AllRespect.com // Kevin Federline Says Britney Spears 'Blindsided' Him With Divorce

Posted on 2008-12-04 03:00:07
Artist/band(s): Britney Spears [FB]

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1600576/20081203/spears_britney.jhtml

Britney's ex is happy with new child-custody agreement: 'It's totally turning around.'By Gil Kaufman

Kevin FederlinePhoto: Isaac Brekken/ WireImage

You heard Britney Spears talk about her man problems during Sunday night's "For the Record" documentary, but now her ex-husband Kevin Federline is doing his own talking. The wannabe rapper and father of 3-year-old Preston and 2-year-old Jayden said in a new interview with People magazine that he was "blindsided" by Spears' divorce filing in 2006 and that even though the couple had trouble in their brief marriage, he never expected it to end like it did.

"It's hard enough to be in a marriage, and then have a kid, then kids. It changes everything," Federline said. "For me, I'd become more concerned with my children. Not that I ignored Britney, but my kids are always most important. ... I mean, we were having complications. I didn't give her an ultimatum, but I was trying to work stuff out with her, and she didn't even talk to me or anything and went behind my back and filed [for divorce]. [I was] completely blindsided."

Federline, 30, recalled some of the happy times as well, telling the magazine that the couple's low-key 2004 wedding is a cherished memory. "I never thought that I would get married, but it wound up happening," he said. "That was a really, really, happy, exciting moment. I pretty much realized that I was giving my life to her, and I was doing it without question." The former backup dancer also reminisces about the first time he met Spears, 27, at the Hollywood club Joseph's. "Our eyes met and that was it. We just hit it off right away. I learned real fast how much of a whirlwind the press and everything was," he said.

Attempting to counter his image in the tabloid press as an alleged gold digger, Federline told People that despite suggestions that he was fighting for custody of the couple's sons for money, he was willing to spend every dime he had to retain the right to see the boys.

"My first question to [my lawyer] was, 'Am I ever going to be able to see my children?' " said Federline, who has sole custody of the children while Spears retains visitation rights. "I told him that I would spend every last dime that I had to make sure that my children are OK. That's all that mattered. I didn't know how much power Britney had. That really scared me."

Another thing Federline said scared him was the scene in January when Spears locked herself and Jayden in her bathroom rather than hand him over to Federline's representative, not to mention the pictures later that night of the singer being carted off to a hospital on a gurney.

"That whole night is a blur," he said. "You want to talk about one of my lowest points of depression, that was probably one of them. I was very, very worried for her 'cause I care about her. That's the mother of my children. Just because I'm not in love with her doesn't mean that I don't love her. I'm definitely rooting for her. There's nothing more that I want than for her to be in the best health and doing what she loves to do."

Despite all the drama, now that Spears appears to be getting her life back on track with the new album Circus and a world tour announced on Tuesday, Federline said things do seem to be getting better. "Oh, man, it's totally turning around," he said about the new arrangement recently worked out by a judge that gives Spears more time with the boys. "It works out that [the kids] get to see her. There's structure over there, there's structure at my house. We're trying to keep the same type of schedule. It doesn't have to be completely perfect, but the foundation is there."

Though Spears avoided directly lashing out at Federline during "For the Record," in a new interview with Glamour magazine the singer takes a not-so-thinly veiled swing at her ex, saying, "In five years, I would like to be married and have a father figure for my kids, someone who is a provider and can be really stable. It's hard doing it on your own."

Tell us what you thought of Britney's documentary over on the Newsroom blog, or upload a video to YouRHere.MTV.com. "Britney: For the Record" will be re-airing throughout the week and will be available in its entirety on demand on MTV.com beginning Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.

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