In a since-deleted, 22-minute voice memo the singer candidly discussed her life.
Britney Spears is getting candid. On Sunday, the 40-year-old singer tweeted out a link to a YouTube video, which turned out to be a 22-minute voice memo in which she discussed her life both inside and outside of a conservatorship. Britney has since made the video private, though the audio of it has been reposted online.
In the wide-ranging audio, Britney said she's "had tons of opportunities -- Oprah, interviews -- to go on a platform and share the hardships and just really anything that’s going on in my mind."
Those opportunities started rolling in after Britney was freed of her 13-year-long conservatorship in November 2021. Her father, Jamie Spears, served as the conservator of her estate for the majority of that time, though he was suspended from the role months before the conservatorship was terminated.
As for why she hasn't accepted any of the offers, Britney explained, "I really don’t think any of that is relevant, getting paid to tell your story. I feel like it’s kind of silly."
"I have offers to interview with Oprah and so many people, lots and lots of money, but it’s insane," she said. "I don’t want any of it. For me, it’s beyond a sit-down, proper interview."
Instead, Britney decided to self-release the audio, though some concerns still lingered for the singer.
"I’ve always been scared of the judgment and definitely the embarrassment of the whole thing, period, and the skepticism and the cynical people and their opinions of what people would actually think," she said, before explaining why now was the right time to conquer her fears.
"[I'm] in a place now where I’m a little bit more confident that I can be willing to share openly my thoughts and what I’ve been through," she said.
As for what exactly she went through, Britney claimed that, from her mid-20s on, Jamie didn't allow her to "see anyone or anything," for reasons that eluded her.
Things eventually took a turn for the worse, when Britney claimed "a Swat team" came into her home, and, while "three helicopters" circled overhead, "they held me down on a gurney."
"There were over 200 paparazzi outside my house videotaping me through a window of an ambulance, holding me down on a gurney," Britney said. "I know now it was all premeditated. A woman introduced the idea [of a conservatorship] to my dad, and my mom actually helped him follow through and made it all happen. It was all basically set up. There were no drugs in my system, no alcohol, nothing. It was pure abuse. And I haven’t even really shared half of it."
After two weeks of hospitalization, Britney said she "started working right away."
"I had to do what I was told. I was told I was fat every day. I had to go to the gym... I never remember feeling so demoralized. They made me feel like nothing," she said. "And I went along with it because I was scared. I was scared and fearful. I didn’t even really do anything, and I had like a SWAT team [show up] -- none of it made sense to me."
During those years, Britney said, her performances "were horrible" because she "was just a robot."
"I didn’t give a f**k anymore because I couldn’t go where I wanted to go, I couldn’t have the nannies that I wanted to have, I couldn’t have cash," she alleged. "It was just demoralizing. I was kind of like in this conspiracy thing of people claiming and treating me like a superstar, but yet they treated me like nothing."
When she started making her 2016 album Glory, though, Britney "started to get a spark back."
"I had to just play this role that everything was OK all the time and I had to go along with it because I knew they could hurt me," she said. "You also have to understand, it was 15 years of touring and doing shows, and I’m 30 years old under my dad’s rules. All of this is going on and my mom’s witnessing this, and my brother is witnessing and my friends are witnessing, and they all go along with it."
A seemingly minor comment, Britney claimed, led to her being sent away to a facility in 2017.
"I was told that I had to be sent away to a facility and that I was supposed to say on my Instagram the reason why is because my dad is sick and I need treatment," she alleged. "... I felt like I was in a state of shock."
Thus, the #FreeBritney movement picked up steam, a positive development that made Britney question why her family wasn't doing the same.
"The whole thing that made it really confusing for me is these people were on the street were fighting for me, but my sister and my mother aren’t doing anything," she said of her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, and mother, Lynne Spears. "... I couldn’t process how my family went along with it for so long... I felt like my family threw me away."
All the while, Britney said, "I knew in the deepest, deepest part of my core, I knew I’d done nothing wrong and I didn’t deserve the way I’d been treated."
Still, she was "more angry" at her mom.
"I heard when reporters would call her at the time, and ask questions of what was going on, she would go innocently hide in the house and she wouldn’t speak up," Britney claimed. "There was always like, 'I don’t know what to say. I just don’t want to say the wrong thing. We’re praying for her.'"
If she were to see her mom and other family members today, Britney said, "I might even spit in their f**king faces."
"How the f**k did they get away with it? How is there a God? Is there a God?" Britney recalled asking herself throughout the ordeal.
Lynne addressed her daughter's comments in an Instagram post, writing, "Britney, your whole life I have tried my best to support your dreams and wishes! And also, I have tried my best to help you out of hardships! I have never and will never turn my back on you! Your rejections to the countless times I have flown out and calls make me feel hopeless! I have tried everything. I love you so much, but this talk is for you and me only, eye to eye, in private."
Jamie and Jamie Lynn have yet to publicly address Britney's video.
Britney, who recently released her first song in six years, concluded her message by revealing that she was sharing her perspective on everything because she wants people "to know I’m only human."
"I do feel victimized after these experiences and how can I mend this if I don’t talk about it?" she questioned. "... If you’re a weird introvert oddball like me, who feels alone a lot of the time, and you needed to hear a story like this today so you don’t feel alone, know this: My life has been far from easy, and you’re not alone."
RELATED CONTENT:
