Yesterday, TMZ reported that pop-star Britney Spears and her husband Sam Asghari are heading for divorce after 14 months of marriage. They are reportedly going their separate ways after a nuclear argument that involves allegations of cheating. The couple got married in a star-studded wedding in June 2022.
This isn't Spears' first marriage as the pop star has been married twice before. The year was 2004 and Spears walked down the aisle twice—once to wed her childhood friend Jason Alexander and the other to marry Kevin Federline, the latter of which she was married to for three years.
Britney is not one to adhere to tradition and her weddings have a history of being very spontaneous and out of the ordinary. So we've done a deep dive into the Grammy-winning singers marriage history; from her current husband to her two former husbands, children and more.
Jason Alexander, January 3, 2004
It was a whirlwind marriage for Spears and her childhood friend (and first husband) Jason Alexander. The two had known each other since they were kids living in Kentwood, Louisiana. At the time of their nuptials, both Britney and Jason were only 22 years old.
After a fun-filled New Year's Eve week in Sin City, where she partied at Rain and Ghostbar, Britney shocked the world by tying the knot. LikeRoss and Rachelbefore them andKourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker after, Spears and Alexander did the whole Vegas marriage in a green stretch limo. Alexander told Access Hollywood, 'It was just so crazy, man. We were just looking at each other and said, "Let's do something wild, crazy. Let's go get married, just for the hell of it."'
Dressed in a baseball hat and ripped jeans, the singer reportedly paid $70 to say her I dos in Vegas' A Little White Wedding Chapel at 5 a.m. on 3 January 2004. 'They weren't dressed in wedding attire, but it was very romantic and there was a feeling of love between them,' chapel owner Charlotte Richards told Rolling Stone. She added, 'They appeared to be extremely happy. They were laughing, but crying, too, during the ceremony. I thought it was a marriage that would last forever.'
However, it wasn't to be: 55 hours later the pop princess had their impromptu union annulled. Britney and Jason's annulment stated the former 'lacked understanding of her actions, to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to the marriage.' Spears reportedly went out dancing after filing for divorce.
Regarding her brief marriage, Britney told E! Online she was 'being silly, being rebellious, and not really taking the responsibility for what I was doing.' She also the publication, 'It was one of those things that was really silly...and after partying, you know, you really don't think about what you're doing.' Adding, 'I think I was running away from something, I didn't quite know what.'
However, according to Jason's side of the story their marriage was annulled because of pressure from Britney's parents and her management team. He told Daily Mail, 'We didn't want to annul it. What they did to Britney and me should have rung warning bells. The men in black swooped in, along with her mum, and other family members, and they made us sign paperwork under duress to end our marriage.'
He continued, 'I was tricked by her mum, dad, and lawyers into signing the annulment. I was told our marriage could hurt Britney's career. I loved her and was a naive kid who had been raised to trust and respect my elders, just like she had.'
Jason Alexander crashes Britney Spears' wedding to Sam Asghari, 9 June 2022
On 9 June 2022, Jason was arrested for a number of charges stemming from an incident where he crashed Britney's wedding to Sam Asghari.
After he was taken into custody, he was charged with felony stalking, misdemeanour vandalism, aggravated trespass and aggravated battery. He pleaded no contest to the latter two charges and the first two charges were dismissed. For the incident, he was charged with trespassing and harassmentand was sentenced to 128 days in Ventura County Jail. The judge also ordered Jason not to be allowed to ‘contact, annoy, harass,’ Britney and Sam and he shouldn’t come within 100 yards of the couple for three years.
While discussing his reason for crashing the wedding he told The Sun, 'It's all for show. A Hollywood script. That whole thing is not real. I don't think she looks happy. I spoke to her the Monday leading up to the wedding and she didn't mention anything about getting married.' He added, 'I wanted to see it for myself. I want to see her happy. I want her making her own decisions on who she can be friends with and who she can see.'
Kevin Federline, 2004 - 2007
The Grammy-winning singer met dancer and rapper Kevin Federline in 2004 — the same year she was briefly married to childhood friend Jason Alexander for 55 hours.
After meeting on the dance floor (where else?) at Hollywood club Joseph's, the pair quickly got together. 'I met her at a club in Hollywood, Joseph’s. Our eyes met and that was it. We just hit it off right away,' Kevin recalled in 2008. 'I was madly in love with her. Everything just seemed so right. I didn’t see it as too fast or too slow.'
Spears and Kevin announced their engagement in July of 2004. The singer ditched tradition (again) and popped the question to Federline on her private plane. Britney told People, 'Then all of a sudden I said, "What if you want to get married?" And I kind of went from there to asking him if he would marry me.' She continued, 'I asked him... He said no because he thought it wasn't the right way to do it.' A week later Federline reportedly slipped a diamond engagement ring on her finger.
The pair set off planning a wedding for October 16, 2004, even sending out 100 invitations to the event. However, after a swarm of paparazzi, attention and stress, the couple surprised the world with a top-secret wedding in September. Britney told the publication, 'It became this huge thing and I was like, "What are we waiting for? We know this is the real thing, why not just do it now?" That's why I wanted to sneak and do it our little way.'
