Kevin Federline Wants The Kids, And Cash
Kevin Federline plans to fight Britney Spears for custody of their children.
Federline's lawyers have filed a response to Spears' divorce petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Federline is asking for sole custody of their two sons, one-year-old Sean Preston and two-month-old Jayden James. He's also asking for spousal support.
Michael Sands, a spokesman for Federline's lawyer, says Federline is prepared to go the distance to protect his children and will not be intimidated in pursuing those goals.
This week hasn't exactly been the best week ever for Federline.
On Tuesday, his wife Britney Spears filed for divorce. To add insult to injury, he may have gotten the news via text message the day before. Then on Wednesday, it was reported that first-week sales on his debut album, "Playing With Fire," are dismal.
Everything seemed to be going well Monday as K-Fed kicked off the week with a visit to Toronto.
The aspiring rapper spent the entire day being followed by cameras from the MuchMusic reality television show "Exposed."
His schedule included shopping, a little golf and a live performance on the channel's "MuchOnDemand" video countdown show, followed by a nice steak dinner.
"He seemed really excited that the performance went really well," MuchMusic supervising producer Jason Ford told The Showbuzz. "During the afternoon he was talking about Britney quite openly. He said that the relationship was really great and that they were going to take over the world."
During dinner, however, something was terribly wrong.
"Around 8:30, he started receiving messages on his Sidekick; he seemed a little distracted. Then he asked for us to stop shooting, take off the microphone and have a break … when he came back he was visibly distracted and it seemed like there was a lot on his mind."
There was no indication who the messages were from, or what they contained. But, Ford said K-Fed was able to pull himself together and finish filming.
"He was very professional and just kept going and finished the show for us," said Ford.
The next day, Spears filed for divorce.To see the video of K-Fed getting disturbing text messages, click here.
To listen to our interview with Jason Ford of Much Music, .
To see a photo essay of K-Fed getting the text messages click here.
The final blow came Wednesday, the day record sales for the past week are announced. Federline's "Playing With Fire," which debuted on Oct. 31, barely generated a spark.
Lenny Beer, editor in chief of the music industry Web site Hits Daily Double, told The Showbuzz that first-week sales for the album hovered around a paltry 6,000 copies.
"Who would want to live in a world where both Reese & Ryan and now Britney & Kevin can't just get along?" quipped Beers, underscoring the larger tragedy at hand.
Of course, if the average person recorded and self-released their own CD, selling 6,000 copies of it would be considered a success. But most people don't have the benefit of appearances on the Teen Choice Awards, "Ellen DeGeneres," and "TRL," not to mention countless magazine covers, radio interviews and marriage to an entertainment superstar.
To read about reaction to Britney Spears' divorce click here.
Barry Manilow is at a close No. 2, with the debut of his "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties" at 202,000 copies. In the No. 3 spot is rapper Lil' Wayne with 176,000 copies — just under 30 times as many copies as poor K-Fed.
Federline keeps soldiering on, though. He'll be in Chicago tonight to perform at the House of Blues. Hopefully the Windy City will blow in a bigger crowd.
To see a photo essay about Spears, click here.
Federline had a singing engagement Saturday, Nov. 4, at Webster Hall in New York. A bartender at the venue told Star magazine, "They were going to cancel this concert, but he begged them to keep it on. He had to fight with them to keep this concert."
Reportedly, only about 300 people showed up in a venue that holds 1,500.
Also, musician Thomas Dolby sued Federline for using a sample from his song "She Blinded Me With Science" on the track "America's Most Wanted" from "Playing With Fire." Dolby's representative told Access Hollywood Wednesday that Federline made an undisclosed cash payment to Dolby to compensate him for the illegal use of the song sample.
Federline, 28, married Spears, 24, in 2004. They have a 1-year-old son, Sean Preston, and an infant son, who was born Sept. 12. The divorce papers identify the baby as Jayden James Federline.
The wedding came eight months after Spears ended a 55-hour Las Vegas marriage to her childhood friend, Jason Alexander.
Us Weekly contributing editor Katrina Szish told The Early Show that Spears may have filed for divorce to help salvage her dying career. This is just one of the revelations made in this week's issue of the magazine, which documents the couple's last days together:
"Pretty much since Britney and K-Fed got married two years ago, everyone was counting the minutes until this was over," Szish explains. "I think now is the time because Britney has had her second baby, she realizes it is time to make a comeback. She and Kevin have been arguing more than ever lately and I think she just got, literally, fed up."
Spears recently told People magazine she plans to release an album in 2007. It would be her first collection of new material since 2003.
By Judy Faber
By Judy Faber