Britney Spears’ court hearing on her conservatorship happened yesterday. This was the first time in thirteen years Britney was allowed to speak at length to the court about her conservatorship and what it has done to her. Britney was put under the conservatorship in 2008, with her father Jamie Spears acting as conservator. Over the years, Jamie has brought in various people to help him with the business and financial side, but the whole time he’s maintained control of Britney as a person, controlling what doctors she sees, controlling what medical treatment she receives, vetting who she dates and who she hangs out with. It’s been problematic for years, but I think even the people who had been following Britney’s situation this whole time were surprised by what Britney had to say. You can read her full statement here.
Being put on lithium as punishment for not wanting to do the Vegas residency: “So I remember telling my assistant, but y’know what I feel weird if I say no, I feel like they’re gonna come back and be mean to me or punish me or something. Three days later, after I said no to Vegas, my therapist sat me down in a room and said he had a million phone calls about how I was not cooperating in rehearsals, and I haven’t been taking my medication. All this was false. He immediately, the next day, put me on lithium out of nowhere. He took me off my normal meds I’ve been on for five years. And lithium is a very, very strong and completely different medication compared to what I was used to. You can go mentally impaired if you take too much, if you stay on it longer than five months. But he put me on that and I felt drunk. I really couldn’t even take up for myself. I couldn’t even have a conversation with my mom or dad really about anything.
Her dad forced her into a two-week facility: “I cried on the phone for an hour and he loved every minute of it. The control he had over someone as powerful as me — he loved the control to hurt his own daughter 100,000%. He loved it. I packed my bags and went to that place. I worked seven days a week, no days off, which in California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking. Making anyone work against their will, taking all their possessions away — credit card, cash, phone, passport — and placing them in a home where they work with the people who live with them. They all lived in the house with me, the nurses, the 24-7 security. There was one chef that came there and cooked for me daily during the weekdays. They watched me change every day — naked – morning, noon and night. My body – I had no privacy door for my room.”
Why she’s saying this now: “And that’s why I’m telling you this again two years later, after I’ve lied and told the whole world “I’m OK and I’m happy.” It’s a lie. I thought I just maybe if I said that enough maybe I might become happy, because I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. You know, fake it till you make it. But now I’m telling you the truth, OK? I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry it’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day.
Her lawyer didn’t tell her how to end the conservatorship: “I want changes, and I want changes going forward. I deserve changes. I was told I have to sit down and be evaluated, again, if I want to end the conservatorship. Ma’am, I didn’t know I could petition the conservatorship to end it. I’m sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly didn’t know that. But honestly, but I don’t think I owe anyone to be evaluated. I’ve done more than enough. I don’t feel like I should even be in room with anyone to offend me by trying to question my capacity of intelligence, whether I need to be in this stupid conservatorship or not. I’ve done more than enough.
She will not comply with these people anymore: “Now, going forward, I’m not willing to meet or see anyone. I’ve met with enough people against my will. I’m done. All I want is to own my money, for this to end, and my boyfriend to drive me in his f–king car. And I would honestly like to sue my family, to be totally honest with you. I also would like to be able to share my story with the world, and what they did to me, instead of it being a hush-hush secret to benefit all of them. I want to be able to be heard on what they did to me by making me keep this in for so long, it is not good for my heart. I’ve been so angry and I cry every day. It concerns me, I’m told I’m not allowed to expose the people who did this to me.
Having an IUD against her will: “I would like to progressively move forward and I want to have the real deal, I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby, I have a (IUD) inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant. I wanted to take the (IUD) out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have children – any more children. So basically, this conservatorship is doing me waaay more harm than good.
The IUD story is both devastating and unsurprising, if that makes sense. This whole time, Britney Jean has just wanted to be married with kids, to be a wife and mom. Her conservatorship has rendered that impossible, and clearly, Jamie Spears and her doctors have told her repeatedly that she shouldn’t have any more kids. They also want to maintain control over her, and legally she can’t decide to marry while she’s under a conservatorship. It’s a reproductive rights issue, it’s a disability rights issue and it’s a mental health issue all together. Her lawyer isn’t doing the job though – it’s an incredible moment for Britney to be able to say this, using her own voice. But it should have come alongside a petition to end the conservatorship. It’s absolutely heart-wrenching to hear that everything we suspected about Britney’s situation was true, and not just that, it was so much worse than we thought.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Apparently her “lawyer” is making 10k a week off of this, and has been for years. He’s siphoned nearly 7 mil from her imprisonment. Lotta people making a lotta money off of this. I think someone needs to be disbarred, I want to know if the judge was paid off all these years, and criminal charges may be appropriate in some cases, including her father’s.
She is the family’s cash cow – that’s no surprise. In addition to paying her own lawyer, she is also paying her father’s team of lawyers and media consultants who are fighting her tooth and nail. I feel badly for her, and I also wonder how many other women are in a similar situation?
The fact that they have been making money off a person with mental health illness is heartbreaking. They should all be ashamed of themselves. If she is healthy enough to work, then she should be able to take control of some aspects of her life, especially over her body.
don’t forget that her brother and mother work for her too (her sister doubtlessly benefits as well).
Wow! At some point when I read that he was a court appointed attorney, I thought it was along the lines of a public defender and not someone on Jamie‘s payroll. So clearly a conflict of interest. That also answers my question as to why he never informed her that she could end the conservatorship by applying to do so. God. That poor woman.
Her attorney should be disbarred. This whole story is disgusting.
Thats what I thought too! So her own attorney did not tell her she could petition to end it? That is so fucked up.
The court has shown an appalling lack of respect for Brittany’s human and civil rights.
In the Free Britney documentary, they explained that the judge overruled her choice of lawyer (someone incredibly experienced in conservatorship cases) and forced Jamie’s choice on her. Beyond the lawyer, the behavior of the original judge has been HIGHLY suspicious.
Do we know if this is a different judge?
@Mich, yes it’s a different judge according to the New York Times article. Although this judge has also ruled against her for I forget what, but left the door open for Britney to reapply? Ack. My memory. I think the judge refused to remove Jamie, but at least he/she is letting Britney speak for herself, and it hasn’t been kept under seal like all that has gone before, which to me is one of the dodgiest parts of this whole thing. The link to the article is in the previous Britney post if you’re interested.
I’m so confused about applying to end the conservatorship. Didn’t the NYT publish an article just this week that said she had been trying to end it for years? But yesterday she said she didn’t know she could. Did her lawyers apply to end the conservatorship, but didn’t involve her that much? Or was the NYT article completely inaccurate?
Tiffany
I’m not familiar with the article you’ve referenced, but I think it’s a matter of splitting words. Brit wants to end the conservatorship. She also wants freedom from her father. I think she said one, but meant the other. I think people in her life mislead and don’t correct her to keep her in the dark.
And what a dark life she’s been living. Holy hell!
Her whole family and every medical staff and court staff involved all need to be exposed and thrown in jail.
Where are her mother and sister in this also? Was everyone against her or just living in fear of father?
The poor little thing. The poor, dearest person. I’m just heartbroken for her and so disgusted and sickened that she has suffered so profoundly. Not allowing her to control her reproductive health! Not allowing her to spend her own money, choose her own staff! Her father taking 4x her ‘allowance’ (as if she were 14 years old) every month to abuse her! It is vomitous.
Yeah and ask yourself, who chose that lawyer?
…
Exactly.
She says later on that she was not allowed to choose her own lawyer. This is so sad and harkens back to the days when women were labeled “hysteric” and thrown into asylums for the rest of their lives just so men could control them and their wealth, or if they dissented in any way from what was deemed “normal” behavior. There’s something so deeply horrifying and abusively misogynistic about this, I just can’t. Poor Britney. They should have to pay her back. She has been working since she was a kid. That money is hers.
Good point.
there is absolutely no reason for him to be paid that much. He can’t file an accounting? my goodness, she has been held hostage in front of our eyes!
Britney has literally been held hostage for over a decade and what she has told the judge, it’s apparent that all of her freedoms have been violated. I am glad that Britney has finally been able to speak her truth, and it is more appalling than everyone expected. I couldn’t imagine doing this to my own child. Jamie Spears is certainly an evil and manipulative POS.
I hope that this judge finally allows her her freedom that she has clearly deserved for years. Every medical and and professional staff should be barred or have their licenses revoked.
It’s apparent that Jamie and the rest of his conniving group took full advantage of her in her poor state and realized what a lucrative game they had developed, she was their golden goose, so to speak. I hope she files lawsuits against every player in this horrendous game that they have committed against Britney and that they pay, financially and personally, for their obvious crimes.
I’m not sure how it works in other states, but in the state where I live, the conservator does have to file accountings with the court. They’re not allowed to just do whatever they want with no oversight. I’d hazard a guess that Papa Spears has been greasing the wheels and/or conning any and everyone involved to keep this going for so long.
Her father is a deadbeat dad, a parasite and a vile pimp. The rest of them are disgusting, unethical leeches. The fact that this total control has been going on for so long, with very little if any, concessions or improvement \ in her favour, tells me that everyone – and I mean everyone her father engaged to maintain the status quo – has been and us on the take,Sshe’s not permitted to look After her own money because she has/d mental health issues, but it’s perfectly fine to have her working hard to keep them in style. They should all be stripped of their assets, restitution made to Britney, and then jailed.
