Editor-in-Chief Wendy Naugle talks about the pop icon’s first magazine cover in five years and her bombshell memoir, ‘The Woman in Me’

Wendy Naugle

On June 23, 2021, Britney Spears made a rare public speech.

Millions of people tuned in, but her focus was on an audience of one — a Los Angeles County superior court judge who would decide whether to end her 13-year conservatorship. She’d spent years “trying to be so good and pretty. So perfect,” she said, adding, “I just want my life back.” One of the things on her wish list: “To be able to share my story with the world.”

The judge granted her request, and a year and a half ago, she set out to make that wish a reality. The result is her new memoir The Woman in Me, out Oct. 24. The book details great highs in Britney’s life, including the happiness she found as a Mouseketeer alongside Christina Aguilera and Ryan Gosling, early dates with Justin Timberlake and as a mother to sons Sean Preston and Jayden James, now 18 and 17. But she also reveals some of her darkest days and the endless scrutiny she’s been subjected to. (Auditioning before music-label executives at age 15, she writes of “men in suits looking me up and down in my small dress and high heels.”)

The conservatorship left her distrustful of the world, but she’s also excited about her freedom. This is her first cover in five years, and for our shoot she chose the location (a closed set on a remote beach in Tahiti), the fashion (an Anthropologie dress) and even proposed the topless image on our cover. For the accompanying story, she asked to answer questions via email. “My fans deserve to hear it directly from me,” she says, adding this is “just me owning my past, present and future.”

As we pored over the snapshots and videos, what struck me initially was that, at times, she seemed a bit tentative in front of the camera. But she was also decisive about what she did and didn’t want, and in a candid moment on horseback, she seemed full of joy. Then she quickly rode out of frame, turning back to a life that is all hers.

Britney Spears’ The Woman in Me
For more of the exclusive excerpt and interview with Britney Spears, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.