'It was all set up': Britney Spears REVEALS her abusive parents were behind her controversial conservatorship
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Britney Spears posted a lengthy 22-minute audio rant on YouTube on Sunday, August 28 night, accusing her parents of abuse and claiming that the controversial conservatorship that ended this April after 15 years was ''all set up'' by her parents after being introduced to the idea by an unidentified woman. The audio was later made private.
Spears spoke at length about her experiences during this time, providing a timeline account of the events that led to her being placed in conservatorship, in which her father Jamie controlled her decisions and finances. Spears also alleges that her forced hospitalization in 2008 was planned and the result of a plot to seize control of her millions. Perhaps most surprisingly, Spears, who is currently involved in an explosive and highly public feud with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, suggested that she did not have drugs or alcohol in her system prior to her hospitalization - as had previously been claimed.
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Spears began the video by saying she's had ''tonnes of opportunities'' to share her story, including a lucrative offer from Oprah Winfrey. However, she believes it is ''silly'' to be paid to open up about her hardships, prompting her to post the tell-all. She went on to say that she had been hesitant to share her story earlier in the year because she was afraid of being judged or reprimanded, but that she was now ''confident'' enough to tell the world.
She described being ''punished'' with the conservatorship by her abusive father, Jamie, 70, in 2008, when she was 25, nearly a decade after she rose to superstardom with her music career after what she called an abusive childhood. Under the oppressive structure, which she claimed was imposed after she spoke to one of her psychiatrists in a British accent, Spears described herself as a "prisoner in her own home" and "not allowed to see anyone."
She also recalled being awoken by a SWAT team and three helicopters enlisted by her father the day before her forced hospitalization. ''Literally the extent of my madness,'' Spears said in the recording. Spears revealed that her mother Lynne, 67, had warned her of her father's plans earlier that day, saying she had heard ''that people were coming here today to talk to you." Four hours later, Spears said, ''there were over 200 hundred paparazzi outside my house, videotaping me through the window of an ambulance while being held down on a gurney.''
Spears went on to say that she now knows the incident was ''premeditated,'' referring to her father's careful execution of a plan to gain control of her finances. She went on to say that an unidentified woman ''introduced the idea to my dad,'' and that her mother ''helped him follow through and make it all happen.'' ''It was all set up,'' Spears said in the recording. ''There were no drugs or alcohol in my system. Pure abuse", she added.
Spears then discussed her childhood in Louisiana, which she described as being "under her dad's control." ''I was scared and fearful,'' she recalled. ''I didn't really do anything. None of it made sense to me.'' ''All I do remember is I had to do what I was told. I was told I was fat every day I had to go to the gym, I had to just, and I'd never remember feeling so demoralized," she further said, adding ''and they just made me feel like nothing. And I agreed because I was terrified. I was terrified and scared.''
Those fears, she claims, persisted throughout her 15-year conservatory, demoralizing the singer and scaring her away from fighting her father, who she claims had complete control over all of her actions and decisions during this time. ''I couldn't have the nannies that I wanted to have; I couldn't have cash - and it was just demoralizing. So I was kind of like in this conspiracy thing, of people claiming and, like, treating me like a superstar.''
She went on to describe the difficulties she was forced to endure during this time, such as a lack of privacy and constant monitoring by her father's team and doctors. ''No privacy, no door. Nothing," Spears protested. "How did they get away with it? And what the f**k did I do to deserve that? I couldn't even smoke cigarettes, people on death row can smoke cigarettes.'' ''They put me in an ignorant state of mind to make me feel like I needed them,'' she said.
During this time, Spears claimed she was forced to inform the public - who she claimed gradually became aware of her secret struggles through rumors and her media appearances - that she was seeking treatment for her father's colon illness. Spears went on to describe Jamie and his co-conservators' level of control over her even more than a decade into the arrangement, revealing that she was once in a ''secret relationship'' with an unnamed man.
Spears claims she was forced to enter a mental health facility against her will in 2019 as retaliation for speaking up during dress rehearsals for her canceled Vegas residency Domination. ''I didn’t want to ever go there. I remember calling my dad on the phone crying, and he said 'You have to listen to the doctors. I can’t help you now,'" she said.
Spears stated that she is more disappointed with her mother for not taking a stand for her all these years. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Jamie to take part in a deposition about his actions as conservator over the pop star for more than 15 years in July.