Britney Spears appeared before a Los Angeles court on Wednesday, June 23 to call for an end to her conservatorship.
Since 2008, the Baby… One More Time singer has been at the centre of the legal arrangement, which places her dad Jamie in control of his daughter’s personal and business affairs.
The order was originally granted after the star was hospitalised amid concerns over her mental health, but 13 years on it remains largely unchanged.
Following widespread speculation regarding the star’s stance on the set-up, she appeared before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny via video link to demand an end to the situation and regain her freedom.
Although a long legal process is likely before any decision is made on ending the conservatorship, according to the Associated Press, here are the key points from the hearing.
“I am traumatised”
Britney left no doubt that the conservatorship has been detrimental to her health, admitting she cries “every day” as a result of the situation.
It’s a far cry from the version of the star projected across her social media platforms, of which fans and #FreeBritney advocates often questioned the authenticity, citing papers which appear to place her channels under the control of the conservatorship.
According to Britney, she was “in denial,” explaining, “I’ve lied and told the whole world ‘I’m okay. And I’m happy.’ It’s a lie.
“I thought [if] just maybe I said that enough… 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. Okay? I’m not happy,” she insisted. “I can’t sleep. I’m so angry. It’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day.”
“My management said if I don’t perform, they’ll sue”
It’s been five years since Britney last released new music and three since the Stronger star last appeared on stage – prior to the cancellation of her planned ‘Britney: Domination’ residency in Las Vegas (more below).
The shows were due to come off the back of her Britney: Piece of Me residency (2013-2017) and two back-to-back international concert tours (2017-2018), amid which she released her ninth studio album ‘Glory’.
Despite being “exhausted,” Britney admits she felt she had no choice but to perform the dates “out of fear”.
“I was on tour in 2018,” she explained. “I was forced to: my management said if I don’t do this tour, I will have to find an attorney.
“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 work.”
“When I said ‘No’, I was drugged”
Perhaps the most shocking allegation to come from Britney’s court appearance is that, after she eventually pulled out of her ‘Britney: Domination’ residency, she was prescribed Lithium by her therapist.
The Radar hitmaker explained rehearsals for the show were underway and appeared to be going “great,” but following a disagreement over a piece of choreography the atmosphere changed “as if I planted a huge bomb somewhere”.
“After that, my management, my dancers and my assistant of the new people that were supposed to do the new show all went into a room, shut the door and didn’t come out for at least 45 minutes,” she recalled.
Britney said she was told by her therapist he was contacted by management, who claimed she “wasn’t cooperating or following the guidelines in rehearsals” and that she “wasn’t taking [her] medication”, “which is so dumb, because I’ve had the same lady every morning for the past eight years give me my same medication.”
According to the star, she was then given the choice whether or not to perform and, despite concerns her management would “come back and be mean to [her] or punish [her],” she called off the shows.
“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,” she explained.
“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.”
Admitting she “couldn’t even have a conversation with [her] mum or dad really about anything,” Britney said: “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.
“My dad acted like he didn’t know that I was told I had to be tested over the Christmas holidays before they sent me away, when my kids went home to Louisiana. He was the one who approved all of it.
“My whole family did nothing.”
“If I didn’t work, I couldn’t see my kids or boyfriend”
Following the 2018 fall-out, Britney was placed in a facility against her will after apparently failing a psychiatric test, where she was forced to work from “eight to six at night, which is 10 hours a day, seven days a week, no days off”.
“I got a phone call from my dad, basically saying I’d failed the test or whatever,” she shared. “[He said,] ‘I’m sorry, Britney, you have to listen to your doctors. They’re planning to send you to a small home in Beverly Hills to do a small rehab program that we’re going to make up for you. You’re going to pay $60,000 a month for this.”
“I cried on the phone for an hour and he loved every minute of it,” explained the Piece of Me star. “I packed my bags and went to that place. I worked seven days a week, no days off, which in California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking.
“Making anyone work against their will, taking all their possessions away – credit card, cash, phone passport – and placing them in a home where they work with the people who live with them.
“They all lived in the house with me, the nurses, the 24/7 security. There was one chef that came there and cooked for me daily on them during the weekdays. They watched me change every day – morning, noon and night.”
She added: “If I didn’t do any of my meetings and work from eight to six at night, which is 10 hours a day, seven days a week, no days off, I wouldn’t be able to see my kids or my boyfriend.
“I never had a say in my schedule. They always told me I had to do this. And Ma’am, I will tell you, sitting in a chair 10 hours a day, seven days a week, in a fog… and especially when you can’t walk out the front door.
“They told me I can’t get married or have a baby”
Another shocking detail to come from the hearing is that Britney was apparently stopped her from having a contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD) removed so she could get pregnant.
The Slumber Party hitmaker is dating actor Sam Asghari, who has publicly advocated for his girlfriend’s freedom, and looks keen to take the next steps with him.
However, she insists the conservatorship is preventing the couple getting wed or starting a family.
“I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” insisted Britney. “I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby.
“I have an 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 any more children.
“So basically, this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good.”
“My lawyer urged me not to speak up”
Britney went on to confess that, over the last two years, she’s been keen to speak out and tell her story, but was put off the idea by her court-appointed attorney Samuel D. Ingham III.
“My lawyer, Sam, has been very scared for me to go forward because he’s saying if I speak up, [that] I’m being overworked, in that facility… He told me I should keep it to myself.
She added: “I would personally like to – actually, I know I’ve grown a personal relationship with Sam, my lawyer. I’ve been talking to him like three times a week now, we’ve kind of built a relationship.
“But I haven’t really had the opportunity by my own self to actually handpick my own lawyer by myself. And I would like to be able to do that.”
“I want to sue my family for what they did to me”
During the session, Britney didn’t hesitate to call out her dad Jamie for his “love” of “controlling” her life, and the Lucky singer admitted that, once out of the conservatorship, she plans to instigate legal proceedings against her family.
“I would honestly like to sue my family, to be totally honest with you,” she affirmed. “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, 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.”
“I’m here is because I want to revoke the conservatorship”
The biggest news to come from the hearing is that Britney is demanding a complete end to the conservatorship after 13 years.
It was previously widely reported that the star sought only to have Jamie removed from the set-up, but during her address with Judge Brenda Penny, the Oops!… I Did It Again singer requested to “end the conservatorship without being evaluated”.
“I want to petition basically to end the conservatorship,” she said. “I don’t want to be evaluated, to be sat in a room with people for hours a day, like they did me before.
“And they made it even worse for me after that happened.”
Following the address, Perry lauded Britney’s “courage” for speaking out on the situation, saying: “I certainly am sensitive to everything that you said and how you’re feeling.
“I know that it took a lot of courage for you to say everything you have to appreciate your coming on the line and sharing”
