Britney: ‘I do not care what people think’

Matt Lauer: Let me show you some magazines, OK?

Spears: OK.

Lauer: These are all current. All right? I don't have to show you them all, but we've got one here, "Britney moves on without Kevin." "Brit's new man"...

Spears: Oh, no. That's my security guard.

Lauer: "The final days," "Fed up with Kevin's lies," "He's sleeping in the basement." We'll get to these individually, but basically this is the tone. That this marriage is over. There are problems in paradise and it's not gonna last.

Spears: You know what? I need to create my own magazine. These people like they, I mean they want stories to sell and they're very good, you know. I need to come up with my own magazine and say the real deal.

Britney says her marriage to Kevin Federline — former backup dancer, now aspiring rapper — is strong, and they are happily awaiting the birth of their second child in September, very much together.

Lauer: So he's living here.

Spears: Oh, definitely. He's working very hard.

Lauer: Living on the main floor?

Spears: He, he's ... Yes, of course.

Lauer: He's not ... There's not a basement somewhere?

Spears: He helps me. He has to. I'm an emotional wreck right now. So ...

Lauer: Are you really?

Spears: Not in a bad way, just, just you know I'll start laughing hysterically and then I'll just start crying, like just because.

Lauer: So it's the hormones of the pregnancy...

Spears: It's my hormones.

Lauer: ... racing through your body.

Spears: Yeah, so it's nice to have my husband there to keep me company.

Lauer: Motherhood is an issue that's come up in these tabloids a lot, and in particular your skills as a mom. You know there was the incident on Pacific Coast Highway where you were photographed, I guess, by the paparazzi again pursuing you. And there was Sean on your lap in the car.

Spears: Yeah.

Lauer: Take me through what happened there.

Spears: I went to Starbucks and I see a bunch of photographers, and I'm scared and I wanna get outta the situation, and my baby's crying. They're coming up on the, you know, the sides of the car, which is a scary situation for me. You know and they're banging on the windows and that's not somethin' I want my baby to, you know. So I get my baby [in] the car and I go home. So I mean, I just feel like they're taking cheap shots.

Lauer: But the fact of the matter is, while they pursue you, and we can argue for a long time, but they shouldn't be doing it. And I would agree with you on that completely. They manage to snap a picture that didn't cast you in the best light.

Spears: Oh, of course. That is their job and they do a very good job at it.

Lauer: When you were driving with Sean on your lap, did it — clearly you're trying...

Spears: That driving incident was from, like five minutes away, and Starbucks is like — like, right there. I can't go anywhere without someone judging me. You know. I did it with my dad. I'd sit on his lap and I'd drive. We're country. That's what ... you know what I mean? It's not ...

Lauer: But what happened, though, is that it crossed from a paparazzi incident to the next day it's in the newspapers and you've got all these legitimate people weighing in, saying, "You know what? That's dangerous." And she put her child at risk.

You saw the questions that were being asked, "Is Britney a bad mom?" It's not like, "Did Britney record a bad song? Is Britney wearing a bad outfit? Is Britney in a bad marriage?" "Is Britney a bad mom?"  I mean ...

Spears: That's America for you.  [Laughter.]

Lauer: Yeah, but...

Spears: Yeah.

Lauer:  As a mother, that has to hit pretty close to home.

Spears: Yeah, it makes you really strong.

Lauer: Make you weep?

Spears: Oh, I've wept. Yeah, I've definitely wept just with the world, you know how judgmental they are. But I know what kinda mom I am.

Lauer: What do you think it'll take to get the paparazzi to leave you alone?

Spears: I don't know. I don't know.

Lauer: Is that one of your biggest wishes?

Spears: Yeah. [Crying]  It's OK. I would like for them to leave me alone.

Lauer: If you could talk to them as individuals, not as a group, what would you say to 'em?

Spears: I would just say that, "You have babies at home. And you have, you have a wife.  And if you don't, you have to realize that we're people and that we need — we just need privacy and we need our respect. And — and those are things that you have to have as a human being."

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