In December 2008, after the custody battle, Federline sat down with People to discuss coparenting with Spears.
During the interview, Federline said his happiest memory with his ex-wife was when they got married and then when they had their two sons. However, problems started to arise after their kids were born.
"It's hard enough to be in a marriage, and then have a kid, then kids, it changes everything," the former dancer said. "For me, I'd become more concerned with my children. Not that I ignored Britney, but my kids are always most important."
He also countered Spears' claim that he didn't spend enough time with her.
Federline said: "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. It was a huge shock."
He continued: "She'd just had Jayden, and I'd been working for over a year. I did everything that I could to cater around the whole situation: built a recording studio in the house, made sure I could always work at home, try to help out as much as I can. It just … I don't know, I guess it wasn't enough."
Federline also explained that he wanted custody of his children so that Britney could get better for them.
"A reason why we ended up going through the custody battle is because I want my kids to have a mom and love her," he said. "I don't want to do this by myself. Part of the whole thing was to get them safe and get her to where she will always be there."