Britney Spears Interview. My rough notes Britney ran the emotional gamut during the interview, which makes sense as I am sure her hormones are creating a wild ride. Overall her body language showed her to be emotional, all over the place with her answers and sad and uncertain about most of the specific things she was questioned about except for her love for her child and her husband.
However in responding to six questions she responded with an extreme pulling down of the corners of the mouth that you would think meant pure sadness but the movement is too strong to be a sign of mealy sadness , in some case for her it was actually showing uncertainty like a shrug. And when she pressed her lips it became a sign of determination to grin and bear it. She used it so often that Matt even commented on it called it a face like a little puppy. Again she was trying to put on a happy face. When asked about people calling her a name her upper face showed true sadness that combined with this inverted smile showed she was trying to mask her true sadness.
There were times when her body language showed she did not believe what she was saying for example when she said she had “no regret with anything that I have ever done. Then a quick sharp downward smile that actually showed uncertainty. When asked about the timing of the beginning of her relationship with her husband she scratched her leg showing that the question irritated her and she was irritated with herself. As he went further with that line of questioning emphasizing that her now husband had left a pregnant girlfriend and another child to be with her. As the question was being asked Britney responded by making a soar expression to show how distasteful the question was.
When Matt asked her about the rumors of divorce she replied, " That’s silly” while scratching her head, while scratching the head can mean your head itches nonverbally it indicates that the thought in your head is very irritating. This leg itch became a self comforting leg rub to make her self feel more at ease the way you would rub a teddy bear for confort. As the discussion went onto her belief in Karma and whether or not she believed her husband would leave her. In direct response to the question she replied immediately with rapid blinking to cut herself off from the thought of the relationship ending and showing her anxiety at the thought. Then she replied “ no we are very happy together’’ and eyes scanned straight over to the left ( this showed she was remembering the sounds of happy relationship and as she finished the sentence her voice faded out indicating a lack of confidence and she added ‘right now” These signs showed her doubts.
When asked about the tabloid press statements that the marriage would end she did her smile through the tears grimace again said no and followed that statement by twisting her mouth which means she had to really twist her thoughts to say that No and was not confident about it at all. The first big smile and true happy demeanor we saw Britney give was when she was asked about her love for her husband it was also the first time she really made significant lingering eye contact with Matt. Her facial expressions and lifted up posture and high energy all showed she truly loves her husband. When asked about why she loved him she repeated words like simple, boy and good big hearted and looked down and to the left. When asked again about the certainly of the marriage with the question something to the effect “…would you say there is not an end in sight for this marriage" she again showed the downward grimace with a very sad face and voice trying to hold in her sadness.
She said that as a mother she has to speak out yet she chose a very low cut blouse and short skirt to appear sexual and to chew gum.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://pattiwood.net/. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.
