Britney's £1m divorce deal
BRITNEY Spears and Kevin Federline have finally agreed on a divorce settlement after negotiations lasting five months.
Pop star Spears won primary custody of their two sons, while Federline gained access rights plus a one-off settlement, rumoured to be worth about $1million.
The deal was reached after the couple sat down with their lawyers for a marathon five-hour meeting in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Spears, who is thought to be worth about $50million, negotiated on the basis of a prenuptial agreement signed before the wedding in September 2004.
“A global settlement on all issues of their marriage has been reached,” a spokesman for Federline confirmed yesterday.
The paperwork will now go before a judge in California for final approval before the pair are officially divorced.
When Spears, 25, filed for divorce on November 7 last year, she cited “irreconcilable differences” as the
reason for ending the two-year marriage.
She immediately sought custody of their two sons – 18-month-old Sean Preston and six-month-old Jayden James – while granting visitation rights to former dancer Federline, 29.
The divorce comes just over a week after Spears checked out of a Californian rehab centre, looking slender and back to full health.
Since leaving the Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility, the singer has had dental whitening treatment and undergone daily work-outs in preparation for a musical comeback.
She is expected to release an album later this year and seems determined to be taken seriously.
Spears, who has sold more than 76million albums worldwide, has replaced her trademark tracksuits with ladylike suits and dresses.
She has also taken to wearing hats since shaving off all her hair two months ago after an alleged row with her mother.
Spears’s first marriage to her childhood friend Jason Alexander was annulled after just 55 hours in January 2004.
At the time, her record company claimed the Las Vegas wedding was simply a “joke that went too far”.
But pictures of the young newlyweds wearing matching shell suits came to define the star’s former hard-partying lifestyle.