Britney Spears' February 2002 Cosmopolitan Cover Story in Full

Cosmopolitan

2 days ago

Six decades ago, legendary editor Helen Gurley Brown took a stuffy literary magazine and transformed it into an audacious cultural tome. Cosmopolitan has kept evolving since, leading conversations with a sharp, provocative approach that's helped define entire eras of womanhood. One thing that's remained constant: our iconic cover stories, featuring definitive interviews with the leading stars of the time. Join us in revisiting the most classic ones—with their original headlines and exact wording, for better or worse, intact—for a hit of nostalgia and a deep dive into how celebrity has also evolved over the years.
If you don't know who Britney Spears is, the only explanation is that you've been living on another planet for the past few years. After all, the transfixing 20-year-old is the dominating force of pop music and pop culture today.
Turn on MTV at any given hour and you're likely to catch one of her sexy videos in heavy rotation. Flip on the radio and you'll probably hear one of the hits off her superhot new album, Britney. Drive down Any-Highway USA and chances are good that you'll spot the sassy songstress-cum-pitchwoman striking a provocative pose on a huge Pepsi billboard.
But as much as you may have seen or heard of Britney, you may not really know the woman (yep, make no mistake—she's all grown up) that Cosmo is honoring as the Fun Fearless Female of the Year. This one calls the shots when it comes to her multimillion-dollar career, her image, and her personal life with boyfriend and fellow pop-music sensation Justin Timberlake of the chart-topping group 'NSync.
'I started off at a young age, so people had the habit of treating me like a child and taking things into their own hands,' she says while curling up in a chair on a giant soundstage in Universal Studios, Orlando, where her Cosmo cover shoot is taking place between rehearsals for her tour. 'But there was a point when I just needed to stand up and say, 'No, this is what I want to do, and this is how many days I want off, and this is how I want it to go.' I've done that with everything this year.'
She's also taken some major risks. Her latest album is a meatier, edgier compilation that toys with rock much more than her previous pop albums and includes five songs that Britney penned on her own. And as if straying from her past proven formula wasn't ballsy enough, she's about to venture into the world of acting with her big-screen debut this month in Crossroads, a coming-of-age flick about three high school girls who bond on a cross-country road trip.
Here, the incredibly down-to-earth Britney reveals what she does for fun (it has something to do with Justin), the fearless move she doesn't regret, and when she feels the most feminine.
Born in Kentwood, Louisiana, Britney was raised by her mother, Lynn, a former schoolteacher, and her father Jamie, a contractor. At age 8, she convinced her mom to drive her to Atlanta to audition for the revived Mickey Mouse Club TV show. She didn't get the part, but a casting director referred Britney to an agent in New York City. Britney and her mom made several trips to New York, and a year later, she enrolled in New York City's Professional Performing Arts School. Nine-year-old Britney moved with her mom and newborn sister, Jamie Lynne, to the Big Apple, leaving her dad and brother Bryan, 13, at home in Kentwood.
The Spears women lived in a sublet apartment in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. 'It was really hard. It's very expensive, and coming from a small town in Louisiana…we weren't even financially stable there,' she says. Not only that, but several extended family members protested the idea of Britney pursuing her dream with the help of her mother in New York City.
Within a few years, it all ended when, while doing a six-month run of the off-Broadway play Ruthless, Britney learned she'd have to perform on Christmas. 'I was like, 'No way.' I was only 11.' The day before they left, Britney auditioned again for the Mickey Mouse Club, and this time, she got the part.
Britney performed in the Orlando-based show with stars like Christina Aguilera, Felicity's Keri Russell, and Justin. The show lasted only two seasons before it was canceled, and then Britney headed back to Kentwood to resume normal teenage life. 'I did the prom thing, had my first serious boyfriend,' she says. But soon, New York was calling again. At 15, she got an audition for Jive Records, which signed her.
Now, four years later, Britney is on her third hit album. The latest debuted at number one and sold close to 746,000 copies in the first week—it was the second-highest debut of the year.
Critics speculated that her new, slightly edgier sound might alienate her rabid teen-pop fan base. And while she's successfully gotten over that hurdle with this album, it's a fact that Britney is totally aware of for future projects. She admits, 'I have grown as a person, so it's only natural that I'm going to grow as an artist too. I just hope and pray that my fans grow with me.'
It should come as no surprise that Britney is now venturing into movies. After all, her shows are so elaborate that each concert is almost a mini piece of theater. According to Ann Carli, the producer of Crossroads, Britney is a true natural when it comes to acting chops. 'She has dramatic and comedic ability as well as a charisma that transcends anything I have seen in her videos,' says Carli.
Although Britney only had a week of formal acting training for the movie, she made it easier on herself by having a say in the script—she actually came up with the plot—so she felt comfortable with the character. 'I had the concept for the movie for a very long time, and I talked to my manager, and he got an amazing writer. I talked to her about the idea, and she elaborated on it,' she says. 'And then I was like, Well, I'm just going to take this chance.'
