Britney Spears reflects on one of her most memorable performances in her forthcoming memoir, sharing how “terrifying” it was to dance with a python draped over her shoulders at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. In an excerpt published by People Tuesday, the pop star writes that her team decided to use an albino Burmese python “as a prop” while she sang “I’m a Slave 4 U.” But the electric tension on stage was all real, Spears writes: “All I knew was to look down, because I felt if I looked up and caught its eye, it would kill me.” The 41-year-old recalls that she told herself, “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.” With the snake inches from her face, “I was thinking, Are you fucking serious right now?” Spears says. “The fucking goddamn snake’s tongue is flicking out at me. Right. Now. Finally, I got to the part where I handed it back, thank God.” Spears previously threw back to the moment in a social media post last month, teasing her memoir by recounting for the first time how “scared” of the giant snake she was.