Kevin Federline, actually Kevin Earl Federline (born March 21, 1978), and popularly
known as K-Fed, is an American dancer, rapper, fashion model, and occasional
actor. Previously engaged to actress Shar Jackson, Kevin Federline is best known
for his two-year marriage to pop singer Britney Spears. The couple's divorce
was highly publicized, followed by an ongoing legal battle for the custody of
their two sons, Sean Preston Federline and Jayden James Federline. As of January
2008, Federline has sole custody of the children.
Kevin Federline was born to parents Mike, an auto mechanic, and Julie, a former
bank teller from Oregon; the name "Federline" is of German origin.
Federline has a brother, Chris. His parents divorced when Federline was 8, at
which time he won his first rap battle in Milton, Florida with his mother and
brother. When Kevin Federline was 11, he and Chris moved back to his father's
Fresno house. Federline dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, but later
earned a GED.
Kevin Federline was a back-up dancer for a number of years for Michael Jackson,
Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Christina Milian, and LFO.
Kevin Federline initially released two singles, "Y'all Ain't Ready"
and "PopoZão" shortly after his marriage to Spears. Following
poor critical reaction, neither song was included on his debut album. Instead,
the first official single was "Lose Control", which he premiered on
the Teen Choice Awards show on the FOX network in late summer 2006. Kevin Federline
released his debut album, Playing with Fire, on October 31, 2006 which became
one of the worst received albums in recent music history, receiving the lowest
score in an overwhelming majority of reviews as well as lackluster sales.
Kevin Federline has been signed to model for the Five Star Vintage line by
the San Francisco-based Blue Marlin clothing company. The initial series of
ads ran in August 2006, and was subsequently extended for Holiday 2006. The
line he modeled for the Fall 2006 was the top selling line in Macy's, Kitson
in Los Angeles and Lord & Taylor.
Kevin Federline co-starred with Spears on the 2005 reality television show,
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic, which consisted of home videos shot by the couple.
He also appeared in the 2004 movie, You Got Served. Federline subsequently guest-starred
as a street hoodlum in an episode of CSI that aired on October 12, 2006 in the
USA and Canada. He also guest starred on the NBC show 1 vs 100 along with the
cast of Las Vegas, in the episode "Delinda's Box".
Federline was featured in a Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company commercial
during Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007, as part of its "Life Comes at
you Fast" ad series. In the commercial, Federline initially appeared in
a music video rapping about living a high flying lifestyle. Then, reality sets
in as Kevin Federline is shown now working in a fast food restaurant with his
manager yelling at him, the punchline of the ad being "Life comes at you
fast."
Federline guest starred during several episodes and was subsequently added
as a regular on the television series One Tree Hill on The CW.
Kevin Federline main motive was to promote his new album "Playing with
Fire" in a scripted storyline of rapper vs rapper. So he then appeared
on the October 16, 2006 and October 23, 2006 editions of WWE RAW, in which he
got into physical altercations with WWE Champion John Cena. The following week,
he came to the ring to aid Johnny Nitro in his match against John Cena. After
Cena got in Federline's face, Federline slapped him extremely hard. He appeared
again during the November 5, 2006 pay-per-view event Cyber Sunday, hitting Cena
with King Booker's World Heavyweight Championship belt and helping Booker win
the Champion Of Champions match that was organised between Cena, Booker and
Big Show. The next night, November 6, 2006, Kevin Federline challenged Cena
to a match at the New Year's Day edition of RAW, which Cena accepted. He would
go on to win this no-disqualification match, thanks to interference from Johnny
Nitro and Umaga. Later in the night, after John Cena's main event match, Cena
went after Federline and brought him into the ring and then delivered his FU
Finishing move, and another one after the cameras stopped rolling.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Kevin Federline was well-received
backstage. Sources say he worked so well with the company and personnel, that
the WWE may give him a regular role on the company's show RAW in the near future.
Other sources and wrestlers have spoken about Federline's generally good attitude
backstage, as well.
Federline was in a relationship with actress Shar Jackson. The couple have
a daughter, Kori Madison Federline (born July 31, 2002), and a son, Kaleb Michael
Jackson Federline (born July 20, 2004). Federline and Jackson separated shortly
before the birth of their second child; during this time, Federline began dating
pop singer Britney Spears. Jackson later commented that Federline's relationship
with Spears "wasn't like just breaking up a relationship. It was like breaking
up a family." Despite this statement, Jackson has sustained an amicable
relationship with Federline. On January 12, 2007, Jackson stated, "He's
a great dad and if you said his name right now, Kori would go crazy. That's
the love of her life."
In July 2004, Kevin Federline and Britney Spears announced their engagement,
after three months of dating. The couple was married on September 18, 2004 in
a surprise, non-denominational ceremony at a residence in Studio City, California,
filing legal papers on October 6. The couple had their first son, Sean Preston
Federline, on September 14, 2005. Just two days before Sean's first birthday,
the couple had a second son, Jayden James Federline, who was born on September
12, 2006 in Los Angeles.
Britney filed for divorce from Kevin on November 7, citing irreconcilable differences
and asking for both physical and legal custody of their two children, with visitation
rights for Federline. The following day, Federline filed a response to Spears's
divorce petition, seeking physical and legal custody of their children. According
to a representative for Kevin Federline's lawyer, the divorce filing "caught
Kevin totally by surprise". The couple reached a global settlement agreement
in March 2007 and their divorce was finalized on July 30. Federline maintains
a relationship with Spears's parents for the benefit of their children, and
Spears's family have been photographed in and out of his home and babysitting
the boys while Kevin was out of town.
On October 1, 2007, a court ruling granted Kevin Federline sole physical custody
of his children with legal custody to be decided. On the late evening of January
3, 2008, police were called to Spears's home after the singer reportedly refused
to relinquish custody of her children to Federline and locked herself in a room
with her youngest son, Jayden. Police were called to the scene, and Spears was
taken from her home on a stretcher and hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center for appearing to be under the influence of an unknown substance. As a
result of this, Federline was "awarded sole legal custody and sole physical
custody of the minor children."
On January 14, 2008, Kevin Federline's sole custody was renewed "indefinitely",
after Spears failed to show up to a court appearance.
Kevin Federline's stage name of K-Fed and status as the ex-husband of Britney
Spears was ridiculed by some media commentators, who labeled him "Fed-Ex"
after the package delivery company FedEx. Weird Al also filmed an extremely
scathing mock interview with Federline.
Discography
Album
* Playing with Fire
(October 31,
2006)
Singles
* "PopoZão"
* "Lose Control"
* "Privilege"
