Britney Talks: "Sad How Cruel World Can Be"

Britney Spears tells Ryan Seacrest she ignores media coverage and knows in her heart she's doing the best she can as a parent

By Gina Serpe Oct 31, 2007 5:25 PMTags

The good news: Britney Spears is keen to clean up her act. The bad news: Apparently she can't wait until the end of an interview to do so.

The court-addled pop star acquiesced to a rare on-air chat with E! News anchor Ryan Seacrest on his Los Angeles radio show Wednesday morning in an effort to thank her fans for their support through her personal and professional crises.

Unfortunately, Spears didn't quite make it to the grateful portion of the interview, instead bailing out after a few faulty-connection minutes, ostensibly to hop in the shower.

Still, she did manage to shed some brief, flickering light on both the release of her so-called comeback album, Blackout, which dropped yesterday, as well as her ongoing custody battle with Kevin Federline.

"I try not to let it get to me," Spears told Seacrest of her unrelenting tabloid coverage. "You know, people talk. They say what they want at the end of the day. You just try to keep doing what you do. As long as you know what's true, that's all that matters." (Listen to the full interview.)

On reports that she's a bad mother, Spears says she tries not to pay attention to the press.

"Like I said, people say what they want and do what they do. It's sad how cruel our world can be. At the end of the day, you just have to know in your heart that you're doing the best you can do."

As for whether Spears is doing the best she can with her boys, her answer is clear: "Oh God, yes."

Less clear, however, is what she anticipates in her custody case.

"That's, like, all in the court, my lawyers know all that stuff."

Apparently accompanying her boys for trick-or-treating doesn't coincide with one of Spears' court-approved visitation nights, as friend and former assistant Alli Sims told Seacrest—after Spears abandoned the call to hop in the shower. Instead, Sims said, they and fellow Spears hanger-on Sam Lufti will spend the night going party-hopping.

Meanwhile, Spears also touched on her excitement over her new album, even though she celebrated its hyped-up release in a surprisingly low-key fashion.

"It was cool," she said. "It was kinda laid-back, really. We watched movies, that's about it. We ate Famous Amos cookies and fried chicken."

Lufti, who was on conference call for the interview along with Spears and Sims, signaled there wouldn't be any major promotion for the album. "This is it!" he told Seacrest.

And while Spears said she was happy with the record, namechecking "Heaven on Earth" as her favorite track, she said "Gimme More's" now infamous "It's Britney, bitch" refrain was not her idea.

"Oh God. The producer told me to say that, I didn't do it. And that's how it came about."

"Piece of Me," meanwhile, may very well be devoted to her detractors.

"Wherever you go, there's a lot of people who ask questions. You don't know their intentions and stuff. It's just a kinda cute, clever way of putting it out there. It's a cute song, I like it."