Britney Spears and Sam Asghari’s love story didn’t go the distance, but maybe that’s for the best.
The Grammy-winning pop star, who split from the actor in August 2023 after only a year of marriage, offered fans a glimpse into the emotional backdrop of their marital relationship with a candid Instagram post on Aug. 24.
Spears, who met Asghari in 2016 on the set of her “Slumber Party” music video, suggested that the couple’s short-lived marriage may have been a coping strategy amid her estrangement from sons Sean Preston and Jayden (Spears’ children moved to Hawaii in 2023 with their father, Kevin Federline).
“We’re just people, so fragile and human. The hardest years of my life were my two sons gone for those three years,” wrote Spears in the post’s since-deleted caption, according to People magazine and Entertainment Tonight. “I was cut off from calling or texting.”
Spears and Asghari married in June 2022 after four years of dating, tying the knot in a star-studded ceremony at Spears’ home in Thousand Oaks, California, TMZ reported at the time. Famous guests included Paris Hilton, Madonna, Selena Gomez and Drew Barrymore, photos from the event revealed.
“I remember in shock, my secret to survival was denial and a lot of tears,” Spears, 43, wrote on Instagram, per People and ET. “It’s weird, me and Sam were married, but it almost felt like a fake distraction to help me deal with it…”
Asghari, 31, filed a petition to dissolve his 14-month-old marriage to Spears in August 2023, citing irreconcilable differences. “We will hold onto the love and respect we have for each other, and I wish her the best always,” Asghari wrote on his Instagram stories at the time.
Responding to the divorce news, the “Baby One More Time” singer said in her own Instagram post that she was “a little shocked” by the couple’s split, but added, “I’m not here to explain why because it’s honestly nobody’s business !!!”
Spears was previously married to Federline from 2004 to 2007 and to Jason Alexander, a childhood friend she married in Las Vegas in 2004 for 55 hours.
Sam Asghari talks divorce: Why Britney Spears’ ex-husband will never ‘talk badly’ about her
Britney Spears, son Jayden reunite after estrangement
In the fall of 2024, Spears and son Jayden reunited amid their estranged relationship, a source familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to USA TODAY after media reports emerged that the mother-son pair had been spending time together at her Los Angeles home.
A 2022 Daily Mail story and ITV video interview detailed a rift between Spears and her children after the pop star’s 13-year-long conservatorship was terminated in November 2021.
Her father, Jamie Spears, managed the conservatorship and was the subject of intense fan backlash at the time. Jayden Federline told the outlets that the public hadn’t been fair to his grandfather and that his mother gave preferential treatment to him over his brother, Sean Preston.
Britney Spears and son reunite: Singer spends Christmas with Jayden Federline
Spears responded to her son’s comments on Instagram, writing at the time: “My love for my children has no boundaries and it deeply saddens me to know his outcry of saying I wasn’t up to his expectations of a mother … and maybe one day we can meet face to face and talk about this openly!!!!”
Spears and Jayden also reunited in December 2024 for the holiday season, as documented by Spears on social media. The singer gushed that the quality time with her son was the “Best Christmas of my life!!!”
Contributing: Jay Stahl and Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Britney Spears on why Sam Asghari marriage was a ‘fake distraction’
