Britney Spears as a bride: What the pop star's first 2 weddings were like
Britney Spears will reportedly marry longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari on Thursday.
The superstar singer, now free from her conservatorship, will say "I do" during an "intimate ceremony" with about 60 guests, according to reports. Her brother, Bryan Spears, is expected to be the only immediate family member on her side attending — not even her teen sons, Preston and Jayden Federline. She needs no one to give her away, so much taken over the last 13 years, but that detail is still "being worked out," according to TMZ. She's previously shared hints of her wedding planning, including that Donatella Versace will make her gown.
So it appears that this is really happening. #FreedBritney is having the wedding of her dreams with the model turned actor she met on the set of her "Slumber Party" video in 2016 — and who popped the question at their home in September. The guy who calls Britney "Lioness," rocked a #FreeBritney shirt ahead of her conservatorship ending and infamously branded her father/former conservator Jamie "a total d***" before he was removed as conservator.
This wedding will be different for the older, wiser, freer pop princess, now 40. She was married two times prior...
On Jan. 3, 2004, after a few boozy and drug-filled days of young debauchery, the then 22-year-old "Oops!... I Did It Again" singer eloped with her childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas.
They said "I do" at 4 a.m. in the morning at Little White Chapel — and it was a legal union, unlike Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker's recent first wedding in Sin City.
The bride and groom both wore jeans — hers were ripped and paired with black top that exposed her abs along with a white ball cap.
Her mom, Lynne, hit the roof following the news that her young daughter married with no prenup, and along with Brit's management, demanded the union be annulled. It was officially just 55 hours later. The legal papers stated she “lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to the marriage," as she had taken no steps to protect her fortune.
Alexander, who has had no shortage of problems since, has given countless interviews about the two-and-a-half day marriage, including saying he was was told by Team Britney that their relationship could continue post-annulment. However, he was given a coach plane ticket back to Louisiana (after flying to Vegas via Britney's private plane) and cut out of her life.
While Alexander insisted he "didn't make any money" off of marrying the star — and he was paid nothing to sign the annulment papers — he has profited from interviews he gave about her through the years, leading Spears to publicly brand him a liar in 2010.
Years later, he publicly supported her at a #FreeBritney rally. At the time, he claimed he was back in touch with her, though that seemed doubtful, and said he hoped one day they may reconcile because their chance at love was "stolen from us in Vegas."
Alexander — who was arrested in January for stalking a woman, his third arrest in one year — continued to hold out hope for a reconciliation, shockingly crashing her wedding to Sam on Thursday. While streaming on Instagram, he trespassed on her property and ran thorough her house and into the wedding tent. He screamed things like, "She's my first wife, my only wife," before he was tackled and arrested.
Britney was clearly feeling marriage-minded in 2004 because just 10 months later she was married again — to Kevin Federline.
She met the backup dancer at the Hollywood club Joseph's that spring and they were drawn together like magnets. After spending a week together, she invited him on tour with her to Europe. While on tour, she injured her knee and had to rest four four months, during which time she proposed. He initially said no — because he wanted to be the one to ask — and he did. They were engaged in June, and even rocked matching dice tattoos while they recorded footage of their lives together — which later made for premium content on their reality show.
While their relationship was "chaotic" — due to the press attention, it being a whirlwind romance and the fact that he was expecting his second child with Shar Jackson at the time — they were in love and were married in a surprise ceremony on Sept. 18, 2004. They invited 27 of their closest family and friends to what they said was an engagement party at the Studio City home of her wedding planner. Once there, they learned — surprise! — it was actually a wedding.
"I think my mom was dumbfounded," Britney later said on the couple's reality show.
Brit wore a $26,000 strapless silk gown and lace gloves to walk down the aisle; K-Fed greeted guests in a white tanktop (his signature look) but changed into a suit for the "I do’s." At the reception, Kevin removed Britney’s garter belt with his teeth — while his mom cheered him on.
Wedding guests then changed into sweatsuits provided by the couple that were embroidered with "pimps” and “maids" — while Britney’s said "Mrs. Federline" and Kevin’s said "The Pimp". They all then went out clubbin'.
The marriage wasn't legalized until Oct. 6, after their prenup was finalized. Britney, on the couple's reality show, said of the wedding, "It wasn’t the big, traditional wedding. It was cool and it was nice and special and small, and I liked it a lot."
The couple went on to have two kids, Preston, 16, and Jayden, 15, right away, but split in 2006. Federline has 70 percent custody of their sons. He said Thursday, through his lawyer, the boys wouldn't attend the wedding but they all wished Britney well.
Britney has had other boyfriends since her marriages, including paparazzo Adnan Ghalib (before the conservatorship) followed by Jason Trawick, David Lucado and Charlie Ebersol. She planned to married Trawick, who was her agent, after getting engaged in 2010 but they split in 2013. Last year, Trawick denied a rumor they secretly married.
On the topic of marriage, Britney — who also famously dated Justin Timberlake — said in her 2008 MTV doc, "I think I married for all the wrong reasons. Instead of following my heart and, like, doing something that made me really happy. I just did it because … for just, like, the idea of everything."
She's been going strong with Sam since 2016, praising him last year for sticking by her side "through the hardest years of my life." Her fandom has been, at times, skeptical of his intentions, which he joked about following their engagement when fans — and actress Octavia Spencer — said Britney needed a prenup. ("Thank you to everyone who is concerned about the prenup," Asghari quipped. "Of course we're getting [an] iron-clad prenup to protect my Jeep and shoe collection in case she dumps me one day.")
But the couple appears to enjoy each other's company — whether it's in the gym, on their trips to Hawaii or while being driven around Los Angeles sipping champagne in a Rolls-Royce, like they were Wednesday ahead of their wedding. And they've leaned on each other through their recent pregnancy loss.
In an interview, Sam gushed about his bride, "It was the humbleness that attracted me. She was very humble and she had a beautiful soul."
And she's very deserving of her happily ever after.
