Britney Spears responds to her children’s controversial statements against her

Britney Spears finds herself at the center of controversy.

The ‘Baby One More Time’ singer and her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, are slamming a report from the Daily Mail that alleged concerns about the singer’s family fearful of Spears’ drug use.

According to an article published on Sunday, journalist Daphne Barak of the Daily Mail stated that she had a conversation with Federline, who expressed worry for Spears, particularly due to their shared parental responsibility for their two teenage children, Sean Preston, 17, and Jayden James, 16.

“I fear she’s on meth — I’ve been praying someone would make it public and that she wakes up,” Federline is reported telling Barak. “It’s terrifying. She is the mother of my boys.”

The report also claimed Spears’ two sons have seen drugs being delivered to their mother’s house.

Following the release of the report, Federline addressed the matter on his Instagram Stories, dismissing it as “falsehoods” that deeply saddened their family.

Although Federline acknowledged having spoken to the reporter at his residence, he emphasized that “trust was lost and we severed ties back in March for many reasons we choose not to go into here.”

“The lies and attempts to exploit minors as click bait is an other repulsive example of where, unfortunately, certain journalism is today,” he said in the lengthy statement.

Spears also took to Instagram to respond to the report:

“The fact that people are claiming things that are not true is so sad,” she wrote. “This may not even be them saying such things because it doesn’t make any sense to me for them to be saying that.”

Spears continued that “it breaks my heart and the news is so low … I’ve always felt like the news bullies me.”

“It’s sad because everyone sits back as if that’s ok to make up lies to that extent,” she added. “Why am I told I have to sit back and rise above ??? When they all go so low ???”

Insider contacted Mathew Rosengart, Spears’ attorney, for a response, but didn’t receive a response right away.

According to People magazine, Rosengart swiftly sent a legal letter to the Daily Mail, strongly criticizing the story. The magazine has had access to and reviewed the contents of the letter.

“I have separately learnt that on several occasions, Ms. Barak sought to contact Britney under false pretenses, again her minor children, which is exploitative, harassing, and outrageous,” the letter said in part.

“And moreover, Britney’s representatives were never contacted prior to the publication of the story, further demonstrating actual malice and reckless disregard for the truth,” it added. “Britney is indeed a public figure, but this conduct is beyond the pale and completely unacceptable. It is shoddy even by today’s standards of ‘journalism’ and the unfair scrutiny she has faced.”

Daily Mail standing by story

Barak told Insider in a statement on Monday that the Daily Mail is “absolutely standing by the story as published.”

“We spent months working with Kevin, his wife, and family, including Britney’s boys, Jayden and Preston, for a new documentary. We spent 12 days filming together,” the statement continued. “In that time, Kevin expressed his fears that Britney might be using crystal meth to Daphne, to our producer Erbil Gunasti, to members of our production and to mutual friends. He did so clearly and repeatedly.”

“Kevin also made it clear to Daphne that he hoped someone would expose the situation, as he saw it because that would be the way to get help for Britney,” the statement read, adding that they have “hours of taped and filmed material, and other documentary evidence” to prove their documentary.