She's not worried about the fate of recent pop singers trying to act, like Mariah Carey in Glitter or 'NSync's Joey and Lance in On the Line—both flops. 'I could relate to the character, but I'm not playing myself,' she says. Britney's also not headlining the movie—it's an ensemble cast. That takes the pressure off a little bit since she's not the only actor in the hot seat. Best of all, Britney is good in the role, and she's captivating to watch onscreen.
'This is a movie for my fans—a total girlfriend film. And if they can go watch it and have a good feeling, that's all that matters to me,' she says. 'This is the thing that I've done that I'm proudest of.' Britney also has the temperament to handle yet another aspect of fame. Despite her success, she still remains the sweet Southern girl who says please and thank you and calls everyone ma'am or sir.
As for other movies, Britney's totally game. 'Movie stars have it made, seriously,' she says. 'There's so much waiting around during filming. It's a laid-back process.' Of course, anything seems laid-back to a chick who hit 28 cities in 50 days on her recent concert tour. 'I don't have as much energy as I had three years ago,' she says. 'For this tour, I had weekends off and was in the same city for three or four days.'
A less rigid tour schedule helps Britney stick with her newfound priority of separating her personal life from her work 'This is my job,' she says, referring to the music, the movie, the touring, and the publicity. 'This is not my life. My life is God and my family and my boyfriend.'
Of course, Justin is a star in his own right, making their time together difficult to plan. The two have been going out for almost three years—although only publicly for the last year and a half. 'The first two years we were going out were really hard because we were never able to see each other, so we were just going off of love. We have such a strong unexplainable connection—the force is like a magnet. We just had to stay together, and we knew it. These days, more control over their careers means more one-on-one time. 'We've been spending a lot of time with each other. I have seen him now for five weeks in a row,' she says with a smile.
Although Britney had one serious boyfriend in high school, Justin is really the love of her life. He was her first kiss back in the Mickey Mouse days. 'It was during truth or dare, and we were listening to Janet Jackson. I remember it like it was yesterday,' she gushes. If Britney has it her way, Justin will be her last kiss as well. 'I hope that I will be with him for the rest of my life. I really do,' she says simply.
Justin is clearly doing his part to keep Britney smitten. For her last birthday, he planned a trip to Pebble Beach. 'There was a fireplace in our room, and we had our own pool. There were pink rose petals throughout the whole place and—I know it's kinda cheesy, but I like cheesy stuff and it's cute—Justin spelled out my name in rose petals on the bed,' she says.
Of course, dating a pop icon isn't easy on the ego for either of them when it comes to sexy scenes with others. Britney had her first love scene in Crossroads with newcomer Anson Mount, something she wasn't too psyched about. 'It was just awkward. And then I saw it onscreen, and it looked so real. But it's nothing because I didn't feel anything,' she says. But when the role was reversed and Britney watched Justin's onscreen canoodling in his video 'Gone,' she had a hard time remembering that.
'You could have just taken a knife and stabbed me. I was devastated. Devastated,' she says of her first viewing. 'I stormed into the bathroom. I was like, 'Don't talk to me for a second. I need a moment, please.' It was just too much for me.' Of course, the couple talked through it, but now, Britney deals with Justin's sexy videos by not watching them.
Having more time for her beau isn't the only good thing about Britney's latest tour. The star, who was voted by Forbes magazine in its 2001 100 Top Celebrities list as the fourth-most-powerful star, is now using her might to give back. Not only has she created The Britney Spears Foundation, which offers a performing-arts summer camp for underprivileged kids, but Britney donated $1 from every ticket sold during her recent 31-show tour to the children of the New York police officers and firefighters lost on September 11.
When Britney's not playing the power mogul, stage diva, or movie star—which doesn't leave a lot of time—she's pretty much like any other 20-year-old. She does yoga to stay in shape, is super into fashion, and loves to hang with her girlfriends. 'I love stuff from Bebe and Rampage, and I like taking my jeans to the Denim Doctors in L.A. They will take them and lower them to make them fit really well,' she says. And though she feels the most feminine when she's just around the house—she's bought herself a mansion in L.A. and a loft in New York—in a tee shirt and jeans, she admits she's a sucker for a great pair of heels.
Britney's idea of a great weekend involves one of her favorite indulgences—a massage or a manicure or having a girls-only weekend. She recently flew her closest friends in to spend a weekend at a hotel, 'sitting in bed and eating ice cream and ordering room service and watching TV,' she says. 'Oh, and we talk about all the silly guy stories and who is dating who.'
Sounds pretty normal for a 20-year-old, right? That may have something to do with the fact that Britney has finally figured out how to be who she wants to be despite her ever-growing fame. 'I think I've really grown into myself over the past year, and it's a good feeling to know who you are and what you want. I bought my own house and live on my own. I've just come into my own, from being a teenager into growing into the person I want to be and living up to my fullest potential. That's a cool thing,' she says, then runs off to go rehearse.