Britney Spears Spends First Christmas Without Sam Asghari

Pop star Britney Spears is spending her first Christmas holiday without her estranged husband, Sam Asghari.

The two met on the set of her "Slumber Party" music video in 2016. The two started dating soon after and became engaged in September 2021, only two months before her controversial 13-year conservatorship was struck down by a judge in November 2021.

The two tied the knot in June 2022 at a star-studded wedding ceremony hosted at her Thousand Oaks estate in California. Unfortunately, reports of marital trouble surfaced almost immediately. In August 2023, the 29-year-old actor filed for divorce from the 42-year-old pop star citing "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the split according to court documents obtained by The Blast. According to the filing, the actor listed the end of July as the official date of separation.

The divorce has prompted the "Toxic" singer to rely more on her family amid the split. In early December, her mother Lynne Spears, and her older brother Bryan Spearsattended her birthday party, held at the house of her longtime friend and manager, Cade Hudson. It's been rumored that her younger sister Jamie Lynn Spears even scored an invite. However, one person Britney is unwilling to connect with is her father, Jamie Spears, even though he had his leg amputated earlier this year.

It was reported that Lynne Spears wanted her daughter to return home to Kentwood, Louisiana, for the holidays, but it seems that Britney was not ready to make the trip. It is unclear if the Princess of Pop was directly responding to those reports, but a few hours after it made headlines, she took to Instagram to share a lengthy statement, expressing that she has "been through too much this year" and admitted that she is "not ready."

“Father forgive me but I’m not ready !!! I’ve been through too much this year and I need to learn how to breathe again and learn to be in the present moment without being afraid with so much anxiety,” she wrote. “Staying busy in certain moments has saved my life and I think it’s the thrill of letting go and the feeling I’ve longed for so to establish a plan whether it’s horseback riding or anything.”

“I long to have reason and meaning in my life. Forgive me for the times I feel stuck and want to just cry … forgive me for not being perfect … forgive me if I’ve lost my temper because I’ve felt threatened by the people I loved … I’m only human,” she continued.

“Guide and direct me towards a beautiful understanding in how to love myself and talk to myself the way I used to. Thank you for my baby Snow … she is God to me and I’m so thankful to her !!!!” she concluded, referring to her new puppy, Snow. Britney first introduced her new dog to Instagram about two weeks after the actor filed for divorce.

The "Gimme More" singer also said that it was "so weird" to be single again after six years in an Instagram post shared with her millions of followers earlier this month.

“It’s so weird being single … I’ve had a lot of time to really look back with all the good and bad … I’ve realized I don’t talk to myself that nicely at all … I’m easily manipulated and I wear my heart on my sleeve … But I’m definitely changing all that … I have to make time to stop and look around to re-evaluate myself and say is this good for me ???" she asked herself.

"I like a routine and I usually do the same thing every day …. I’m honestly bored but I’m also scared of a lot of things … The way I live my life is mine … I’ve had so many people interfere with that … But to know it’s ok to be selfish with my life and enjoy it is amazing !!!” she concluded.

Although fans have expressed support for the pop star and her tell-all memoir, "The Woman In Me," when it was released in October, the "Hold Me Closer" singer has disabled comments on many of her recent Instagram posts, leading fans to take to other social media platforms to express their support for the pop star.