In a candid Instagram post Britney Spears shared on August 24, the singer opened up about the toll of being temporarily estranged from her kids, Sean Preston, 19, and Jayden James, 18. "The hardest years of my life were my two sons gone for those 3 years. I was cut off from calling or texting ... my secret to survival was denial and a lot of tears," the pop icon said, noting that her short-lived marriage to Sam Asghari "almost felt like a fake distraction to help me deal with it." Over the last few months, Spears, 43, has been slowly rebuilding her relationships with Preston and Jayden.