Nicolas Kahayat | Abaca Press

Britney Spears and her husband Kevin Federline at the 2004 Billboard Music Awards, held at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, December 8, 2004. After the couple divorced in 2006, Federline tried to launch a career as a rapper.

It’s hard to explain how exactly we were introduced to Kevin Federline. For most people, the mention of K-Fed elicits nothing more than a laugh. But honestly speaking, when we first saw K-Fed circa 2004, he was a classic early 2000s hottie and a professional back-up dancer who had already been in some major music videos.

Before Kevin Federline was sprung into the paparazzi’s spotlight, he was engaged to actress Shar Jackson (Niecy Jackson on “Moesha”). The two had a baby girl together, and when Jackson was pregnant with the couple’s second child, things got a little crazy. Enter pop star Britney Spears.

In April of 2004, Federline’s relationship with Spears made headlines and, according to Jackson, broke up their family. After only three months of dating, the two announced their engagement and wed in September of that year in a surprise ceremony at a private home.

In 2005, the couple used home videos to make the short-lived reality TV series “Britney & Kevin: Chaotic.” Soon after, the couple started a family, giving birth to two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James. In November 2006, things got messy with Spears and divorce and custody proceedings began citing irreconcilable differences. Things were settled and finalized in late July of that year, and Federline got sole custody of the kids in 2007.

So after his marriage to Spears ended, whatever happened to K-Fed? His story is a long and drawn-out one that would best be described as a series of unfortunate events.

In late 2006, K-Fed tried and failed to launch a successful career as a rapper with the release of his album “Playing with Fire.” It was one of the worst received albums of all time, so, needless to say, his rap career didn’t take off. Beginning the theme of Federline scrounging for any career, he signed to model for Five Star Vintage clothing in campaigns for Macy’s, Kitson and Lord & Taylor. Later, Federline had a stint in the World Wrestling Entertainment circuit. As the years passed, K-Fed did commercials and guest starred on TV shows as he faded into the abyss of Hollywood wannabes whose 15 minutes were up.

After putting on a noticeable amount of weight, he went back to the reality TV circuit and appeared on the seventh season of “Celebrity Fit Club” in 2010. He lost 30 pounds while on the show and was on the winning team. However, the weight loss didn’t stick. After fathering his fifth child in August 2011 with Victoria Prince, a former volleyball player and his current girlfriend, Federline tried reality TV yet again. In November of that year, Federline appeared on a second weight loss show, this time in Australia. Unsuccessful this time around, K-Fed ended up hospitalized for “heat stress.”

Even with reality TV in his past, Federline has been unable to avoid scandal. In late 2012, Federline’s brother Christopher challenged the paternity of Spears’ oldest son, Sean Preston. Luckily for him, the challenge was fraudulent and was actually made by the same man who claimed to be Adam Lanza’s uncle, Jonathan Lee Riches. Unfortunately for K-Fed, the IRS has also recently served him a lien for more than $57,000 in missed tax payments from 2009 and 2010, shortly after an “anonymous” source (read: Spears) paid off another tax debt owed by Spears and Federline from when they were married. Poor K-Fed. (Literally.)