I don’t know what it’s like in America, but in Australia, they would never have got away with this. A Power of Attorney (similar to conservatorship) may be put in place, but these are reviewed regularly. If the Commissiner is not satisfied that her needs and rights are being met/observed, he has the powers to appoint a new Power of Attorney, lawyer and anyone else, to ensure she and her assets are looked after properly. And as for deciding what medical treatments she gets, the Commissioner would chuck her father out just for trying to pulling that stunt. Their first question would have been along the lines of, “If this young woman is so mentally fragile that she needs a team to run her life, why is she being sent out to work so hard to pay millions per year to these people, but she’s given an allowance of little more than $100 000 per year?” Her father and his minions would have been out on their arses long before now.
Does she have anyone to fight for her? I’m so sad to hear what she’s gone through, and hope it’ll be sorted to her satisfaction very soon. I also hope that Britney finally speaking out will inspire other in the same situation to follow suit.
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That’s how it is supposed to work in the US as well, but it seems that Jamie was able to game the system by getting lawyers appointed for her who were willing to do his bidding instead of hers. There may also be a private judge involved as well, but I’m not sure. That’s got to be a huge part of the problem, because a truly impartial public judge holding hearings open to the public would have stopped this imho.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. If anyone has to be under a conservatorship there has to be someone/something/third uninterested party that checks in on the people and make sure that they are being properly taken care of. No one deserves to go through this.
It is. This is even worse than what some of us were expecting. It’s so sad how much was taken from Britney, and at the same time a relief hearing her speak for herself about her own experiences. By the way some of her statements are worded, it sounds like she could say more too. Nobody deserves to be treated that way, and hopefully she does get her freedom.
absolutely and being under a conservatorship should have protected her from not being taken advantage of if she had wanted to do the residency but should have prevented her from being forced to do it. all that time they were making it seem as though the residency was because she wanted it and now we know they not only didn’t even gain her assent for it, she was forced to do it. Her psychiatrist needs to be under ethical review – you don’t medicate someone to get them to perform or because they’re being uncooperative; if the doc was getting reports she was being uncooperative with rehearsals and non compliant with meds, the doc should have put the kibbosh on her performing, evaluated her compliance and med regimen and demand she be permitted to live away from the limelight
Right. Could she have a guardian ad litem? If she is legally not competent to handle her own affairs, she should (like a child would) get a GAL to help advocate for her best interests.
I listened to the audio of her statement which is up on YouTube and it’s even more devastating because she comes across so lucid and convincing. Most other people with mental health conditions, maybe they get committed for a few days or weeks, and when they are stabilized they get out and go on with their lives. Do what they want. They don’t have conservatorships. It’s so clear that this was solely so her family could control her and her money and keep living off her labor. My heart really broke from her when she said she wants a baby but not allowed to remove her iud, maybe that would not be the best decision given her mental health struggles but she should have the right to decide that.
I mean, you can bet Kayne is having more kids.
This is just so horrific.
Right?! But he’s a man Darla! That’s different.
I agree.
All this story is horrific.
So true.
I say this a person who has loved ones both male and female who have BP, but can you not pit Kanye and Britney against one another in this to make a point? Implying that people with any sort of mental health should not be able to experience parenthood (man or woman) screams of eugenics talk already.
It is quite disgusting the way she has been treated and abused by her family. We don’t know what sort of ways Kanye could be exploited if and when he isn’t in the healthiest frame of mind. And you have no idea how black people often fall through the cracks with mental health care either. I do, as a black person, but I am not going to be bringing that up to justify what happens to white people suffering from mental health and be exploited by professionals and family alike.
@Mia while I don’t disagree with you, and I agree we shouldn’t pick out any celebrities and say they have similar mental health issues, especially since we don’t know the factual issues of their mental health. I think we can say historically males are less likely to be abused this way than females. I believe this was the real point of the comment. Yes we need to fix our whole acceptance and ideas about mental health, but in regards to Britney specifically it is also caught in a lot of sexism too.
Kanye doesn’t have to carry the kids while on psychotropic drugs, the impact of which are unknown on a fetus. She is a mentally ill young woman. Taking her off meditation could be extremely harmful to her and leaving her on could be extremely harmful to a baby.
The whole time I was listening, I kept thinking, “This is the woman they say has dementia?” She is clear, she is lucid, she knows what she is saying. Yes she was speaking very fast, but my thought was that she wanted to get it out, was probably afraid of getting shut down or cut off, etc. She also made concreate points – she can teach complex choreography to a team of dancers but she’s incapable of making basic life decisions? Dementia, my ass.
where did they say she had dementia? I’d heard diagnosis of BPD or schizophrenia but not dementia (and people with BPD/schizophrenia who are appropriately medicated can lead normal lives and work in their fields)
@pottymouth pup – Dementia has been listed on court documents filled out by her father. It was addressed in the NYT documentary.
This is something I’ve been wondering about for a while. Like, was she truly diagnosed with something? Or was she battling drug withdrawal and postpartum depression at the time? Has there ever even been a final diagnosis or a second opinion by an independent doctor? I feel like this isn’t something people allow you to talk about because mental health is a serious issue, and we shouldn’t be armchair doctors or whatever. Still, she sounds lucid here, and in that documentary right after her breakdown, she sounded so much better. I’ve always felt like wondering something so serious would be considered conspiracy theory, but clearly, so was the #freebritney movement. Now we see that it wasn’t a conspiracy at all. I’m not saying she doesn’t have a mental illness; I’m just wondering if they took the proper steps to diagnose her accurately.
I think at one point during a biography she said she was diagnosed as bi-polar. I have also “heard or read” that she may have a dual diagnosis though nothing specific. It would not at all surprise me if her ‘dementia’ and other accusations from her Father were caused or facilitated by meds.
This is what I think about most with her, yes she had a mental breakdown but she had been working nonstop for years at that point, then had two babies back to back and her marriage imploded, she was followed 24/7 by paparazzi and every move was scrutinized, almost anyone would lose their mind or turn to drugs like she did. She seems so different the last 13 years, they are without a doubt drugging her beyond belief and using mental illness as an excuse.
@Jess excellent point. Those postpartum hormone fluctuations are no joke. Throwing in everything else she was dealing with-I think most women in her situation would be likely to have a breakdown.
At this poiny, I don’t believe a single thing they have said about her. She may be depressed, who wouldn’t seeing what they’ve done to her, but as for everything else I think she is lucid and very much capable of anything.
THIS! People with bipolar disorder can have normal jobs, have a family, live a life sans conservatorship. Once stabilized with meds and exercise, they are great! This is bullshit what britney is facing. Such a twist of lies and deceit. Get her her own lawyer to shut it down!
That’s what struck me. The long train of thought, how lucid she was. She talked for about 20 minutes, and she didn’t get tongue tied very often at all.
Yes she was quite articulate, even when the judge asked her to slow down speaking – she was just eager to speak her truth to the judge. I got the impression that the judge seemed shocked by what she heard and impressed by how Brit came across.
Emotions can make people speak quickly, and no doubt her heart was pumping to finally have a chance to share her experiences with the judge and the public. I think the judge seemed impressed as well. I know I was.
Yeah, listening to that was infuriating. She sounded nervous and fed up, but absolutely lucid.
I listened to the audio too and it was shocking really. She was talking so fast as well, because you could tell she wanted to say EVERYTHING but it has been 13 years of abuse!!
I came away from it thinking she wanted a break from performing, back after she had her babies so close together, and her hormones were all over the place. She had that breakdown etc., and they were terrified she’d stop making them money. She needed to keep them all rich. Plus, they’d probably spent so much of her money already before they had complete control over it, they needed her to make some more before they lost control over her. It’s so disgusting. If her Dad didn’t have control over her money, and in turn used it to pay off everyone of his enablers this would not have gone on so long.
AND where is her ex husband?? Him, and his wife and their kids are all living off of this poor enslaved workhorse. It’s so gross!! Why didn’t he advocate for her? Well I know the answer… money.
She also mentioned a few times how she had to be a ‘good girl’ and I thought how disgusting, they are treating her like a child. And she IS a good person, so she went along with it even though she knew it wasn’t right. They also drugged her!!! The IUD!!
Shocking. Disgusting. If this were a horror movie, we’d say it was an unbelievable, farfetched plot.
Okay, some things that struck me: the lithium thing. That really shook me, because, as I’ve said here before, I’ve been on lithium before. For anybody who might not know, it is almost exclusively used for the treatment of bipolar disorder. It is also a very, VERY powerful drug, especially in high doses. Its whole point is to prevent the serious mood swings that happen in bipolar people – it holds you “in the middle” of the mood spectrum. But at high doses especially, it can have the effect of almost, I guess, “anesthetizing” you – you can find it hard to feel much of anything. I was on it for a while and truthfully, I can tell you that if I was facing a lifetime on it, I probably would not be here now (this is not to argue it is useless or never helpful, but it wasn’t for me). It also troubles me that she stated that she was on another medical regime for years before and did not want it changed – that is major alarm bells for me. It sounds like they used the lithium to try to make her more compliant or “manageable.”
At the bare minimum, everybody involved with her needs to be removed – all of them, no exceptions, and a neutral 3rd party needs to be appointed – one who is paid by the courts and will not have a financial interest in Britney. And that is at the minimum. Otherwise, she needs to be free.
