Britney Spears Says She Is Marrying for Love

NEW YORK (AP) _ This time, she's marrying for love, Britney Spears said of her recent engagement to dancer Kevin Federline. <br/><br/>``Marrying Kevin was the last thing I was thinking about doing,''

Thursday, July 1st 2004, 10:28 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ This time, she's marrying for love, Britney Spears said of her recent engagement to dancer Kevin Federline.

``Marrying Kevin was the last thing I was thinking about doing,'' Spears tells People magazine in its July 12 issue. ``But then I said, `You know what? This is my life and I don't care what people think. I'm going to get married. I'm in love with him.'''

Spears, 22, and Federline, 26, began dating a few months ago, after her Las Vegas wedding to childhood friend Jason Alexander in January. That marriage was annulled 55 hours later.

Of the quickie Vegas ceremony, ``That thing was a total ugh,'' she says. ``I was not in love at all.''

This is different, says Spears, who's wearing a five-carat diamond set atop two slender platinum, diamond-encrusted bands on her left finger.

Federline popped the question on an airplane while flying with Spears from Ireland to New York after the European leg of her tour. ``I'd known for a while that she's the one,'' he says.

``I kissed a bunch of frogs and finally found my prince,'' says Spears. ``I feel like I've found my happily ever after.''

Federline, who performed as a backup dancer for Justin Timberlake, Spears' former boyfriend, previously was involved with Shar Jackson, star of TV's ``Moesha.'' They have a 2-year-old daughter and are expecting another baby.

In an interview set to air Wednesday, Jackson told syndicated entertainment show ``Access Hollywood'' that ``after I meet her (Britney) and everything's cool, we can be one big happy family.''

Jackson also said that she feels no animosity toward Spears.

``You should never blame the other woman, never,'' Jackson said. ``There's life after Kevin, and I'm living it!''

Spears says she plans to meet Federline's daughter and wants children of her own someday. ``I'm not pregnant. (But) I definitely want to have some kids. I see myself with four or five.''

She adds: ``We're starting with a dog. I just got a Maltese named Lacy.''