Britney Spears’ request to end her conservatorship was denied again last week.
Now, The New Yorker has published a pretty comprehensive report on the pop star’s battle to end the conservatorship, shedding new light on the situation.
The in-depth piece shares new information on the timeline and circumstances around the conservatorship, as well as the circumstances leading up to last month’s court hearing.
They found that the night before last month’s hearing, Britney Spears actually called 911. The publication says a source “close to Spears and to law enforcement in Ventura County, California” confirmed she called to report herself as a victim of conservatorship abuse.
The New Yorker reports that members in Spears’ team were “frantically” texting each other. Discussions were had around what Britney Spears might say at the hearing and how they could prepare for her going “rogue”.
The following day at the hearing, on the 23rd June, an attorney for the conservatorship tried to encourage the judge to clear the courtroom and asked that Spears’ testimony transcript be sealed.
Britney Spears objected.
“Somebody’s done a good job at exploiting my life,” she said. “I feel like it should be an open-court hearing—they should listen and hear what I have to say.”
She then spoke publicly for the first time. In the 20-minute testimony, she cited instances of abuse. It’s been heard that Spears was denied reproductive rights by the conservatorship.
“I have an IUD inside of myself right now, so I don’t get pregnant,” she told the court. “I wanted to take the IUD out, so I could start trying to have another baby, but the 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.”
She told the court she was forced to go on tour in 2018 and was told she would be sued if she refused. She went on to say she was given lithium against her wishes, after she refused to perform at a concert.
“The people who did this to me should not get away,” said Britney Spears. “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 piece also goes into the details leading up to Britney Spears’ conservatorship. It shares details around Spears’ father, Jamie reportedly mentally abusing Britney.
A former friend of the family, Jacqueline Butcher shared a testimony at the time of the conservatorship’s creation.
“At the time, I thought we were helping,” she said. “And I wasn’t, and I helped a corrupt family seize all this control.”
Butcher recalled many details surrounding its creation. She shared that Spears’ mother Lynne had said she didn’t see a need to be involved as the conservatorship would “only last a few months”.
She reports that later in a conference room, Lynne discussed with Jamie how she hoped the conservatorship might be managed.
Butcher says Jamie began to shout about his control over Britney’s life.
She says he yelled, “I am Britney Spears!”
She says he heard him repeat, “I am Britney Spears” often throughout the early years of the conservatorship.
Elsewhere Butcher recalls mental abuse from Jamie. She shares an instance where she, Lynne, and Britney were sitting on the floor of Jamie’s home office, shortly after she’d been released from hospital.
“Jamie said, ‘Baby,’” recalls Butcher.
“And I thought he was going to say, ‘We love you, but you need help.’”
“But what he said was, ‘You’re fat. Daddy’s gonna get you on a diet and a trainer, and you’re gonna get back in shape.’”
She says he pointed to a nearby TV and said, “You see that TV over there? You know what it’s going to say in eight weeks? That’s gonna be you on there, and they’re gonna say, ‘She’s back.’”
You can read The New Yorker’s full piece here.
