THERE’S NO SHORTAGE of bombshells in Britney Spears’ memoir. Released this week, The Woman In Me charts the pop star’s three-decade career, lifting the lid on major events and as well as her A-list relationships and friendships.

Of course, the memoir includes several anecdotes concerning Justin Timberlake, whom Spears dated from 1999-2002. He’s since turned off his Instagram comments due to some of the backlash, according to Page Six. Madonna receives a nod, as do Natalie Portman and Lenny Kravitz. However, fans have been quick to note that there’s one former friend whose involvement in Spears’ life has been largely scrubbed from its pages — fellow Mickey Mouse Club alum and aughts pop princess, Christina Aguilera.

While X-Tina did get a couple of mentions, fans anticipated she’d feature more heavily in Spears’ story, given the pair have been friends on and off since 1993. Despite forming a friendship while working on the Mickey Mouse Club together as tweens, once their respective careers blossomed — the tabloids began reporting on rumoured tension between the pop princesses.

Ahead, everything you need to know about their friendship and rumoured feud — including how much of their was covered in Spears’ memoir.

Were Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera friends?

Spears and Aguilera met when they were in their early teens. They both starred on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club between 1993 and 1994. Per Spears’ memoir, they shared a dressing room and accounts from both sides suggest they were close.

However, in 1999 they both stepped away from Disney to start their own solo careers. Spears released her iconic “Baby One Time” in 1998, and Aguliera’s famous “Genie In A Bottle” hit the charts just a few months after. Given their similar origin stories, Y2K it-girl style and poppy sound, it didn’t take long for the media to begin comparing the two. Keeping in mind the nature of the tabloids in the early 2000s, the comparisons were pretty scathing at times — pitting the women against each other by focusing on their appearance and personal lives.

While they presented an award together at the 2000 MTV VMAs and appeared to be friendly, in the years following they began distancing themselves.

“When I was coming up, it was very obvious, you know? Me and Britney were definitely [considered rivals],” Aguilera acknowledged during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2018.

Do Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have a feud?

You likely know the image of Spears kissing Madonna at the 2003 MTV VMAs. The two pop icons performed a rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” at the awards show, ending the performance with an infamous on-stage pash. What you might not know is that Aguilera was there too — in fact, she performed alongside the pair and also shared a kiss with the Queen of Pop.

However, as soon as Spears and Madonna locked lips, the cameras panned to her recent ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, who was watching on in the crowd. Aguilera’s contribution to the performance — an iconic moment in aughts pop culture — went largely unacknowledged.

In an interview with Blender several months later, Aguilera claimed Spears had been distant during rehearsals for the VMAs.

“Every time I tried to start a conversation with her — well, let’s just say she seemed nervous the whole time,” she told the publication. “She seems to me like a lost little girl, someone who desperately needs guidance.”

This began a series of public jabs, with Spears telling her side of the story to the magazine later that year.

“A lost girl? I think it’s probably the other way around. I can’t believe she said that about me,” she said.

“She comes up to me in a club in front of all these people and tries to put her tongue down my throat! I say, ‘It’s good to see you,’ and she goes, ‘Well, you’re not being real with me.’ I was like, ‘Well, Christina, what’s your definition of real? Going up to girls and kissing them after you haven’t seen them for two years?’”

Spears added, “When someone has been rude to you so many times, it’s like, ‘You know what, Christina, I’m really not about the fake anymore.’”

Also in 2003, Aguilera appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone alongside Timberlake, whom Spears had only split from the year prior.

In her memoir, Spears writes of the shoot: “In that story, she said she thought Justin and I should get back together, which was just confusing, given how negative she’d been elsewhere.”

Aguilera would go on to apologise for various comments she’d made about Spears in the media. In a 2008 interview with the Daily Mail she reflected, “It must have seemed as if we were competing with each other, but, in reality, Britney is someone that I used to hold hands with. We were silly little girls together on the Mickey Mouse Club. What a journey it has been for both of us.”

What did Christina Aguilera say about Britney Spears’ conservatorship?

In 2021, Spears took the stand in court to share a testimony petitioning for the end of her conservatorship. Afterwards, Aguilera took to Twitter to share support for her former friend.

“These past few days I’ve been thinking about Britney and everything she is going through. It is unacceptable that any woman, or human, wanting to be in control of their own destiny might not be allowed to live life as they wish,” she wrote on the app.

“To be silenced, ignored, bullied or denied support by those ‘close’ to you is the most depleting, devastating and demeaning thing imaginable. The harmful mental and emotional damage this can take on a human spirit is nothing to be taken lightly.”

“Every woman must have the right to her own body, her own reproductive system, her own privacy, her own space, her own healing and her own happiness.”

“While I am not behind the closed doors of this very layered & personal yet public conversation – all I can do is share from my heart on what I’ve heard, read and seen in the media.”

“The conviction and desperation of this plea for freedom leads me to believe that this person I once knew has been living without compassion or decency from those in control.”

“To a woman who has worked under conditions and pressure unimaginable to most, I promise you she deserves all of the freedom possible to live her happiest life. My heart goes out to Britney. She deserves all the TRUE love and support in the world.”

Spears’ conservatorship finally came to an end that November. At an awards show afterwards, Aguilera’s publicist reportedly shut down questions of whether she’d had any contact with her.

Spears then took to Instagram Stories to blast Aguilera for “refusing to speak.” She wrote: “I love and adore everyone who supported me… but refusing to speak when you know the truth, is equivalent to a lie! 13 years being in a corrupt abusive system yet why is it such a hard topic for people to talk about? I’m the one who went through it! All the supporters who spoke up and supported me thank you… Yes, I do matter”.

What did Britney Spears write about Christina Aguilera in her memoir?

Despite their once close relationship, Aguilera didn’t receive many mentions in Spears’ memoir.

Spears does reference her in anecdotes from her time at the Mickey Mouse Club, writing, “The Mouseketeers quickly split into our own cliques, divided by the dressing rooms that we shared: Christina Aguilera and I were the younger kids, and we shared a dressing room with another girl, Nikki DeLoach.”

She also opened up about the Rolling Stone cover: “While the news about me was often not all that friendly, the entertainment press was full of positive stories about Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Justin was on the cover of Rolling Stone half-naked. Christina was on the cover of Blender, dressed like a madam from the Old West. They were together on the cover of Rolling Stone, him in a black tank top, looking at her with sexy eyes, her looking out at the camera, wearing a lace-up black shirt. In that story, she said she thought Justin and I should get back together, which was just confusing, giving how negative she’d been elsewhere. Seeing people I knew so intimately talk about me that way in the press stung.”

Spears also recalls a time when she and Aguilera met up in Las Vegas while on tour, noting that her former co-star “seemed pretty messed up.”