Michelle Williams is a five-time Oscar nominee. But for many Britney Spears fans, the Fablemans actress deserves all the awards on the planet for her dramatic work narrating the singer’s best-selling The Woman in Me memoir.
And to hear Williams’ longtime friend Busy Phillips tell it, taking the audiobook gig was a no-brainer. “We lost it,” Mean Girls co-star Philipps said on Tuesday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live. “She was like, ‘I have to do this, right?’ I was like, ‘Yes! Obviously!’ And she’s like, ‘I really do, Biz.’ She really felt a connection.” The two actresses have been close since working together on Dawson’s Creek.
Phillips, 44, further explained that she and Williams, 43, “came up in a very particular time in this industry — that’s what the majority of my memoir [2018’s This Will Only Hurt a Little] is about — as young women, and we were subjected to a lot. I think that there was a lot that was, sadly, very relatable to all women in Britney’s book. But I thought that Michelle doing it was just incredible and really beautiful. Britney deserves our respect.”
When host Andy Cohen vehemently agreed and said the singer deserves some “peace and happiness” as well, Phillips seconded that emotion, adding, “yes, that’s what I wish for her.”
Williams’ narration has earned widespread praise, with one section in particular — her recounting of an allegedly awkward early 2000s interaction between Spears’ then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake and “Pony” singer Ginuwine — gaining a lot of attention.
Watch Phillips on WWHL below.