The medicine change thing shocked me. I have no idea what she was on before that, but often with those kinds of psychiatric meds you need to wean off them. .And to take her off and just put her on lithium?? Like you said it seems like it was about making her more compliant.
Lithium also requires routine bloodwork, because if it builds up in your bloodstream too quickly, you can suffer renal issues. She pointed that out – she said “the nurses take vials of my blood.” That’s because of the lithium use. How terrible to be subject to invasive procedures you don’t want – or likely need!
I do understand that sometimes, drugs can lose their effectiveness over time and small tweaks to a regime might be needed, but this sounds like a major change was just done for reasons other than Britney’s health.
Her father even referred to this before – he said she’s like a racehorse that needs to be “managed.” And that’s her father!
Changing meds like that is straight up malpractice. I hope Brittany is freed from her conservatorship and sues everyone who abused her.
I kind of wonder what was happening when she said she went to the facility and was monitored nonstop for a week or two. I wonder if that was because a change in meds might lead to issues (like dangerous thoughts), or if it was in response to suspected recreational drug use (why did they search her body?).
There are legit medical reasons for some treatments that might seem harsh to the patient, but right now I don’t give the people taking care of her the benefit of the doubt. But I do leave a teeeeny tiny place for possible legitimate reasons that we are unaware of.
Yes, that was awful too! And when she said that she got down on her knees and thanked God when the doctor died. That’s how abusive he was to her. Sigh.
Agree with all you say.
and the part about her psychiatrist saying he had been getting calls about her not cooperating at practices. even children after they are like 14 have some legal rights of confidentiality with a therapist. this sounds like the therapist was taking orders directly from “those in charge” and not listening to her at all. it’s all just very awful and backward forcing someone to take medication against their will, not because they pose a danger to themselves or others, but because the guy paying my bills said you’re not motivated at work.
As someone who has mental health struggles, this is absolutely terrifying. To see what can happen to a young woman in a “civilized” country, that her reproductive rights are taken, her bodily autonomy is taken, she is financially controlled, it’s claimed she has no capacity to make any of her own choices yet can be forced out to work to pay the salaries of the people keeping her imprisoned. This is terrifying, why are people not taking to the streets?
Yes it is REALLY scary. I was recently in inpatient treatment for the first time in my life (and many people I met there were first timers because COVID has done a huge number on many people’s lives – don’t be afraid to seek help friends you are not alone, help is out there!).
You really have to hand yourself over and have trust that the professionals will do right by you. For me, I was very well cared for and the main thing I needed was to be able to sleep and then to be able to eat. They had me feeling more lucid and safe in just three days, and I was released in a week.
What happened to Britney is enough to scare vulnerable people AWAY from seeking help! I’m glad I didn’t know about these details when I decided it was time for me to get inpatient help, a very scary decision. I hope an example is made of the people who took advantage of her mental illness to this insane extent. This whole incident will scare people away from the help they need.
I am so glad you got the help you needed – I had to ask for help for the first time too because covid definitely brought my issues to the surface. I just cannot effing believe that any judge or doctor would agree that someone capable of working the way Britney has, should not have autonomy.
Reading what Britney had to say made me tear up. I don’t know if it was just because of her anger over all this, but she came across as surprisingly eloquent here (and I don’t mean to insult her. I’m sure her image of being shallow and ignorant was likely the cumulative work of all the toxic “handlers” she’s had over the years). I’m so proud of her for speaking up so passionately in her own defense.
How the fuck is it legal for them to decide she has to have an IUD? How is that any different from the former practice of sterilizing those whom society deemed too “defective” to have kids? Her father is a fucking monster.
This is insane. From her past behavior she clearly needs meds and monitoring but a forced iud? What amounts to house arrest? Forced labour? How is this legal? People with actual severe mental health issues can’t even see a doctor and many are living on the streets.
I do not agree that because of her past behavior she needs monitoring? Why?
If everyone who acts out or up or makes poor life choices was monitored we would all be under some form of that oppressive destructive system that was put in place for Britney.
Do not buy the media and her family’s narrative that she is so disabled she needs lifetime monitoring.
It is easy to see how it was all a false narrative agreed upon to control her for her money.
Do you think this would have ever happened to her if she made 35 grand a year all her life?
No i do not think that a Jane doe with mental I’ll es would be treated the same. That’s why I mentioned all the regular people who have no access to mental health care. If she wants access to her kids someone should be making sure she takes her meds.
Someone should be making sure she takes her meds and that person is her or another person of HER choosing. She was all of 25 years old when the entire world watched her break down- over a decade ago. She does not “clearly need” meds and monitoring today and the fact that members of the public who have absolutely no psychiatric expertise are willing to assume anything about her mental health as a fact or even an assumption is why her family and handlers have been able to victimize her for over a decade.
“If she wants access to her kids someone should be making sure she takes her meds.”
Huh!? Why?! Seriously — why? Because she hit a car with an umbrella when photographers wouldn’t leave her the eff alone? Because she was even then being horribly exploited? Why would that make her unfit to be with her kids?! Why would that justify pumping her up with drugs? She’s capable of headlining in Vegas but not of parenting her own children?
It’s absolutely horrifying to learn that what we suspected about Britney was right – but was only partly right, because it’s so much worse.
Everything she said was heartbreaking. She really drove home the point that the conservatorship existed solely to control her and to make her work so she could keep making them all money. That’s why they don’t want her to get pregnant. That means time off work.
I still don’t understand how a conservatorship can apply in her case. It was originally set up if a person was in a coma or unable to communicate. That has never been the case with Britney. Even having a bad breakdown is not enough to justify any of this. And of course if Britney didn’t have a lot of money, no one would have bothered. While I am not surprised that her father tried to do this, why would a court not see that this is a horrible situation?
Conservatorships can be used in any instance where a court finds that a person is mentally incapable of caring for themselves or acting in their own best interest. I have no idea if, back in 2008, Britney needed one. Maybe she did. BUT what is weird is that its gone on this long. Most conservatorships are very short in duration, or, if they do go on a long time, go on with the permission of the person subject to them. Most of them set regular hearings (usually every few months) where the court will re-assess if it is still needed. A conservatorship is, after all, a serious imposition on individual liberty and freedom, so the general view is that they should be 1.) as short as possible and 2.) as least restrictive as possible.
My concern is 1.) why has it been allowed to go on this long without attention from the court and 2.) has her attorney been advising her appropriately? Clearly not, since she says she had no idea she could even ask to get out! My sincere hope is that somebody files a complaint against her attorney, because he has failed her spectacularly. She has clearly wanted out for a long time, and her attorney is supposed to represent her.
I think she didn’t help the court understand her situation as well because she didn’t come forward.. Not saying it’s her fault at all, she was being a ‘good girl’ and listening to what she needed to do and by then so brainwashed that it was easier to agree I’m sure. She said she didn’t even KNOW she could petition to end it!! Poor thing. She is still young enough to get out of this and try to enjoy being a mother to a baby. That was stolen from her the first time.
I feel awful for thinking she must have deserved to not have custody if it was not awarded to her… but judges / doctors / etc. don’t always have the patient’s best interests at heart. I also read that she wasn’t actually ever diagnosed as incompetent or unable to make her own decisions…
@Nic919 – I think originally the conservatorship was set up because Britney was deemed at risk of falling under the influence of ‘unsuitable’ people who might try to take advantage of her, or her finances. the irony being, of course, that Britney’s own conservators have been the ones ruthlessly exploiting and abusing her since 2008.
Amanda Bynes has also been under a conservatorship since 2013, I think, for mental health issues.
Yes. Her father wasn’t so much concerned about the money going away for her sake as for his. I get the sense that he thinks he owns her, therefore he feels it is his God-given right to make decisions about *his* money.
IIRC it was originally set up to protect her from Lutfi, Adnan, her mother and lawsuits. She was bleeding money left, right and centre. It should never have lasted this long.
Apart from public outrage I think the smartest thing to do at this point is to boycott all of her concerts, music, everything, until she is free and she is the only one profiting from her work.
I hope she does sue her family for profiting from her illness and acting to maintain it. Damn.
I hope she can, too. When she says she family didn’t do a thing to help her, it made me so sad. They’re just going about doing whatever they want to do and don’t care that their sister, who made them all tons of money, is being used like this. ugh.
Yes, I would love to see her take her parents to court and have all the dirty launder aired. Jamie and Lynne have a lot to answer for – Brit even said yesterday that they both view her in the same way. Lynne was just as controlling as Jamie is. IIRC her brother was also on the payroll, taking what he could get for doing nothing.
There are reasons Lynne ‘rekindled’ her romance with Jamie when he became conservator. It’s the same reason why she sided with Brit to get him removed – Lynne has ALWAYS wanted in on the scam.
I think her sister is suspect too. They all live the high life and haven’t had jobs in years.
I did not read any comments by Britney addressing that she no longer has a cognitive deficit or psychological problems that impact her ability to live independently. I could not find a transcript of her comments. To convince the judge, she has to demonstrate that she can successfully compensate for whatever deficits she has. She did not do that, from what I read, so I would not get hopes too high. She needs a neuropsychological evaluation to identify her deficits and evaluate if her compensation strategies are working. That would be far more convincing. It’s unfortunate and it sucks for her but she did have severe enough deficits at least at one time that either was a danger to herself or was deemed incompetent. To be deemed competent one has to be able to say what their deficits are and what could happen if the recommendations are not followed. If she can do that she should be able to make her own decisions. She would even be allowed not to follow the recommendations because people are entitled to bad decisions if that’s what they chose.
