Britney Spears finally reveals the real reason she famously shaved her head

Britney Spears has opened up about why she famously shaved her head back in 2007.

The chart-topping star has begun teasing her highly anticipated new memoir, The Woman In Me, where she goes into detail about many aspects of her personal life, including her conservatorship. One life-defining moment in particular that has been a talking point over the years was when she shaved off all of her hair.

Britney, 41, has now shared an excerpt of the upcoming book that explains exactly what happened that prompted her to cut all her hair off. At the time in 2007 she was in the midst of getting a divorce from the father of her two sons Kevin Federline and was a constant topic of news and highly sought after subject for paparazzi photographers as she was billed as “erratic” and “mentally ill."

READ MORE: Britney Spears admits she had 'no idea' she dined with Latin music superstars Maluma and J Balvin

In an extract shared with PEOPLE, she writes in The Woman In Me: “I’d been eyeballed so much growing up. I’d been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager. Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back.”

She then discusses how her father and his lawyers were subsequently granted control of her personal life and her finances via a court-ordered conservatorship. She continued: “Under the conservatorship I was made to understand that those days were now over. I had to grow my hair out and get back into shape. I had to go to bed early and take whatever medication they told me to take.”

Britney also claims that her conservatorship hindered her enjoyment of her musical career over the years despite her having many successful music releases and a Las Vegas residency. She wrote: “I would do little bits of creative stuff here and there, but my heart wasn’t in it anymore. As far as my passion for singing and dancing, it was almost a joke at that point. Thirteen years went by with me feeling like a shadow of myself.”

The singer delves further into the impact of the control her father was given over her life as she compares herself to famous male artists who have had similar issues to her but not had anyone take "control" of them. She continued: “I think back now on my father and his associates having control over my body and my money for that long and it makes me feel sick.

"Think of how many male artists gambled all their money away; how many had substance abuse or mental health issues. No one tried to take away their control over their bodies and money. I didn’t deserve what my family did to me.” The Woman In Me is scheduled for release on October 24.