Cover Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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The singer directly addressed the #FreeBritney movement and also mentioned that her family should "be in jail" for all the "bad things" they did to her under the 13-year-long conservatorship
This story was first published on June 25, 2021, and updated on November 18, 2021.
“I honestly think you guys saved my life in a way, 100 per cent.”
These were the words Britney Spears said directly to her fans and supporters in a new video that was posted on Instagram and Twitter on Wednesday.
The pop star addressed the end of her 13-year-long conservatorship and spoke about how she plans to enjoy her newfound freedom. Directly addressing the #FreeBritney movement, the singer said: “The #FreeBritney movement, you guys rock.”
She continued: “Honestly, my voice was muted and threatened for so long, and I wasn't able to speak up or say anything.”
While she expressed gratitude in the "little things" such as finally having the keys to her own card, owning an ATM card and cash, to shopping for candles—she also hit out at her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, who have both been accused of masterminding the conservatorship which saw her father gaining control of her estimated US$60 million estate.
"I've been in the conservatorship for 13 years. That's a really long time to be in a situation you don't want to be in," Spears said in her video.
In the accompanying caption, Spears also alluded to a potential tell-all interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
Although Spears is now free, her lawyer Matthew Rosengart and his legal team are moving full steam ahead in their investigations and have also filed a petition requesting to depose Jamie last month.
As one of the most successful recording artists in pop history, many may wonder about whether she will return to the stage.
But Spears hasn’t stepped onstage for years. Since the breakdown of what was supposed to be her second Las Vegas show in 2019, the global star stopped performing in public. This led fans to believe it had something to do with her conservatorship.
The conservatorship, which is a legal guardianship arranged for people who are incapable of making their own decisions, was approved in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2008 after Spears had several public mental breakdowns. This left her estate, financial assets, and some personal assets under the control of her father, Jamie, and a lawyer.
On September 8, media reports emerged that Jamie Spears has since filed a petition to end the conservatorship—an unexpected twist in the saga closely followed by fans and media all over the world.
Her father filed his petition to terminate the conservatorship in Los Angeles Superior Court.
"As Mr Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter," the document read. "If Ms Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr Spears believes that she should get that chance."
Judge Brenda Penny, who oversees the case, will need to approve the move.
In recent years, the #FreeBritney campaign has reached even greater heights especially because of social media. The grassroots movement, supported by fans and celebrities such as Cher, Miley Cyrus, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mariah Carey and more, supports the singer in taking back control over her life. In a 2020 court filing, Spears' lawyer wrote that the #FreeBritney movement is "far from being a conspiracy theory." The movement reached mainstream news when The New York Times released the hotly debated and highly anticipated documentary, Framing Britney Spears.
For 13 years, the pop princess hasn’t been able to live her life fully or carry out basic tasks on her own—from being driven in her boyfriend’s car to seeing friends who live nearby. While this has long been suspected by her fans, she never confirmed any of the rumours or addressed this publicly.
The singer finally spoke her truth in a rare appearance in court via telephone on June 23.
In audio recordings posted online, the 38-year-old singer could be heard speaking fast at times but was clear and composed as she read out her statement. She had told the judge that she had written out everything she wanted to say across four pages of paper.
Before these bombshell revelations, Spears had also told the court back in 2019 that she did not want her father to remain as a co-conservator anymore. The New York Times also reported that Spears had been making moves to end the conservatorship for several years. However, nothing was done since then.
Spears took to Instagram a day after her court hearing to apologise to fans for lying about her happiness. She wrote: "I apologise for pretending like I’ve been ok the past two years … I did it because of my pride and I was embarrassed to share what happened to me."
The singer finally spoke her truth over the summer in two appearances in court. Below are some highlights to know.
Below are some of the key points from the hearing, with quotes from Spears according to a transcript of her 24-minute-long testimony.
Above Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
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1. Forced to do her 2018 ‘Piece of Me’ world tour
“The people who did this to me should not be able to walk away so easily. To recap: I was on tour in 2018. I was forced to do… My management said if I don’t do this tour, I will have to find an attorney, and by contract my own management could sue me if I didn’t follow through with the tour. He handed me a sheet of paper as I got off the stage in Vegas and said I had to sign it. It was very threatening and scary. And with the conservatorship, I couldn’t even get my own attorney. So out of fear, I went ahead and I did the tour.”
2. Had to take unnecessary medication after turning down the tour
“Three days later, after I said no to Vegas, my therapist sat me down in a room and said he had a million phone calls about how I was not cooperating in rehearsals, and I haven’t been taking my medication. All this was false. He immediately, the next day, put me on lithium out of nowhere. He took me off my normal meds I’ve been on for five years. And lithium is a very, very strong and completely different medication compared to what I was used to. You can go mentally impaired if you take too much, if you stay on it longer than five months. But he put me on that and I felt drunk. I really couldn’t even take up for myself. I couldn’t even have a conversation with my mom or dad really about anything.”
Above Britney Spears' family: (From left) Her father Jamie Spears, older brother Bryan Spears, younger sister Jamie-Lynn Spears, Britney Spears and mother Lynne Spears (Photo: Getty Images)
Britney Spears' family: (From left) Her father Jamie Spears, older brother Bryan Spears, younger sister Jamie-Lynn Spears, Britney Spears and mother Lynne Spears (Photo: Getty Images)
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3. Her family did not help her while her father controlled most of her life
“Not only did my family not do a goddamn thing, my dad was all for it. Anything that happened to me had to be approved by my dad.”
“The control he had over someone as powerful as me — he loved the control to hurt his own daughter 100,000%. He loved it.”
4. Lied about her happiness in public
“And that’s why I’m telling you this again two years later, after I’ve lied and told the whole world “I’m OK and I’m happy.” It’s a lie. I thought I just maybe if I said that enough maybe I might become happy, because I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatised. You know, fake it till you make it. But now I’m telling you the truth, OK? I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry it’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day.”
5. On not being heard the last time she spoke out about ending the conservatorship
“The last time I spoke to you by just keeping the conservatorship going, and also keeping my dad in the loop, made me feel like I was dead — like I didn’t matter, like nothing had been done to me, like you thought I was lying or something. I’m telling you again, because I’m not lying. I want to feel heard. And I’m telling you this again, so maybe you can understand the depth and the degree and the damage that they did to me back then.”
6. Why she never spoke up about the truth
“I don’t owe these people anything—especially me, the one that has roofed and fed tons of people on tour on the road. It’s embarrassing and demoralising what I’ve been through. And that’s the main reason I’ve never said it openly. And mainly, I didn’t want to say it openly, because I honestly don’t think anyone would believe me.”
7. Told the judge the conservatorship is “abusive”
“Ma’am, I’ve worked since I was 17 years old. You have to understand how thin that is for me every morning I get up to know I can’t go somewhere unless I meet people I don’t know every week in a office identical to the one where the therapist was very abusive to me. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive, and that we can sit here all day and say oh, conservatorships are here to help people. But ma’am, there is a thousand conservatorships that are abusive as well.”
8. Not allowed to indulge in self-care treatments
“It also took a year, during Covid, to get me any self-care methods. [Co-conservator Jodi Montgomery] said there were no services available. She’s lying, ma’am. My mom went to the spot twice in Louisiana during Covid. For a year, I didn’t have my nails done—no hairstyling and no massages, no acupuncture. Nothing for a year. I saw the maids in my home each week with their nails done different each time. She made me feel like my dad does. Very similar, her behaviour and my dad, but just a different dynamic.”
9. Not allowed to meet friends
“I was supposed to be able to—I have a friend that I used to do AA meetings with. I did AA for two years. I did three meetings a week. I’ve met a bunch of women there. And I’m not able to see my friends that live eight minutes away from me, which I find extremely strange.”
10. Made to work without vacations
“Team wants me to work and stay home instead of having longer vacations. They are used to me sort of doing a weekly routine for them. And I’m over it. I don’t feel like I owe them anything at this point. They need to be reminded they actually work for me.”
“I feel like they’re making me feel like I live in a rehab program. This is my home. I’d like for my boyfriend to be able to drive me in his car.”
11. She wants to sue her family
“And I would honestly like to sue my family, to be totally honest with you. I also would like to be able to share my story with the world, and what they did to me, instead of it being a hush-hush secret to benefit all of them. I want to be able to be heard on what they did to me by making me keep this in for so long, it is not good for my heart. I’ve been so angry and I cry every day. It concerns me, I’m told I’m not allowed to expose the people who did this to me.”
12. Forced to be on birth control
“I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby, I have a [IUD] inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant. I wanted to take the [IUD] out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have children—any more children. So basically, this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good.”
13. What she wants next
“I want changes, and I want changes going forward. I deserve changes. I was told I have to sit down and be evaluated, again, if I want to end the conservatorship. Ma’am, I didn’t know I could petition the conservatorship to end it. I’m sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly didn’t know that. But honestly, but I don’t think I owe anyone to be evaluated. I’ve done more than enough. I don’t feel like I should even be in room with anyone to offend me by trying to question my capacity of intelligence, whether I need to be in this stupid conservatorship or not. I’ve done more than enough.”
“I’m not lying. I just want my life back. And it’s been 13 years. And it’s enough. It’s been a long time since I’ve owned my money. And it’s my wish and my dream for all of this to end without being tested.”
Andrea Saadan is the Senior Digital Editor of Tatler Singapore. She oversees all digital content for the website and currently leads the Beauty and Lifestyle verticals. As a child, she had always enjoyed reading and writing but it was only after she joined her college newspaper, The Spectrum, in Buffalo, New York, that she considered a career in journalism. Her love for all things beauty started from the age of two—when she was caught playing with (and damaging) her mother’s YSL lipstick. On top of her day job, she is also an unpaid beauty consultant for friends and family. Besides make-up, her obsessions include the wizarding world of Harry Potter, podcasts, ice-cream, her walking pad and watching endless re-runs of The Office (US).