As many people have speculated though, it’s entirely possible that Britney’s breakdown in 2007/8 was the product of post-partum depression, precipitated and/or exacerbated by extremely intrusive press and essentially being stalked by the paparazzi – not necessarily due to chronic mental health issues or ‘deficits’, as you call them.
As Britney pointed out in her statement yesterday, her conservators argue that she is too unwell to live independently yet they force her to rehearse and perform 7 days a week. It’s exploitation, pure and simple.
I am not arguing that she has good conservators. I am saying she did not make a convincing case because she did not address the root issue. If she asked her healthcare providers for one, they would be willing to send her for and updated neuropsychological eval. Even if she has a chronic mental illness or cognitive deficit it doesn’t mean she is not competent to make her own decisions. That what should be established. Otherwise she is really just saying her current conservators suck. Which maybe they do?
@Christa: We have not heard everything. If you listen to the audio of her testimony, the judge stopped it because people were recording and streaming it.
Britney is also VERY lucid in her testimony if you listen to the audio. It would be extremely odd (and suspicious) for the judge to say Britney hasn’t proved she can make up for whatever “deficits” she has (and tbh, I’m not sure that’s an accurate word to use here). The judge has already made some pretty suspicious calls, granted, but Britney’s testimony does call into question the assumption that she can’t function in her daily life. She very clearly behaved normally and communicated her feelings. There are a number of celebrities who can’t manage that and still aren’t under conservatorships.
@Christa makes sound points. It’s horrifying to think of Britney, or any young woman, living in a situation where she unfairly has no control over her own life. But her situation back in 2008 was very serious, compounded by her fame and wealth which made potential exploitation a serious issue. She was thoroughly examined by licensed professionals and the court was convinced – at that time – that she needed a conservatorship. Her father was found at that time to be the best option. She also lost all legal and physical custody of her sons, supporting the seriousness of her health.
Whether she still needs a conservatorship now – or whether she needs new conservators – will be the decision of the court, informed by multiple professionals. We, the public, won’t be privy to the main details of her health status due to privacy law – rightfully so. We won’t be in a position to make a judgment, nor should we. It’s positive that fans and the public care, but it’s not a consideration. Only Britney’s needs should be.
It upsetting to to think that she’s the victim of a kind of evil scheme, involving dozens of people including her own family members. But the truth is more complex than what we see or hear, superficially. Her witty social media posts, or lucid appearance in one court appearance, isn’t enough to come to conclusions about a serious situation. Her medical records are sealed to the public, for good reason (HIPAA/privacy) and will stay that way.
@TheOtherSam
I am surprised you have so much faith in the courts at this point, given there have been multiple serious miscarriages of justice in Britney’s case. I agree she likely did need some protection in 2007/8, but it seems horrific that Britney’s entirely ineffective legal counsel – her only recourse when every other aspect of her life is controlled by the conservators, including her healthcare! – was appointed for her by the very people who had a significant financial interest in her conservatorship continuing in perpetuity.
I have no doubt that if the conservators needed to find some medical reason to justify the continuation of the conservatorship, they would be able to find a medical professional who would testify to it. After all, they clearly found someone who was willing to prescribe Britney lithium just as she began to push back on her exploitative schedule.
I’m sorry but WHAT EXACTLY did she do to warrant any of this?
We don’t even know if she ever HAD “deficits.” That could’ve been conveniently made up to get control of her money, and I believe it was. What she is saying (in the transcript, yes) is that she does NOT need any more evaluations, neuropsychological or otherwise. She’s saying she’s done enough, has submitted enough, for YEARS. She doesn’t have to convince anyone; all the records of all of her evaluations are in her medical history. To say, “well, Britney, you haven’t proven you’re sane yet.” is complete horseshit.
Remember the incident when she shaved her head and whacked at a car with an umbrella? I always regarded that as very SANE behavior, given her circumstances. I always suspected there was a lot of pressure on her, a lot of manipulation, a lot of stealing, and that was her way of lashing out against it. She was angry, and RIGHTFULLY so. She wanted OUT. But, hey, an angry woman must be nuts, right?
It’s a system designed to control her money. Having a breakdown is not sufficient to have warranted all of this. Britney had a right to spend all her money in unreasonable ways because it is her money. There are a ton of people who have had the same kinds of mental health issues as Britney and yet they don’t get placed in this situation… why? Because they didn’t make their family millions.
If what you are saying is true, it would mean that her healthcare providers all committed malpractice and were part of a conspiracy. I personally don’t have access to her medical records but I don’t think anyone would risk their medical license to help her conservators or family control her.
Well, it’s not like the world isn’t full of shady doctors.
From what I can remember it was speculated that the head shaving incident was more to do with drugs testing – remember at that time she was taking drugs and partying with Paris Hilton etc.. Lutfi was also feeding her drugs as well. She was fighting with KFed over custody and I think he was forcing her (or trying) to get regular drug tests in order to see the children.
FYI
I agree
I mean Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin- they have lashed out MANY times at paparazzi
Who by the way we’re not nearly as invasive as they were in Bs case. People don’t remember but when Brit attacked the windshield with the umbrella, the entire media eco system has turned on her. They were calling her unfit. The same people who loved her were thrilled to tear her down. A pic of her with the shaved head went for a million – US Weekly was paying a million to get that pic. (I know that just watching the NYT piece on her made me so ragey- I for sure would’ve lost it Baldwin style- but hey crazy women am I right???)
So we were ALL COMPLICIT and we ALL wrote that narrative.
It’s sexist, misogynistic, patriarchal, hypocritical BS. And I am fed up.
FREE BRITNEY
Absolutely all of this.
We don’t actually know if there is anything actually wrong with her mentally. If there were things going on in 2007 – 2008, we can’t have any clue that they still exist today, 13 years later.
Angry women are always called crazy women.
Rich women too have been called crazy so that the world will excuse the theft of their wealth. None of this is new.
@Christa Really? Tell that to the doctors who treated Michael Jackson. There are plenty of MDs in Hollywood ready and willing to do shady things for cash. Don’t kid yourself.
She spoke quite plainly about being able to work as much as she did, to direct the choreography of her shows… she can function quite well in her work so I fail to see how she could be called incapable by anyone. Regardless, every single person associated with this conservatorship should be removed immediately.
She’s not allowed a say in her own medical care. How would she get these evaluations?
This is something that a good provide would recommend. Especially if the patient feels they don’t have deficits because it would provide an opportunity to both demonstrate what the deficits are and if she has shown she has improved may make her eligible fir higher levels of independence. If it’s recommended that she have one by a provider, then any conservator or guardian who does not follow the medical recommendations could be found to be negligent. This might be a better case for Social Services to open an investigation to see if she’s receiving appropriate care and not being abused.
Most people with “deficits” that merit a conservatorship can’t work, and she’s worked almost the entire 13 years. In addition, very few conservatorships are total. For example, they may cover finances, but not healthcare. Or healthcare but not finances. They’re supposed to allow the person to have as much control over their lives as they are capable of. If she has the capacity to work a daily Vegas residency, which is the equivalent of a full-time job, something is very, very wrong here.
Agree with everyone.
The part where she talked about being forced to go to therapy where they know paparazzi would be waiting for her, taking pictures of her crying, etc. As an outside observer her fear/hate of paparazzi is obvious. Why would they ever put her in a situation where she would be near paparazzi? (Anyone with her best interest at heart would not.)
Sound like the were/are trying to drive her to suicide. They are all evil p*mps and wants the proceeds of HER hard works all for themselves. Beyond heartbreaking but I’m not sure they will change anything about this sadly.
I think a lot of this is meant to convince the public that she is “crazy.” Being papped going to therapy, crying, feeling frustrated. Being put on Lithium that made her feel drunk all the time. So many people were saying that based on her Instagram videos where she seemed “out of it” that she totally needed to be in this conservatorship. Sending her to these intensive in patient therapy things that are so invasive you don’t even get a door or get to change in private all add to the list of “evidence” that she’s crazy because people think “if there wasn’t something seriously wrong with her she wouldn’t be in that facility.”
The use of facilities and medication to punish someone is so triggering for me. My mind would check me into inpatient mental health facilities and claim that I had a whole list of behavioral, mental, and drug use issues on the paperwork. They’d start me on meds that I had to take because I was a minor and they check to make sure you’re swallowing everything. You don’t have a say in your treatment. When you try to explain that you’re not crazy and defiant and insane, they take that all as evidence of the “pathological lying disorder” that my mom claimed I had. There was no way to get out unless you agreed that you were very, very sick and very, very naughty and that your parents were totally right and just loved and cared for you so much. You had to play along. Once they decided you were “better” enough to go, they’d schedule a family visit where your parents had to come and talk to you and agree. My mom would routinely come for these things and then say she didn’t think I was sufficiently better or contrite yet, and they would keep me. She would also make me go to therapists and then she would get the therapists to tell her everything I said. I desperately needed therapy because living with her and dealing with all of this stuff was so difficult and confusing and it made me want to die. But I couldn’t be honest with my therapist. And she seemed to also be able to make suggestions for which meds I should be put on, because I was a minor, so her evaluation of me was considered to be more truthful and accurate than any symptoms I self-reported or said I didn’t have. So she was get me prescribed things and then make sure that I took them at home. It was awful. People don’t really understand how little agency you have over your own health care when you’re a minor, or in Britney’s case under conservatorship. Because you’re the “crazy one,” and your parent/conservator “just wants you to get better,” doctors, nurses, therapists, psychiatrists listen to the parent/conservator and dismiss anything that the actual patient has to say as delusions that stem from their mental health problems or “drug use.”
Meant to say “my *mom would check me into facilities…” Not “my mind.”
I am so sorry that happened to you, Amy Too. *big hugs*
@Amy Too
I’m so sorry this happened to you. Your posts are among the best written and most thoughtful ones I read on this site. It’s clear that your intelligence was recognized and being controlled by those who knew that they only held cunning and manipulative power over you for some time. I hope you were able to heal from this and grow into your full power.
I’m at a loss reading this. How sad and just gut ripping. My heart goes out to her. The last five sentences of what Kaiser wrote are more than fact and bring to light that even in 2021 we women can be left powerless and stripped of our decency and if it can be done to a powerhouse like Spears, imagine what a woman without a public face endures.
This is horrific and she’s right in what she said – it’s abusive. How can this have gone on for so long with no objective third party looking out for her well-being? It’s unreal how she’s been taken advantage of for over a decade and its somehow legal.
Two things happen at the same time. Her father is a hole at the same time britney might be mentally I’ll. Her having with much younger ones is the clear that she is not well. Those men wants her money . Having baby and divorce and then these men ask for child support because she earn more than them. I think she already done this with her ex . She should first seek help before having babies.
Part of the whole issue though is that she can’t just “seek help” – her father picks her doctors, controls her medicine, etc. She’s not getting help that is designed to actually help her – she’s getting help that is designed to keep her under her father’s control (and help that will say “no she shouldn’t have more children.”)
Ok, Hanna. But Let’s carry that same energy for Nick Cannon, Future, Chet Hanks, etc.
^^^^^THIS FOREVER^^^^^^^
+1.
The thing is though, we don’t really know if she’s *that* ill. It’s the image the conservators are selling – that she’s broken and only they can help her… by controlling her entire life.
The conservators are trying to protect Britney from others just like them – manipulative hanger-ons that want her money. That’s why they’re fighting so hard – takes one to know one 😉
Exactly. I’m not saying she has nothing at all, but… they act like she has dementia, but then is only bipolar, but then she would die without them, but she can work cause it’s good for her…then her psychiatrist get a phone call from her MANAGER saying she isn’t taking her meds, not consulting her or the nurses who actually administer the drugs to her, and suddenly changes it to a much stronger one… sounds shady as hell. And as it is such a sensitive subject, people get mad if we doubt her disease. There are a LOT of mental illnesses that are not incapacitating and can be managed through therapy and medication but don’t turn the user into a zombie. How scary is it to think that they took someone battling PPD and did this to her?
Yes! Her father and his lawyer spent a huge amount of money — I forget how much — to have a PR company on the payroll to make them look right and her look incapable of looking after herself. Gaslighting.
As long as she isn’t a danger to herself or others, these are her mistakes to make. People don’t get conservatorships places on them because they make poor decisions, but because they are mentally incapacitated. Even if the court determines she is incapacitated, there’s no reason why her father, who has a clear conflict of interest, should be her conservator.
Exactly! If having questionable taste in men is grounds for being put into a conservatorship, well, a substantial number of American women going to be catapulted back to the nineteenth century.
This, absolutely.
You don’t get to make that decision. I’m a person with a mental illness, and I’m a mother of 5. They were all planned, wanted children. I am a good mother. You, nor anybody else, get to tell me that I would have been better off not having them because of my illness. Britney gets to make her own decisions about motherhood. The alternative is to be able to stand in judgment of who “deserves” to be a parent, and no good can come of that. It is not for you or I to decide what Britney can do.
That’s right Sam! People with mental illness can still be damn good moms and shouldn’t have to miss out on their lives because others deem them unworthy or incapable of raising children.
Not all mental illnesses are the same though, Sam.
My brother has paranoid schizophrenia and that runs in the male line in my family. Thank God he didn’t get married or have children. However, as a consequence of the issue re-occurring over and over again I didn’t have children either.
So it depends on what you have, if it’s a serious mental illness it’s better not to have kids (I don’t think this is the case of Britney, just trying to make a point).
Bipolar disorder, which is my condition, is a serious mental illness. Would you say to my face that I should never have had my children?
The point is not whether YOU think it is advisable for any individual to have children our not. The point is that you should NEVER be able to make that decision for anybody else. Oh, and by the way, I have met multiple people with schizophrenia who have children, and they are great parents. They take their condition seriously and treat it, and guess what? They do just fine. When you say you think people with serious mental illness should not have children, you are basically saying our illnesses render us incapable of being good parents. Would you tell a person with cancer that they should never have kids, even if they can get into remission? What about a Type 1 Diabetic? A person with a genetic disease (my sister has one of those, and she’s expecting her second).
All you reveal in your statements is your own bigotry. You believe us incapable of being good parents. And please don’t try that “it’s about not passing on the illness” line. All that promotes is the idea that a life with mental illness is a life not worth living, and that’s crap as well.
Like it or not, reproductive rights are human rights. There is no tribunal who gets to decide whether or not Britney has “earned” another baby. If she wants another baby, she has the right to try for one, and she can communicate her needs (and possible past PPD experience) to her doctor. She communicated her wishes just fine in the testimony. She can do it again. Right now, she’s being ignored and her human rights are being violated.
If you watched the documentary, it actually appeared that she was probably suffering from PPD (back to back babies), self medicating and was surrounded by paparazzi and crazy media coverage. Honestly, after what’s been done to her, it would not be surprising that she would have developed more emotional issues. That being said, there is truly no reason for her to have had her life controlled to this insane extent.
Someone here mentioned Kanye West, who has ton of unsolved issues and deals with mental problems on his own, if he decides to have a baby nobody is going to stop him.
Britney has a IUD and can’t decide on her own body this is a violation of her rights.
Kanye is a good example. When he is medicated properly, he is fully functional. He can work, go on extensive tours, and take care of his kids. When he is off his meds he kind of behaves in a similar way to when Britney had her breakdown. Strange rants, erratic behavior, questionable associations. Fortunately for Kanye, he isn’t under a conservatorship like Brit. So when he’s manic, he gets help and then he’s back to normal, free to live his life as he chooses. The Britney situation is straight up bizarre.
I saw a tweet that if britney was a man this would never have happened. If kanye isnt under a conservatorship, why is she?
@Meg I completely agree and have been thinking that for years.
It’s amazing to me how eager people are to insist a woman can’t be trusted to manage her own affairs. That her rights must be taken away indefinitely until she “proves” she deserves to have them back.
No one has ever suggested we treat male celebrities like this. I don’t see anyone forcing Charlie Sheen to have a vasectomy or prove that he has a right to manage his own money. No one did this to Robert Downey Jr or Tommy Lee or Steven Tyler.
There are so many men in the entertainment industry who’ve suffered with addiction and mental health issues. None of them had their rights taken away for over a decade. Why should Britney have to jump through so many hoops to prove herself? The double standard really pisses me off.
Wow. Just wow. Me thinks her conservators want to keep her working because it makes them money. How dare the money tree want to get pregnant. Me thinks they also don’t want her having any more kids or a husband because they will be take away money the conservators think they’re entitled to. Somedays, I just can’t handle the audacity, power, entitlement, greediness and evilness of man.
Thirteen years of this! It’s literally torture, she was a prisoner in her own home. I just don’t understand how anyone can allow this to go on and how people who are strangers to her (her fans) are the ones who started a grassroots campaign to save her, but her family is just fine to sponge off her millions. I’m disgusted to the core.
Britney’s dad and management is garbage but the officials who have made this abuse possible for them… ?!?
I want to see every single judge and doctor on this case be stripped off their licenses and put in jail.
Agree!
Can you even imagine if a woman tried to regulate a man’s body (and life) the same way they’re doing to Britney? Just look at Kanye – he get’s labelled a “genius”. Why is Kanye special, gifted and encouraged to follow his wildest whims, but Britney is broken, a danger and must be controlled? That’s the power of patriarchy.
Look at Charlie Sheen, whose breakdown was MUCH worse! Yet people are still out here arguing “she wouldn’t be in it if she didn’t need it.” She can’t win. Many men have had much worse breakdowns and were able to come back from them, or at least lead relatively normal lives. Britney doesn’t get that option because she’s a woman.
I agree – every single person who was supposed to be fair and looking out for her best interest has failed her. Hugely.
I want her to be free of this, and get a whole new team of people who truly want to help her. New laywers, new doctors, new money manager, etc. She should be able to live her life as she chooses, and if that means no more performing, no more touring, etc, so be it.
And I want those new lawyers to sue everyone who took advantage and siphoned away her millions to be sued into oblivion.
This every single one of them needs to be taken down. Get all, or as much because I’m sure they’ve spent or hidden a lot, of her money back as she can.
This is truly hearbreaking to read.
I love Britney’s music but I told a friend a few years back when the album Circus was released that I would not go see any of her concerts as I felt that she was being forced into performing to make money and she seemed out of it. It’s pretty obvious she just wants a normal, simple life being a wife and a mom.
