It's the pop singer's latest revelation ahead of the release of her memoir, 'The Woman in Me.'
Britney Spears is sharing for the very first time when and how she found out about the #FreeBritney movement and the person who brought it all to her attention.
In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, provided to The New York Times, Spears shares that it was while she was in rehab when she became aware of the movement that evolved from a hashtag on social media to a full-on demonstration from her legion of fans voicing support to free the pop star from her conservatorship.
According to the outlet, it was in a $60,000-per-month Beverly Hills rehab center where Spears said a nurse showed her clips of fans representing the viral #FreeBritney movement.
"That was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life," Spears writes in her upcoming 275-page memoir. "I don't think people knew how much the #FreeBritney movement meant to me, especially in the beginning."
While she had been vocal about the entrapment she felt under a 13-year conservatorship overseen by her father, Jamie Spears, the singer now shares that things were even more bleak while in rehab, where she was only allowed one hour of television before her 9 p.m. bedtime.
"They kept me locked up against my will for months," she writes. "I couldn't go outside. I couldn't drive a car. I had to give blood weekly. I couldn't take a bath in private. I couldn't shut the door to my room."
Amid the conservatorship, which came to an end in September 2021, Spears said it was something she chose to go along with because she feared losing her time with her sons, Sean Preston, now 18, and Jaden James, 17, whom she shares with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
"After being held down on a gurney, I knew they could restrain my body any time they wanted to," she writes in the book in reference to being hospitalized for involuntary psychological assessments. "And so I went along with it. My freedom in exchange for naps with my children -- it was a trade I was willing to make."
After the conservatorship came to an end, Spears thanked her fan base for their resilience in their support.
"#FreeBritney movement … I have no words … because of you guys and your constant resilience in freeing me from my conservatorship … my life is now in that direction !!!!!" Spears wrote alongside an October 2021 video of herself standing outside and staring at the camera.
Spears, who was dressed in an all-white look, added that she "cried last night for two hours" because of the support and love of her fans.
She added, "I cried last night for two hours cause my fans are the best and I know it."
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