Rolling Stone

In April 1999, Spears posed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, shot by photographer David LaChapelle. Spears commented, "It was so much fun!...I loved the idea of me holding Tinky Winky and talking on the phone!" Geoff Boucher of The Los Angeles Times reported: "Though the singer says her image is "wholesome, a role model," her hit song and video have a lusty undercurrent, and there was no mistaking the titillation factor in the recent Spears cover story and accompanying photos in the April 15 issue of Rolling Stone, which sent eyebrows arching throughout the music industry, where several executives half-jokingly called it "child pornography." The bedroom poses, the dewy come-hither looks, the prose dedicated to Spears' "honeyed thigh"--by the end, the Norman Rockwell neighborhood kid suddenly seemed more like a Vargas girl".The National Review commented, "[a] recent issue of Rolling Stone featured a heavy-breathing profile of 17-year-old pop star Britney Spears. "Is Spears bubblegum jailbait, jaded crossover diva or malleable Stepford teen? Who knows?" Everybody knows: all of the above". Similarly, an editorial review from Iowa State Daily commented, "a distinction should be drawn between the cute teeny-boppers in cool outfits who make the boys and girls buy records by the truckload and the exploitation of a minor by her parents, her record company and the media. Spears undoubtedly has no problem with these displays; teenagers rarely do. That's why they have parents to draw the line for them. Show biz parents are remarkably different, it seems. Pictures like these are only barely legal when taken by private citizens. But when Rolling Stone does it, it's just good business". More controversy arose when Spears declared that she would "remain a virgin until marriage". This pledge has been questioned due to her apparently sexual relationship with fellow pop singer Justin Timberlake.