Honestly they have exploited her for too long, let the woman be.
I agree! Friends would see her in Vegas and say how great it was – but in all the pictures, she doesn’t look like she’s having fun or enjoying herself. She looks dead inside. The fear she describes sounds very real and very overwhelming.
I’m genuinely curious where and how Jason Trawick fit into this. Because she wanted to marry him (so it seemed) and she seemed permitted more freedom at the time of his involvement in her life. And then it was over rather quickly. IIRC he was supposed to become her conservator when they got married. I wonder if he was going to “release her” and once her dad figured that out he wouldn’t permit the marriage to go forward.
I listened to the Britney and Pray podcast (I think that’s what it’s called?) mentioned on this site, and they speculated something similar. I guess there was talk of making Jason a conservator at one point, and Jamie liked Jason for awhile, but suddenly everything was over. Either Jason wanted to use Britney for her money (sadly possible) or they were working together to end the conservatorship and that fell through.
I think if Jason had wanted to use her for her money, the marriage would have gone through b/c he stood to basically be in Jaime’s current position. Or maybe he was going to cut Jaime/the rest of her family off so the wedding was called off? Either way, it seemed like she was happy and healthy when Jason was in the mix and once he was gone, her dad took over much greater control of her life.
I realize it’s not his chicken per se — but where is Kevin Federline in this mess? Quietly sitting back while she supports his family too?
Every swinging dick (and I mean that literally) in this story pisses me off.
Kevin almost certainly knew Jamie was doing something shady (stealing money? just a suspicion). Back when he asked for more money, Jamie originally said no, then Kevin asked to see Britney’s finances. Suddenly, Jamie turned around and gave Kevin more of Britney’s money. Kevin used her for his own financial gain, too. It’s awful how many people have failed Britney.
My understanding is that Kevin has been very supportive of her with visitation. And he has stepped in legally when Britney couldn’t – such as when Jamie attacked one of the children.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but Kevin is just as guilty of abusing Britney as her father. He has used her to support a lifestyle and his other children by dangling Britney’s sons in front of her in order to get paid. He likely gets more money than Britney does on a monthly basis.
It’s pretty sad to me that he’s sat quietly by and collected his checks during all this. He had to have known at least some of what was going on, but likely didn’t want to jeopardize his income.
Pretty sure that Britney being deemed fit to parent her kids and getting 50% of custody would decrease his child support. I’m not saying he is a bad father at all, or that he didn’t protect his kids, but let’s be honest: the dude doesn’t work, has like 4 other kids besides the ones he has with Britney. Him being the one with the kids most of the time, ensures the checks keep coming.
I listened to audio last night and it was so gut-wrenching. What stuck me the most was how she seemed to be very self-aware. It’s not like she’s arguing that she’s perfectly fine and doesn’t need treatment. She recognizes the fact that she needs to take medication. She just wanted to continue taking the ones that she’s been on for years and not be forced to take lithium against her will. She knows that she needs therapy. She wants to have her sessions in the privacy of her home, instead being hounded by paparazzi.
This all sounds perfectly reasonable. There are so many people with mental illnesses who manage to lead independent lives.
That was what actually got me too. While she talked a lot about not wanting to have to go to therapy 3x a week as she found it exhausting, upsetting, and didn’t like that they made her go to a place where she was vulnerable to being photographed by paparazzi while upset coming out, she pointed out that she had requested that somebody come to her, which under the circumstances seems perfectly reasonable, and that she only wanted to do therapy once a week. While at one point she said that she didn’t really agree with so much therapy, saying she’d rather give up her problems to God, she later on near the end sort of did this embarassed giggle and said something to the effect of “i do need some therapy.” To me that shows how totally lucid she actually is. I sort of wonder if forcing her to go more often than she wanted and forcing her to go to a center and be photographed by paparazzi were ways of mentally manipulating her about how “sick” she “really is” and also about manipulating the public’s image of her. All this more reasonable stuff like therapy coming to her, staying within parameters she’s more comfortable with, is too… reasonable, and stable, and reflective of her being able to decide things for herself, and would probably undermine the conservatorship.
I think it’s a really good thing that they made this hearing public.
#FREEBRITNEY. Do it NOW.
I am shocked, I couldn’t even imagine things were so bad. My heart aches for her and I’m so glad she was finally able to speak for herself.
I hope her dad and team will rot in jail, they are abusers and thieves. Her family too, who just lived off her money and never spoke up or helped her… Ffs, how can you do this to a person? To a daughter, a sister? It really breaks my heart.
I empathize with her but also have a different perspective and we are only hearing one side, not matter how difficult and painful her words were to read. My best friend is bi-polar, intermittently on lithium because it, at times, is the only thing that works, aside from electroconvulsive therapy, and is also under a conservatorship with her parents for 20 plus years at this point. To manage it she is on numerous medications, but is also closely monitored and has been hospitalized numerous times, for example when her meds seem to stop working and need to be adjusted, or she is feeling “normal” and opts out of taking them, etc. She went off meds completely twice in order to try and get pregnant and increase the odds of carrying a baby to term, both times she ended up in the hospital. She became pregnant twice while on medication, one time losing to miscarriage and the second terminated the pregnancy late term because the child would have either been stillborn or only lived a short time after birth due to numerous medical issues. At that point her doctors and family did “force” her to remain on birth control. Any sort of stress can cause her to go into a manic or depressive state, and if her parents did not manage her finances she’d likely be destitute because she spends obsessively when in a manic phase.
However, if you met her you would have no idea. She is well educated, well read, travels, lives independently, has a long term boyfriend, is incredibly articulate, often presenting at NAMI events in her area, etc.. She also, at times, is understandably, incredibly angry and frustrated at the lack of control she has over her life and in those times, if you spoke to her and you didn’t know the history, and all the work her parents, family, and attorneys do, daily, you too would think they are the most horrid, greedy, terrible people in existence. Having an insider/outsider view for the last 25 years, when it first started to present, has been quite a wild ride and I wish people would keep both sides in perspective.
Do your friend’s parents make her work arduous hours in Vegas when she doesn’t want to?
Do they control her money, phone, and passport?
Do they forbid her from being a passenger in her boyfriend’s car?
The two are not comparable.
Its what’s so frustrating about the illness. My son is bipolar and its a rollercoaster ride for all of us. You want to respect the persons autonomy you really do and its a balancing act. But I think what makes this different is the money that is being made off of Britney. She is the one that fuels the machine and it will be hard to find someone who isn’t trying to profit from it. And its not just family, it’s managers, it’s agents, it’s musicians hired to work for her, choreographers and on and on. All those people want to get paid too so the Bank of Britney needs to stay open. She probably should retire and hopefully the court forced her father to put enough money aside to take care of her.
It sounds like your friend is being supported and not overly controlled, which is how it should be when possible. She is able to travel (where she wants to go, I’m assuming), she has a long-term boyfriend, who I’m guessing did not have to be approved by anyone before she was allowed to see him, and she lives independently. Britney is being forced to work when she doesn’t want to, and has had every detail of her life controlled right down to her kitchen cabinets. She was not even allowed to choose the cabinets she wanted. This is nothing to do with what is best for her. It’s about power and control. She should be so lucky is to have the quality of support that your friend has.
I don’t think it’s a fair comparison because Britney makes money, ton of money, and no one think about her well being,they all think about their interests not about her. She is exploited.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of people with bi polar disorder who manage to live fruitful lives and don’t need to be controlled like this. It’s pretty offensive to suggest that because someone doesn’t always make the best decisions they need to have everything from their finances to their body controlled by someone else.
My grandmother was bipolar and untreated for decades and while she had breakdowns and manic stages, she still lead a successful life, which got better when she finally got treatment. It wasn’t always great and sometimes she didn’t take her meds, but to even suggest that she needed to have someone step in and manage her like that is disturbing. Assistance is one thing, total control is another.
Nic919 I agree with you! I think Britney’s whole situation is horrendous. My mom is bi-polar and she almost had the same thing happen to her by an abusive ex-husband who tried to institutionalise her AND get all her money/ even sue her for future income (he of course wasn’t working or had nearly as much earning potential as her!). She managed to narrowly avoid it and get through a nasty divorce alive, and is now healthy, taking her medication, living well and still has most of her money 😉 Her ex-husband who was also a drunk, is dead now from the alcohol abuse and I’m really fricking glad he is. What a dick. I hope Britney is freed from this super oppressive situation, but also remains in touch with some good therapists or health professionals who can help her with whatever mental health issues she still has going on.
Bottom line, she has a right to find her own way in life even with mental health issues. It’s not ok to keep control over a woman like this!
I think even Britney herself would and has acknowledged that she needs help managing her life, but has been asking for a while for it to be someone other than her father. And with millions of dollars at stake, everyone’s incentives seem to have shifted from the well being of a family member to keeping the cash train coming.
It’s literally been 13 years of only one side. This is the first time we have heard her speak and she basically ticked off every single point that the #FreeBritney movement has been making for the past 2 years (since that whistleblowing voicemail on Britney’s Gram).
I understand that there are situations where conservatorships are necessary, but she does not have the same compassionate guardians that your friend has. Your friend is very lucky to have people in her life that are capable of helping her and don’t abuse their power.
It seems like the system is designed in a way that makes it easy for bad people to take advantage. That doesn’t mean that all conservators are bad,
We don’t even know if Britney has bi-polar (and quite frankly, we need to know). Maybe she needed the Lithium. Of course that’s always a possibility, but with everything we know about how she has been treated, I highly doubt it. But there are larger issues that go beyond what meds she was given.
I am so grateful she is getting her story out!!! He is a monster and needs to be put in jail. She deserves to have her own family and to retire in peace. This poor woman has been a slave to her handlers since childhood. It’s gut-wrenching. 😭
Her lawyer needs to be disbarred. S/he was clearly not acting in her best interest, which is what a lawyer is obligated to do. It doesn’t matter who is paying the bills, the duty is to the client. – signed, a lawyer
I don’t understand why her lawyer isn’t from a Public Guardian and Trustee’s office because that would ensure much less conflict. Meanwhile this guy is getting thousands per week to do nothing. It’s crazy that this was even approved by the court.
I’m shocked, this is psychological violence not to mention forced sterilization. It’s horrible and criminal, she practically no longer had any rights. I hope she can have justice.
I feel so bad for her and yes she is correct, this is an abusive situation. Her family, especially her dad are trash and vultures! The ppl who should care about her wellbeing the most, only care about making more and more money off her. And I’m starting to feel like she is not as mentally ill as they’ve been claiming all these years. A lot of ppl are financially benefitting from this conservatorship. It pays to keep her sick.
Same, although she has been put on heavy powerful meds for decades.. Who knows what that did to her.. Horrifying .
This is devastating. It’s clear that the conservatorship believes that its mandate is to ensure that Britney stays profitable, not to act in the best interest of Britney as a person. As a woman, the IUD piece was the most shocking. This is like something out of a 19th century mental health institution, when doctors thought that swirling an ice pick around a person’s head was helpful. Sure it made the person more manageable, but it destroyed the person’s quality of life. I pray for justice for Britney.
Interesting that you mention the swirling ice pick. Shudder. When I was reading what she said, I was reminded of how Joseph Kennedy forced his daughter to have a lobotomy and basically destroyed her life because she was an embarrassment who might have interfered with his political aspirations for his sons.
Dads funds from her should be cut off ASAP. This story gives me chills. Typical of an older male, the judge hears another older male version of events and finds him believable and sympathetic, while a younger woman is completely disregarded.
As a mental health professional, I always believed that she had a “breakdown.” She was under so much pressure, plus post partum issues. But that can all be stabilized with the right regimen of medication and therapy. After the Lutfi fiasco, I could perhaps see some financial oversight, but nothing like what was done to her. Having a conservatorship take over control of her entire life… I’m surprised she’s still able to function with that in place. Yes, conservatorships are sometimes needed, but there’s usually some degree of autonomy involved and they are usually limited in scope. This woman was abused by the system and by her father and I hope she gets the freedom she deserves.
Couldn’t she also be stabilized by removing the ungodly amount of pressure and exploitation though? The idea that she had a “breakdown” is interesting to me, because to me her behavior was a SANE reaction to what happened to her. Saying she had a breakdown implies that there was something mentally wrong with her because she couldn’t tolerate abuse.
To be clear, I’m not saying that’s what you said, paranormalgirl. At all. I’m saying the whole construct is off — SHE has mental issues because SHE can’t stand paparazzi in her face 24/7/365?!? What even would a normal reaction to that be?
This whole idea that she was somehow supposed to be normal, whatever that is, while people were exploiting her — it’s odd. She didn’t tolerate it, so hey — let’s pump her up with drugs.
+1!
‘The idea that she had a “breakdown” is interesting to me, because to me her behavior was a SANE reaction to what happened to her.’
YES!
“Couldn’t she also be stabilized by removing the ungodly amount of pressure and exploitation though?”
This. It has seemed clear for years and years and years that she doesn’t want to work so much, she doesn’t want to tour, etc., she wants to vacation, lay low, have a kid, enjoy herself. She has worked so damn hard for so long, seems like that’s how her money ought to be spent, not paying lawyers and various other leeches to fight her own wishes.
I don’t even know what to add to the discord but I am so heartbroken for Britney. She has worked to support that “family” of hers since she was a young girl. I am sickened at to how deep the abuse goes. When she shared about the IUD I was actually gobsmacked. I didn’t realize it was EVERYBODY in her family that was terrible including her younger sister. I hope that Britney can find freedom and live the life she wants to live.
Do we know where her younger sister is in this?
I am shocked and willing to admit when I am wrong. I still believe the conservatorship was necessary at that time but what she describes is straight abuse. Not being able to change clothes in private, her meds working fine but being forced on harder medicine against her will, her lawyer and doctors working against her interests. Disgusting. I thought Jamie had fallen ill and was no longer a good fit for the control but now it’s clear he was returning to alcoholism and the courts allowed an alcoholic to control her when he can’t control herself. Now it’s clear that his “poor health” really did trigger her current actions. Probably too far gone enough that she could break free. I always wondered what happened to her fiance from a few years ago. She seemed really into him and wanted to have babies then. Next thing you know he’s gone, she seemed to be different, and the “boy toys” started. Poor Britney just wants to be a Housewife and mom. She should have had that right once she got better.
Thank you for saying that. I am so relieved to see that people are changing that opinions about her and her situation.
I can understand why people didn’t believe it. Her team was really good at flipping the story and had an excuse for everything. Nevermind, all the stories they killed before the movement picked up.
This entire thing is very disturbing, disgusting, scary, not right, gross and I don’t trust ANYONE near her… it’s just wrong so so so wrong.
What everyone involved in this has done is a bingo card of egregious human rights abuses. It’s absolutely criminal. I wish her nothing but peace, contentment, and FREEDOM.
Kanye has been sick and free this entire time. This case is disgusting and I hope she can get out. The patriarchy is hard at work on this one.
It was heart breaking to hear what she had to say but she was very lucid and self aware. She knows that she needs help just as she knows she’s being used and abused by her family and those her father has around her.
The judge needs to give her her life back and I totally agree that the Dr’s should be coming to her in an environment that is comfortable and safe for her. And yeah making her go to a place that they know stresses her is abuse.
As for the meds – she clearly was on meds that worked for her and was put on lithium to make her more compliant to her abusers. The lithium and drug changes explain quite a lot. Am sure she has more to say on her med regime.
Forcing her to visit Drs more often than she needs and is comfortable with is abuse that only benefits the Drs and those in charge of the conservatorship. They have all been very clearly working together.
I can understand why she wants to have more children – she never got to be a proper mother to her sons.
And yeah – they all need to remember that they work for her!! Loved that comment.
How has she been allowed to have her boyfriend in this horrible situation?
Time to put my tinfoil hat on. This is the running rumour/theory based on what the people who have met her and tried to speak out have said:
We know that it is very difficult to get access to Britney without being vetted/approved. Hairdressers and dancers have spoken out about being discouraged from forming friendships with her because if they do, they won’t be asked back.
She is apparently easier to manage when she has a boyfriend. Since she doesn’t get to socialize with random people, the assumption is that the men she dates are brought in by her dad/team. Likely for another reason (dancers, models, etc), and then if she takes a liking to them, they can move into the boyfriend role.
I would assume that that’s what happened with Sam. He seems to genuinely support her now and I am glad that she has someone on her side that she can spend time with.
Yes I agree with this. I also think the boyfriend is on the payroll too. She clearly likes him and he offers her support, but he’s kept in line too. I think if he didn’t they would quickly find a way to block him without hesitation. That’s probably why she doesn’t have many friends left, anyone close to her has to be in line with her fathers ways, or they will get cut. They can’t have anyone doing her bidding for her.
After hearing her testimony I actually don’t think she’s crazy AT ALL.
With all the limitations put upon her she needs to relearn who she is, if she ever gets out of this. To be stagnant for so many years… What a horrible situation.
I have knowledge of two conservatorships applied to two people I know.
The first person is in his 80s and rich. He failed to raise his children to become independent adults and he bankrolled their lifestyles their whole lives. His children used his advanced age to declare him mentally incompetent and he was placed in a conservatorship. A third party now administrates his wealth and he has been basically cut off from his businesses and his own money. Only his youngest daughter (from a second marriage) opposed the conservatorship.
Why was this done to him? Easy: his adult children wanted the money, the properties, the stock, the assets years before he died. In Argentina there are no wills – your spouse and children inherit, always, so I suppose they wanted the money NOW rather than in 10-20 years.
The second person I know has now been released from her conservatorship. She (in her 50s} had a mental breakdown in 2017. She had been skipping therapy sessions and basically disappeared for 4 days until she was found in a luxury hotel having a meltdown. She was taken and checked into a facility against her will (although she was having a psychotic episode, so preventing self-harm trumps will). What happened to her inside the mental facility is atrocious and I won’t go into details. Her saving Grace was my mother, an experienced psychologist with a lot of knowledge in mental illness and medication, who got on an airplane to oversee treatment (again, the therapy she was getting was medieval and she was treated before a diagnosis, so they harmed her a lot) and managed to have her psychiatrist replaced with someone who could treat her (her own psychiatrist missed the fact her patient had been spiraling into a psychotic episode and did nothing to prevent it).
