“I shouldn’t be in a conservatorship if I can work. The laws need to change. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. I don’t feel like I can live a full life.”
Britney Spears has been in a conservatorship for 13 years—since 2008, following a very public breakdown. However, many of the public felt it strange that one of the world’s biggest pop stars, who was still performing regularly, needed that conservatorship, which led to the #FreeBritney movement. Her father, Jamie Spears, thus petitioned to the court for legal authority over his adult daughter, claiming there were concerns for her mental health and possible abuse of substance. It was later unveiled that Britney Spears tried to end it as early as 2014, questioning her father’s role in the conservatorship.
Finally, the singer was allowed to give a rare public appearance in court, delivering a shocking statement to the judge, detailing her experience. Here is a summary of the things she revealed in her 24-minute address over the phone.
1. She was forced to work on several occasions
“I was on tour in 2018. I was forced to do. My own management could sue me if I didn’t follow through with the tour.”
“I worked seven days a week, no days off, which in California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking.”
“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.”
“I just don’t like feeling like I work for the people for whom I pay. I just don’t like being told I have to no matter what, even if I’m sick. I would like to do one meeting a week with a therapist. I’ve never been before even before they sent me to that place—I had one therapy session with my doctor and then a therapy person. What I’ve been forced to do is illegal. I shouldn’t be told I have to be available three times a week to these people.”
2. She was put on drugs
“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 couldn’t even have a conversation with my mom or dad really about anything.”
3. Her family didn’t help her
“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.”
4. She had no privacy
“They [the nurses and security] watched me change every day—naked—morning, noon and night. I had no privacy, I get eight gallons of blood a week.”
5. She’s depressed—and doesn’t have access to the therapy she wants
“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. Because I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. 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.”
6. Why she never said (or did) anything
“It’s embarrassing and demoralizing — 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, to be honest with you.”
7. They won’t allow her to remove a birth control device inside her
“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.”
8. She’s scared and she just wants to take a break—and have a life
“All I want is to own my money, for this to end, and my boyfriend to drive me in his f*cking car.”
“I deserve to have a life. I’ve worked my whole life. I deserve to have a two to three-year break and just, you know, do what I want to do.”
“But I wish I could stay with you on the phone forever, because when I get off the phone with you, all of a sudden all I hear all these no’s — no, no, no. And then all of a sudden, I get I feel ganged up on, and I feel bullied, and I feel left out and alone. And I’m tired of feeling alone. I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does, by having a child, a family, any of those things, and more so.”
You can read the full transcript here.
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