It seems Britney Spears reason for shaving her head and her subsequent punishment for doing so boils down to one thing: control.

On Tuesday, People published an excerpt from the pop icons upcoming memoir The Woman in Me, in which Spears recounts her reasons for her very public breakdown in 2007 and how her attempt to reclaim autonomy completely backfired.

In 2007, Spears was going through a very public divorce from ex-husband Kevin Federline, and was experiencing relentless harassment from the paparazzi. During this time, she was famously photographed shaving her head, and many assumed her decision to do so was a response to the paparazzis behavior.

Spears explains in her memoir that her decision to buzz off her locks was much more complicated and it was a response to a much larger issue.

Id been eyeballed so much growing up. Id been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager, Spears wrote.

Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back.