up about their viral kiss at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

While reflecting on her childhood, Britney says that she always dreamed of becoming a big star like Madonna. “I was a little girl with big dreams. I wanted to be a star like Madonna, Dolly Parton, or Whitney Houston,” she wrote.

A few chapters later, while recounting the highlights of her career, she noted, “I started running into Madonna all over the world. I would do shows in Germany and Italy, and we would end up performing at the same European awards shows. We’d greet each other as friends.”

Chapter 16 is where Britney really starts to open up about her relationship with the “Like A Virgin” singer. “If I could go back now, I would try to become my own parent, my own partner, my own advocate – the way I knew Madonna did,” Britney wrote. “She had endured so much sexism and bullying from the public and the industry, and had been shamed for her sexuality so many times, but she always overcame it.”

Britney agreed with Madonna “that the music industry – really the whole world – is set up more for men” before she went on to recall their viral 2003 VMA kiss.

In her memoir, Britney described how the viral 2003 MTV VMAs kiss actually happened. “We decided to perform together at the VMAs. Every time we rehearsed it, we did an air kiss,” she wrote. “About two minutes before the performance, I was sitting on the side of the stage and thinking about my biggest performance to date at the VMAs, when I’d pulled off a suit to reveal a sparkling outfit.”

“I thought to myself, ‘I want a moment like that again this year. With the kiss, should I just go for it?’” Britney later said, “A lot was made of that kiss. Oprah asked Madonna about it. The kiss was treated as a huge cultural moment – ‘Britney kissing Madonna!’ – and it got us both a lot of attention.”

Britney explained how that moment led to their “Me Against the Music” collaboration. Instead of going through her team, Britney asked her directly. “I told her how much fun it would be to do the song with me and how I thought we could help each other: it was something that would benefit us both. She agreed,” Britney wrote.

She described the hit single as “still one of my favorite songs, and the collaboration with her is part of what makes it so memorable.”

“During our shoot together, I was in awe of the ways Madonna would not compromise her vision,” she said, reflecting on their music video. “She kept the focus on her. Going along with Madonna’s ideas and being on her time for days was what it meant to collaborate with her.”

“It was an important lesson for me, one that would take a long time for me to absorb: she demanded power, and so she got power. She was the center of attention because she made that the condition of her showing up anywhere,” Britney wrote. “She made that life for herself. I hoped I could find ways to do that while preserving the parts of my nice-girl identity that I wanted to keep.”

Although she did not mention it in her memoir, Britney recreated the 2003 MTV VMAs kiss during her June 2022 wedding before the actor filed for divorce. The “Material Girl” singer has been keeping tabs on Britney amid her divorce and reportedly wants to have the "Toxic" singer on stage with her during her Celebration tour.

“She feels it’s time for Britney to be shown love, guidance, and support, instead of being manipulated or taken advantage of,” one source told Radar Online. “She’d love her to come on tour.”

It remains to be seen if Britney will actually join Madonna on stage when her Celebration tour hits Los Angeles, but one insider told the outlet that “it means the world that one of her all-time idols is rooting for her.”

On August 30, a source told Us Weekly that the “Gimme More” singer is “grateful” for Madonna’s support and echoed the news that Madonna wants Britney to perform on stage for her Celebration tour.

“Britney’s grateful for the support she’s gotten from her friends in the biz — Madonna especially,” said another source. “She’d love to join her, but the question is whether or not she can handle that type of pressure and attention.”

Britney Spears’ tell-all memoir, “The Woman In Me,” was officially released on Tuesday, October 24, 2023.