- Britney Spears reacted to a report in which her ex Kevin Federline said he fears "she's on meth."
- Federline also slammed the report on Instagram on Sunday, calling it "lies."
Britney Spears and her ex-husband Kevin Federline are both slamming a Daily Mail report that claimed the singer's family is fearful she's on drugs.
In a Sunday report, the Daily Mail journalist Daphne Barak said that she spoke with Federline, who expressed concern for Spears, especially since he shares two teenage children, Sean Preston, 17, and Jayden James, 16, with the singer.
"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 her house.
After the report was published on Sunday, Federline took to his Instagram Stories, calling the report "lies" and saying it "saddens our family."
While Federline confirmed that he spoke with the reporter in his home, he said 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 added in the lengthy statement.
Insider reached out to a representative for Federline but didn't immediately hear back.
Spears also responded to the report in her own statement on Instagram.
"The fact that people are claiming things that are not true is so sad," she began in the lengthy post. "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 added 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 continued. "Why am I told I have to sit back and rise above ??? When they all go so low ???"
Insider reached out to Spears' lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, but didn't immediately hear back.
Rosengart sent a legal letter to the Daily Mail blasting the story, according to People magazine, which viewed 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."
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 report factual.
"Perhaps Kevin has been disappointed by a fair-minded account of the situation — an account that makes it clear that Britney is correct in a number of the things she has said, not least the fact that she is funding the lifestyle of others, including his own," the statement concluded.