‘I just want my life back’: Everything Britney Spears said in her historic court appearance

‘My dad and anyone involved in this conservatorship, they should be in jail’

3 years ago

News

Britney Spears spoke out in court yesterday against the conservatorship that she’s been living under the control of for the last 13 years.

This conservatorship, managed by her father, takes away Britney’s control of her finances and career decisions. Since 2019, fans and campaigners have been advocating for the #FreeBritney movement, asserting that Britney was under abusive control from the people in charge of her situation – including her family. Britney has been mostly silent on the matter, denouncing a lot of it through confusing Instagram posts. Most notably, condemning the recent New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears.

Britney’s reaction to it all lead many to believe this could just be a conspiracy theory from fans looking for a crime that wasn’t there. But yesterday, Britney Spears spoke out in court for the first time.

In a 24 minute statement, Britney has called out the conservatorship for abusive behaviour and asserted her family should go to jail. She’s denounced all her previous statements saying she was okay and happy – and said she was too afraid to say otherwise.

Here are all the key points Britney made in court, in what will hopefully be a huge catalyst for change in her situation that she’s been forced in for the over a decade.

She claims was forced against her will to do her last tour

After her hugely successful Vegas residency Piece Of Me came to an end, Britney went on a world tour with the show. She told the court that she was forced into this decision.

“I was on tour in 2018. I was forced to do it… 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.”

‘I wasn’t good – I was great’

Following the tour, Britney was supposed to be doing a new Vegas residency titled Domination. It was eventually postponed indefinitely.

“I started rehearsing early, but it was hard because I’d been doing Vegas for four years and I needed a break in between. But no, I was told this is the timeline and this is how it’s going to go. I rehearsed four days a week. I was basically directing most of the show.

“I actually did most of the choreography, meaning I taught my dancers my new choreography myself. I take everything I do very seriously. I wasn’t good – I was great. I led a room of 16 new dancers in rehearsals.”

Britney Spears told the court that her managers tried to say she refused to participate in rehearsals and would refuse her medication. She said this came about as she refused to do a certain dance move and wanted more creative control. She told the judge: “Ma’am, I’m not here to be anyone’s slave. I can say no to a dance move.”

She claims her therapist forced her to take lithium

After the new Vegas residency was cancelled, Britney says was called in by her therapist, taken off the medication she’d been on for five years and put onto lithium.

She says the medication made her feel drunk, she was under constant surveilance from nurses and wasn’t allowed to drive. “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 whole family did nothing.”

She claimed her father, Jamie Spears, loves to control her

Britney Spears has tried in court before to get her father removed from being the conservator in charge of her, but this time she publicly condemned his treatment of her.

“I cried on the phone for an hour and he loved every minute of it. The control he had over someone as powerful as me — he loved the control to hurt his own daughter 100,000 per cent. He loved it.”

She claims she was forced to work seven days a week

“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 during the weekdays. They watched me change every day — naked – morning, noon and night. My body – I had no privacy door for my room. I gave eight vials of blood a week.

“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, it ain’t fun… and especially when you can’t walk out the front door.”

@britneyspears

Her Instagram updates of her happiness were a lie

“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 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.”

Britney called the court out on their previous verdict

“I don’t know how the state of California can have all this written in the court documents from the time I showed up and do absolutely nothing — just hire, with my money, another person and keep my dad on board.

“Ma’am, my dad and anyone involved in this conservatorship and my management who played a huge role in punishing me when I said no — ma’am, they should be in jail. 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.”

She wants change, without anymore invasive tests

“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.

“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.”

Britney went on to say how she felt the world wouldn’t believe her if she spoke out about what she was going through, nobody would believe her. “I didn’t want to say any of this to anybody, to the public, because I thought people would make fun of me or laugh at me and say, “She’s lying, she’s got everything, she’s Britney Spears.”

She goes on to say that she will refuse to see any professionals going forward, and just wishes to have control of her own money and be able to see her boyfriend Sam Asghari on her own terms.

“I’m not lying. I just want my life back. They need to be reminded that they actually work for me.”

Britney claims she’s been forbidden from marrying or having anymore children

In one of the most shocking and upsetting moments of her statement, Britney says that she has been forced to have the implant and isn’t allowed to take it out, despite the fact she wanted another child.

“I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby, I have a IUD (implant) inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant. I wanted to take it 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.”

Britney Spears with her boyfriend, Sam Asghari (via @britneyspears)

Britney’s closing statement was particularly moving

“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 do feel like there is a crutch here. And I feel open and I’m okay to talk to you today about it. 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.”

The statement ended with the Judge thanking Britney Spears on her bravery. It was an incredibly moving move from Britney, and the first time the public has heard her speak so freely and without feeling like she had a whole team controlling what she had to say doing the work behind the scenes.

The case is ongoing and another hearing has been called for July.

Listen to Britney Spears speak in court in full here.

Featured image credit: @britneyspears