The Woman In Me: Who Narrates Britney Spears' Book & Why Are People Laughing?
Britney Spears' memoir, "The Woman in Me," finally dropped on October 24 and has been making headlines since. So why are fans laughing over the audiobook?
Here's the deal. Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams is, for whatever reason, reading Spears' audiobook, and she's giving it all she's got — especially in one scene where Spears recounts an embarrassing moment with her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. According to Spears, Timberlake and the rest of the boys in N*SYNC thought that they were a little edgier than contemporaries like the Backstreet Boys, and when they tried to hang out with Black artists of their era, things got ... a little weird.
"*NSYNC hung out with Black artists," Spears wrote and Williams read. "Sometimes I thought they tried too hard to fit in. One day [Justin] and I were in New York, going to parts of town I had never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge, blinged-out medallion. He was flanked by two giant security guards. J got all excited and said so loud, 'Oh yeah, oh shiz oh shiz, Ginuwine, what's up homie?' After Ginuwine walked away, [Spears' longtime assistant] Felicia did an impression of J. J wasn't even embarrassed. He just took it and looked at her like, 'OK, f**k you.'"
Fans can't get enough of Michelle Williams doing a Justin Timberlake impression
Over on X (formerly known as Twitter), fans are absolutely losing it over Michelle Williams' intensely committed performance as Justin Timberlake during one of his more embarrassing moments. As @heylucymay put it, "nothing can prepare you for these 15 seconds of michelle williams doing a justin timberlake impression as written by britney spears." @JenSookfongLee was equally excited, writing, "Sure, it's book prize season, but Oscar winner Michelle Williams decided to narrate the Britney Spears audiobook and basically roast Justin Timberlake every time he is mentioned with just her TONE and this is the victory I am celebrating."
@heykmartPhD appreciated the viral clip so much that they wanted it to be a part of their everyday life: "I want to make Michelle Williams' impersonation of Justin Timberlake's blaccent from [Britney]'s book my new ringtone." Ultimately, everyone agreed it was incredible, especially @OteghaUwagba: "(white) Michelle Williams doing an impression of Britney doing an impression of Justin Timberlake doing an impression of a Black person – this is art." Some fans went as far as to insist that Williams, who has been nominated for five Academy Awards and never won, should get her Oscar for this audiobook narration.
Fans want Michelle Williams and Britney Spears to win awards for this audiobook
Forget "My Week with Marilyn" or "The Fabelmans" — fans want Michelle Williams to win major awards for her audiobook narration. @sagesurge unequivocally wrote, "Give Michelle Williams her Oscar for narrating #TheWomanInMe," while @DasMogul posted, "Michelle Williams channelling of Britney Spears doing an impression of her assistant Felicia doing an impression of Justin Timberlake pretending that he's black. Give that woman her Oscar."
This is, obviously, not going to happen. People can't win Oscars for audiobooks. The overarching point of this is, though, that after years of ridicule and a terrible conservatorship that essentially held her prisoner, Britney Spears is reclaiming her story ... with Williams' help. The actor making Justin Timberlake look (or sound) completely ridiculous is just a cherry on top of Spears' big comeback, and fans are completely loving it.
"The Woman in Me" is in bookstores now.