Britney Spears breaks silence on ‘abusive’, 'traumatised' guardianship
From alleging that doctors changed her medication to not being allowed to remove her IUD and have more kids, US pop singer Britney Spears urges judge to end her ‘oppressive’ conservatorship under her father Jamie Spears during an emotional court hearing in Los Angeles, California
Worth at least $59 million, according to court documents from 2018, Oops I Did it Again singer Britney Spears took the Internet and her huge fan base by storm as she broke her silence on “abusive” guardianship which allegedly left her “traumatised” and “depressed”. During an emotional court hearing in Los Angeles, California, Spears urged the judge to end her “oppressive” conservatorship under her father Jamie Spears and alleged that the doctors had changed her medication and that she was not allowed to remove the contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD) fitted inside her so that she cannot get pregnant and have more kids even though she wants.
The shocking and rare public testimony on Wednesday resulted after Spears’ lawyer Samuel Ingham said in April that she wanted to directly address the court. Condemning her father and the legal arrangements of conservatorship, Spears said, “I just want my life back. I’m not here to be anyone’s slave. I’m traumatised. I’m not happy, I can’t sleep. I’m so angry and I cry every day. I want to end this conservatorship without being evaluated.”
In the 20-minute long and emotional speech, Spears asserted, “I just want my life back. It's been 13 years and it's enough” and revealed, “This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I deserve to have a life.” Spilling the beans on the closely guarded details, the singer not only wanted to sue her family but also made multiple other accusations including that she was abused” by a previous therapist, she is banned from seeing her friends who live nearby, her boyfriend is not allowed to drive her in his car, she wants to marry her boyfriend and have a baby but the conservatorship will not allow her to marry or remove the UID, she has had no control over her healthcare, doctors changed her medication to lithium, she wants therapy sessions at home but has been forced to go to a location where the paparazzi stalk her.
Accusing that her “whole family did nothing”, Spears detailed how “It was very threatening and scary” when in 2018, her management threatened to sue her if she didn’t do her concerts. “The only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking … The people who did this to me should not be able to walk away so easily … I’m not here to be anyone’s slave. I can say no to a dance move,” she told the court.
For years, Britney Spears fans across the world have raised concerns about the status of her freedom and autonomy and demanded to #FreeBritneySpears under the speculations that the conservatorship is only a means to exploit their favourite. Photographer Andrew Gallery who has worked with Spears in the past, shared the contents of a letter last year which he claimed that the pop singer had shared with him back in 2009 and notified how she was lied to and set up by her father to take control of her assets and her life after she broke up with her husband Kevin Federline in 2007 and refused to give him the custody of her two sons, after which she underwent a very public meltdown.
From shaving her head to sitting in a club without any pants on, booked on charges of hit-and-run and driving without a licence in October 2007, a stand off-with the police regarding the surrender of the custody of her two kids to Federline and being placed in psychiatric care, Spears was committed to a psychiatric ward the second time in 2008 when her father petitioned with the Los Angeles County Superior Court for an emergency “temporary conservatorship”. This was made permanent by the end of that year and ever since then, he has had control over her financial assets and decisions regarding her personal life including accounts of even minor transactions carried out by her are required to be submitted to her father who temporarily stepped down as her personal conservator in 2019 due to health reasons.
Jodi Montgomery, a care professional, might be permanently installed into the role instead of reinstating Spears’ father. Several fans rooted for #FreeBritney movement by gathering outside the court during the hearing and held "Free Britney now!" and "Get out of Britney's life!" signs.
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