Kevin Federline talks about Britney Spears

Throughout all the mishegoss over Britney Spears' breakdown, Kevin Federline has, to his credit, kept relatively quiet, letting his lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan be his mouthpiece (and not just because Kaplan can form sentences that don't involve the words "yo" and "pimp")

Now Federline talks to People magazine (sharing the cover with sons Preston and Jayden) about his marriage, his ex-wife's breakdown, and how he still, yes, loves her. Before their 2006 split, he says they were having problems, and he was concentrating more on his kids than Spears. "I didn't give her an ultimatum, but I was trying to work stuff out with her, and she didn't even talk to me or anything and went behind my back and filed [for divorce]. [I was] completely blindsided."

After Spears started acting more erratically, the former backup dancer says he vowed to "spend every last dime" (all three of them) to make sure he got custody of the kids: "I had to make sure that my children are okay. That's all that mattered. I didn't know how much power Britney had. That really scared me."

Of the night Spears locked herself in the bathroom with Jayden during a custodial standoff with police, after which she wound up in a mental ward: "I was very, very worried for her 'cause I care about her. That's the mother of my children. Just because I'm not in love with her doesn't mean that I don't love her. I'm definitely rooting for her. There's nothing more that I want than for her to be in the best health and doing what she loves to do."

Now under the conservatorship of her father, Jamie, Spears seems to be turning herself around, with a new album, an upcoming tour, and well-received public appearances at the MTV Video Music Awards and on Madonna's >"Sticky & Sweet" tour. She also wears her underwear inside her clothes almost all the time now.

"There's structure over there, there's structure at my house," Federline says. "We're trying to keep the same type of schedule. It doesn't have to be completely perfect, but the foundation is there.

Meanwhile, Spears celebrated her 27th birthday with a circus-themed party in New York Tuesday night, according to Usmagazine.com. The party, an elaborate tie-in to her new album, "Circus," featured a hot dog stand, popcorn and cotton candy machines, jugglers and stilt-walkers, plus guests Lance Bass, Jeremy Piven, Ciara and mom Lynne Spears.

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Source: NJ