Even if you’ve been dancing to her music for decades, you probably don’t know everything about Britney Spears.
For instance, did you know that she was initially rejected by the Mickey Mouse club? Or that she has a super sweet friendship with Natalie Portman?
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Curious to learn more? Here are 10+ cool facts about Britney Spears that fans didn’t know.
1. Prince William once reportedly ghosted her:
Kate Middleton, who?
In a 2002 interview, Spears revealed that she and the royal had been emailing each other quite a bit.
“Yeah, it was just like, all blown out of proportion — we exchanged emails for a little bit.”
“He was supposed to come and see me somewhere, but it didn’t work out.”
When host Frank Skinner asked if she was “blown out by Prince William,” Spears answered, “Yeah.”
You’ve got some explaining to do, Prince William!
2. She’s been singing since she was two years old:
In 1999, she told Rolling Stone that she would hog the family bathroom by singing passionately into her hairbrush.
“I was in my own world,” she told the publication.
3. She made her first on-stage debut when she was five:
This was for her kindergarten graduation, where she sang “What Child Is This.”
“I found out what I’m supposed to do at an early age,” Britney told Rolling Stone .
4. She’s only starred in one big-screen film during her career:
This was Crossroads , which was actually written by Grey’s Anatomy creator, Shonda Rhimes.
She starred alongside Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning in the 2000 coming-of-age film. The movie was originally titled “Not a Girl.”
5. She was rejected from Disney Channel’s revival of the *Mickey Mouse Club*:
This happened when she was eight. While she impressed the judges, they deemed her too young.
Instead of letting the rejection get her down, she went out and gained valuable experience in the industry.
She did TV ads, an off-Broadway play called *Ruthless*, and attended New York’s storied Professional Performing Arts School for three summers.
Years later, she auditioned again and got to be part of the Mickey Mouse crew alongside Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and Christina Aguilera.
6. She never wanted to be a pop princess:
Get this: she thought she’d grow up to emulate Sheryl Crow’s music.
She ended up pursuing pop because of her label. “It made more sense to go pop, because I can dance to it — it’s more me.”
7. She was once in an all-girls singing group:
This was called Innosense and the girl’s group was formed in Orlando, Fla. with the goal of being an American version of the Spice Girls.
In the end, Britney left to pursue her solo career.
8. Whitney Houston helped her get a record deal:
Well, kinda. She sang ‘I Have Nothing’ by Whitney Houston for her record deal audition tape.
When they wanted to hear more, she had to go sing live in A cappella.
“It was sort of nerve-wracking because I’m used to singing in front of big crowds and I went in there and there were these 10 executive people sitting there, staring at me,” she told *Variety*.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, I’m just going to close my eyes and do the best I can do.’ And I sang and thank goodness they signed me.”
9. She and Natalie Portman shared the same Broadway understudy role:
This was for the off-Broadway play, Ruthless! The Musical .
“We thought, ‘We’re never going to find another [girl] — we’re really screwed,'” Joel Paley, the show’s book writer and lyricist told The New York Post about meeting Spears.
“And that’s when we found Britney Spears.”
He added that the 10-year-old had “singing, dancing, acting, [plus] confidence and a great mom.”
She was an understudy for eight months before Portman came along.
10. She once auditioned for the lead role in *The Notebook*:
If she nabbed the role, she would have reunited with her Mickey Mouse Club co-star, Ryan Gosling.
But instead, as we all know, the role of Ryan’s love interest, Allie Calhoun, went to Rachel McAdams.
11. She’s embarrassed by her reality TV show, *Britney and Kevin: Chaotic*:
“I would never do something like that again,” she told The Telegraph in 2013.
“Actually, that was really bad. That was probably the worst thing I’ve done in my career.”
12. She’s proud of the work she’s done in *Crossroads*:
When The Telegraph asked Britney if she regrets her work in Crossroads , she clutched her hand to her heart and got animated.
“No!” she shouted. “I like Crossroads! [expletive] you!”
13. She was the creative genius behind the “Oops! I Did It Again” music video:
“I want to be dancing on Mars … I want to be in a red jumpsuit. I want to have a really cute spaceman, but there can’t be any rockets,'” she said .
14. She also fought to have her iconic red jumpsuit.
Director Nigel Dick told MTV :
“There was another catsuit, actually, which was fantastic, which I loved, and the night before, I was told that Britney hired this guy that worked with Michael Jackson. And so we’re going to use that [red] catsuit. So that’s the catsuit.”