Kevin and Britney get married, 16 September 2004
On September 16, 2004, the couple surprised 30 of their closest friends and family with a wedding at their Studio City home—guests thought they were attending an engagement party. After the reception, (which famously featured a menu of chicken fingers, crab cakes, ribs, and mashed potatoes) the newlyweds and their wedding party went to club XES in Los Angeles for a late night of dancing. Their union officially became legal on 6 October 2004, when they obtained their marriage license.
Spears also documented her romance with Federline via a handheld camera and later sold the footage to UPN. The five-episode especial, Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, aired in 2005 and included their surprise September 2004 nuptials.
Britney and Kevin have kids, September 2005-2006
Spears also told People shortly after the wedding that she was excited to be a mother. 'I can see myself as a mom. Next year, at 23, I am so there,' she said. At the time, Federline already had two children with his ex-partner, Shar Jackson.
In September 2005, Spears gave birth to the couple's eldest son, Sean Preston. A year later, she gave birth to their second child, Jayden James.
Britney and Kevin divorce, July 2007
However, their love story wasn't to be either - just weeks after Spears gave birth to Jayden, she filed for divorce from the dancer after three years together. Spears cited 'irreconcilable differences' at the time, according to People. They reached an initial divorce settlement in March 2007, agreeing to share custody of their children. However, Federline resisted signing the papers over concerns about Spears' behaviour - at the time she was in rehab. They eventually finalised the divorce in July.
In 2007, Spears started to have a very public breakdown. By October 2007, Spears' actions led to the court in LA awarding temporary custody of their children to Federline. By July, there was another agreement that she would be allowed two visits and one overnight stay per week. It was during this time, that the singers father, Jamie Spears, would put her under what would be a 13 years-long conservatorship.For a while the former couple reached a stage where they were co-parenting the boys. Today Sean, 17 and Preston, 16 live with their dad and his new wife.
Although their relationship with their mum seems to have changed in recent years, neither son attended Spears and Asghari's wedding. Federline's attorney told the publication that both sons were 'happy for their mum' and 'hopeful that Sam and Britney are starting a great future together.'
However, during an interview with The Daily Mail in August 2022, Federline claimed that Preston and Jayden were choosing not to see their mother at the moment. 'The boys have decided they are not seeing her right now. It's been a few months since they've seen her. They made the decision not to go to her wedding,' he said.
Sam Asghari, 2017-2023
In 2016, Spears told late night talk show host James Cordenshe would never get married again. During an episode of The Late Late Show Britney said, 'I think [I won't] ever do the whole men thing anymore, or get married. I'm just done with men—I may French kiss someone, but I won't ever get married.' Six years later she married Sam Asghari.
Sam works as a personal trainer and runs his own business Asghari Fitness. He moved to the States from Iran when he was twelve, joined his high school football team and his love for sport started from there. Sam's sister actually encouraged him to get into modelling, and he successfully booked gigs at the Super Bowl, on Fifth Harmony's Work From Home music video and, of course, Britney's Slumber Party vid... where it all began.
Britney and Sam met in 2016 on the set of her Slumber Party music video with Tinashe. Sam played Britney’s love interest and soon sparks began to fly. Later, Sam revealed to Men’s Health that he was so nervous to be meeting Britney that he had butterflies in his stomach. Cute.
The pair became Instagram official in January 2017 when she posted a snap with his arm around her captioned ‘Happy New Year’. By November, they were spotted again on a family outing to watch basketball with her sons Jayden and Sean.
The couple announced their engagement in September 2021, during the battle to remove her conservatorship. In an iconic act of defiance, they made their announcement by Britney thrusting up her diamond-wrapped middle finger at the camera on Instagram.
In May 2022, Spears announced that she and Asghari had sadly lost a baby early in a pregnancy, about a month before they got married. She shared the sad news on Instagram with a statement: 'It is with deepest sadness we have to announce that we have lost our miracle baby early in the pregnancy. This is a devastating time for any parent.' Britney then continued: 'Perhaps we should have waited to announce until we were further along however we were overly excited to share the good news.'
Sam and Britney get married, 9 June 2022
Despitecalling Sam her 'husband' on social media months prior, Sam and Britney officially tied the knot on 9 June 2022. It was a small private ceremony at their Thousand Oaks home, not without drama, courtesy of Spears' ex husband Jason Alexander who crashed the wedding.
Although it was a small wedding, it was also star-studded; guests included Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton and Madonna. The wedding was seen as a milestone in Britney's newly reclaimed life after the dissolution just six months earlier of the court conservatorship that controlled her life for more than 13 years.
Britney and Sam are rumoured to be divorcing, 16 August 2023
However, one year and two months after tying the knot - the pair are reported to be divorcing. Yesterday, TMZ reported that the pair are going their separate ways after an alleged cheating scandal. A person familiar with the filing, who is close to Asghari but not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed the filing happened on Wednesday, hours after several media outlets reported the couple had separated.