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After Britney had her very public meltdown in 2008, her ex Kevin Federline stepped up for their young sons in a way that almost no one expected. K-Fed was a former backup dancer and wannabe rapper who used to brag about his expensive toys. When Britney went under a conservatorship he dropped the douchebag persona and become a devoted father. What’s more is that Federline has barely done any press. He didn’t talk about Britney at a time when he could have been making a lot of money selling stories. Of course at that time K-Fed was making bank from custody payments, which might have had nondisclosure agreements attached, but he still deserves credit.

For some reason, maybe to promote his DJing, Federline did an interview with US Magazine. He spoke highly of Britney and their time together. He also admitted it was hard to take over custody of his sons with Britney, now 9 and 8, and hinted that a lot went down that he’s not going to talk about. I do think Britney was doing some hard drugs and that explains why she freaked out so publicly, but if that’s the case Federline isn’t saying. Here’s some of what he told US, with more in the print edition.

How they first got together
We had an instant chemistry – and then it became a soap opera for the world. It surprised me how down-to-earth she was, with normal Southern values instilled by her parents – but also, obviously, not that innocent… I have so many great memories that outweigh the bad.

Their crazy lifestyle
Having 50 paparazzi suddenly in my face was a huge eye-opener. Our life was running at 150,000 miles per hour. I soaked up as much of the lifestyle as I could. I’d walk into a club and get a table worth $15,000 a night with unlimited free drinking. To not have to worry about making my next car payment felt like a huge weight lifted off my soul. But everything got so crazy…

How they got married
Britney proposing to me on a plane three months after we met and getting married two months later was just us living in the moment. I really thought I’d spend the rest of my life with her… There were a few drastic things that went down, which I’ll never talk about, but overall we still had fun. So when she filed for divorce, I was completely caught off guard. Look, there are a million things I could say about her that would make huge headlines and cause a ton of drama, but for what? The truth is I loved her to death.

On Britney’s breakdown and him taking custody of the boys
It was extremely tough watching her go through a phase where she was clearly not OK right after the divorce. There’s a lot more I could have done to help. Taking full custody of the boys sucked the life out of me, but it was for them. I have to give Britney’s dad, Jamie, a lot of credit for saving her. He made it so I could actually deal with her again.

[From US Weekly, print edition, June 15, 2015]

Federline remarried, to former professional volleyball player and special ed teacher Victoria Prince, in 2013. He has two children with Prince, daughters Jordan, four, and Peyton, one. Federline also has two children from his former relationship with Shar Jackson, daughter Kori, 12, and son Kaleb, 9. So he’s been a busy guy.

I do wonder why he’s talking now, but maybe US waved some money at him. Federline promises that “no one will hear anything about my past out of my mouth again.” That sounds unlikely, logic-wise, but ok. He also says that things are great with Britney now and that they “are on the same page… we communicate on disciplining the kids and if they’re grounded here, they’re grounded there. She’s a completely different person.” That does seem to be the case.

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