Britney Spears has filed for divorce from dancer husband Kevin Federline, ending a two-year tabloid guessing game surrounding the couple’s stormy marriage. News of Spears’s divorce came just one day after she made a surprise appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” where she laughed and joked with the veteran television chat show host but gave no clue of the impending announcement. 

Court documents released Tuesday cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the 24-year-old multi-millionaire’s decision to seek a divorce from Federline, barely two months after the birth of the couple’s second child.

Britney Spears, who shot to fame in the 1990s with a string of hits including “Oops! … I Did It Again,” and “Toxic”, will seek custody of the couple’s children, documents lodged at Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday showed.

But sources told celebrity news website TMZ.com that Spears — worth over 120 million dollars according to a 2004 Forbes survey — was protected against a costly divorce settlement through an “iron-clad” pre-nuptial agreement.

A spokeswoman for Spears was not immediately available for comment as the bombshell development jostled for position with coverage of the US elections on television networks.

Britney Spears has retained the services of powerhouse celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, whose clients have included Angelina Jolie and Kiefer Sutherland.