Los Angeles, Oct 18 (IANS): Singer Britney Spears famously performed with a snake at the 2001 event but while fans will always remember the moment, she said she hid how scared she felt and was scared to look the creature in the eye.

In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir 'The Woman In Me' obtained by People magazine, she wrote: "The plan was for me to sing 'I’m a Slave 4 U', and we decided I would use a snake as a prop. It’s become an iconic moment in VMAs history, but it was even more terrifying than it appeared.

"All I knew was to look down, because I felt if I looked up and caught its eye, it would kill me."

And while Britney was scared ahead of the performance, her fear grew while they were on stage and the snake began "hissing" in her face, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

She continued: "In my head I was saying, Just perform, just use your legs and perform. But what nobody knows is that as I was singing, the snake brought its head right around to my face, right up to me, and started hissing.

"I was thinking, Are you f****** serious right now? The f****** goddamn snake’s tongue is flicking out at me. Right. Now. Finally, I got to the part where I handed it back, thank God."

In 2002, the 'Gimme More' singer made her movie debut opposite Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning in 'Crossroads' and she didn't find the shoot "easy" because she struggled to separate herself from the character she was playing.

She wrote: "The experience wasn’t easy for me. My problem wasn’t with anyone involved in the production but with what acting did to my mind.

"I think I started Method acting - only I didn’t know how to break out of my character. I really became this other person. Some people do Method acting, but they’re usually aware of the fact that they’re doing it. But I didn’t have any separation at all.

"I ended up walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently. I was someone else for months while I filmed 'Crossroads'. Still to this day, I bet the girls I shot that movie with think She’s a little…quirky. If they thought that, they were right. That was pretty much the beginning and end of my acting career, and I was relieved."