Her own father had her declared mentally incompetent and placed under a conservatorship and had her moved to a geriatric so as to not pay anything towards her treatment (he was filthy rich). My mother says she behaved like a house plant, just sitting there, going stir crazy and bored out of her mind) and was able to convince her father to have her moved to a hotel and hire day and night nurses for her. Once he died, she was released.
These conservatorships were placed for one reason only: MONEY.
Imagine being Britney and having her wealth and capacity to make even more money. She has a mental breakdown and needs help – instead she is declared mentally incompetent, has her every right stripped from her, and has been abused and ill used ever since.
I have tears in my eyes for her. WTF is going on her lawyer is TRASH.
I have seen arguing back and forth, even on this site, about whether Britney controls her own Instagram and that it’s weird how she posts and reposts the same pictures wearing the same clothes, the top with the big stain on it, and says bizarre things in a baby voice. I used to be of the mind that her weird Instagram was proof she was posting, but after yesterday now I think it could be a concerted effort on someone’s part to influence public perception that she is incompetent. All of those matching photos and weird videos could be from a point in the far past when she wasn’t doing well, and Jamie’s team just keeps posting them to make us all think that is how she still is today.
Not going to lie, her Instagram is what made me feel like she needed to be under some kind of supervision. The baby voice and spinning videos were so bizarre. And those Q&A videos where she’s like “a lot of you are asking what my favorite color is” or whatever.
Contrast that to the audio from yesterday…night and day. She sounded completely normal and lucid and fine. They are straight up diabolical if they’re the ones posting that sh** to her Instagram. It wouldn’t surprise me at all after hearing her speak yesterday.
YES! It will be interesting to see what happens with that account in the next few days/weeks. I have always been firmly in the camp that it was manipulated to make her look ill to the public, but they did a good job at making it believable. It was so reassuring to hear her real voice again.
I just hope that they don’t continue to play dirty. I suspect this isn’t over and that there will be a lot of mudslinging to come to try and get people back on Team Conservator.
While in 2008 she was in a bad place. It’s clear if she can perform on stage and earn over 60 million in the last decade. She should be in control of her own decisions and team. At this point the best thing to happen to her would be to go broke. So the rats abandon ship. And she can start over from scratch. Like everyone has been saying. If she was a man like Kanye or Charlie Sheen. No judge would have kept them in a conservatorship this long.
Heartbreaking and worse than I could imagine! I honestly don’t believe a word from any of these doctors, lawyers, etc on the payroll. In the documentary they said she had two babies back to back, filed for divorce from K Fed within weeks of giving birth and was constantly hounded from the paparazzi. Did she really need to be labeled with a bunch of diagnosis’s and given handfuls of pills and forced into facilities or did she just need some support, therapy, live in a more private space and surrounded by loving people? She is clearly very competent and the lithium pushing makes me suspicious that she was probably drugged up on a bunch of unneeded meds before that to keep her compliant and when they stopped working they put her on whatever they legally could (a very dangerous drug that is also legal) to keep their cash cow. F all these doctors, nurses, lawyers, family, etc that did this her. This isn’t healthcare, this is abuse. I don’t trust any of these diagnoses they gave her.
You do have proof at all
I listened to it too. I thought it would be more like a deposition, but, she read a prepared statement. I think the family has kept Britney’s issues quiet, I hope she doesn’t come off the conservatorship and all hell breaks loose. Sounds like everything is good when Britney takes her meds and keeps busy, but spirals when she doesn’t. Also, I cannot stand Justin Timberlake, and she rocked that strapless jean dress!
I listened to the entire audio this morning and just cried for her. It’s so unfair and is definitely abusive. The IUD thing is especially sickening, where do they find doctors who will do this stuff without her consent!
People should not get paid ungodly amounts of money like that in a conservatorship, I’m sure it takes up a lot of time with someone like Britney but no one needs to profit millions off her. Fire EVERYONE. If she can work nonstop in Vegas she can make her own decisions for crying out loud. And yes she’s talking fast and messing up words sometimes but you can tell she is excited to have her chance to speak out, and she’s drugged beyond belief and I have no doubt she doesn’t need all of what she’s taking.
Jesus Christ, poor Britney. So much to unpack.
I’ve read that there are doctors in America who will perform FGM for a price. There’s always some horrible person.
What popped into my head when reading this sad and devastating transcript was Jamie Lynn, Britney’s sister, who got pregnant at 16 when she was on Zoey 101. At the time, the questions revolved around “how could she be so reckless” and “where were her parents” because her career pretty much evaporated. I think Jamie looked at what had gone on with her sister and thought “How do I not let this happen to me?”
Yeah I’ve always thought her pregnancy was her way of getting out from her mother’s control – Lynne was determined to make her the next cash cow. Her career was starting to kick off at the time as well.
Lynne turned her attentions on Jamie Lynn when Brit started pushing her out – like her father, Brit has never had a good relationship with her mother. Lynne stood by while the music and press machine ate her daughter up. In fact Lynne got in on it by writing 2 books on Brit. I think Brit had already cut her mother off financially when her breakdown happened – IIRC she was working with Sam Lutfi to get access to both Brit and her money.
Never thought of it that way, but it does actually make sense if true.
Awful and heartbreaking.
When your own bio family does this to you, who can you trust?
#FreeBritney!!
I hope she lives her life on her own terms from here on out!
The absolute trauma she must have suffered.
This made me so sad. Something went very wrong here in this conservatorship and this girl is basically slave labor supporting an entire industry. Gross this is gross
Look what money and greed can do. This is horrible.
This is absolutely repulsive on so many levels.
I’m so pissed at these people for this heinous abuse.
Wasnt britney engaged to an ex boyfriend years ago while under the conservatorship? So she can get engaged if the guy is vetted by jamie and he approves? her current boyfriend has spoken out against jamie so thats preventing britney from moving forward in their relationship im thinking
Meg. Brit was in a better space at that time. She seemed genuinely happy and from what I recall he was some kind of agent or industry insider. He was supposed to take over her conversatorship and Britney appeared more lucid and in control. I think the opposite actually happened. He was willing to let Brit be more free and that rankled Jamie. Next thing you know.shortly after the engagement, they break up and Brit didn’t seem as together anymore. They pushed some boy toys her way as a means of control.
She is so unwell, I fear for her. The ‘boyfriend’ seems like a money grubber & a Kfed Jr. I wonder how her mental health would change if she left social media for 90 days, (I don’t believe she can as all stars crave attention like a drug); and spent those 90 days one on one with a therapist. Same time have an MD run all the tests to determine what meds she actually needs to be on.
90 Days, one on one with a team only interested in well being would be huge for Ms. Spears.
How could she ever trust a therapist enough to be able to receive their help after this? Has she been able to ever trust anyone in her life? Also, I know Courtney Love isn’t someone to believe, but I’ve never forgotten her talking about Britney saying she was abused by her Dad. I feel so badly for her.
I actually think the women who have been the most painted as crazy by every known predator are the MOST believable.
If Britney herself chose her team she would be able to trust them 100% I chose my doctors and I trust them. It can be done. One thing for sure – not one of us actually knows the depths of what’s been ongoing behind the scenes. For the court to remove her two boys & give full custody to KFed; she must have had some serious issues.
She is unwell and I fear for her too. There are strict hospitalization laws for mental illness since the 70s. They can’t check her in unless she’s a danger to herself or others. Look at Kanye’s irrational and erratic behavior and hospitalizations, who also has a history of getting on and off his meds. Things about the conservatorship or treatment clearly need to change, but she does need evaluated.
Also bear in mind she may not be what is termed in medical world as a reliable narrator of her own history
She hasn’t been admitted to a hospital in many years, though. If I interpreted her testimony correctly, it sounds like her team held her at a private home and basically created a program just for her. We do not know if she would have met the criteria for involuntary hospitalization, if they had taken her to an actual mental health facility. And Kanye is not under a conservatorship. His team has much less control over him, than Britney’s.
We don’t know if she is unwell. We know she WAS unwell 14 years ago during a very tumultuous time in her life that would cause anyone to have a similar reaction.
And even then, the 5150 holds that were placed on her were actually pretty suspect. She has written letters describing her experience of being told to do something, doing that thing, and then having that thing used against her as proof that she is unstable. The beginning of the conservatorship needs to be investigated more thoroughly.
If anything, Kanye is proof that she shouldn’t have been put through this treatment. If he can retain control of his life, why can’t she?
I’m not saying she doesn’t have any issues or illnesses that she needs help with, but Britney is not the only unreliable narrator in this situation.
I was thinking about the videos she made and posted on instagram where she said «no im okay, I’m happy» or some variation of that. Of course no one really believed her, and now it really makes me think that she was forced/pressured to post them.. This is just so sad.. I hope britney gets the freedom that she wants soon!
How on earth is Britney being forced to get an IUD against her will legal? That’s insane.
I don’t think she was forced to get it, she’s saying they’re not letting her see a doctor to have it taken out. Small distinction, but a forced IUD would imply a doctor performed the procedure against her will and I don’t think that was the case. I’m guessing she got it on her own accord and now her father or people working for him won’t make the doctor’s appointment for her.
I’m curious if she’s allowed to pick up the phone and go get it done on her own? Or does she need the conservator’s permission for all medical related things? Jesus this whole thing is so sad. The best thing she did was insist people hear what she had to say. They’d have swept this all under the rug if they could have.
Even then, that’s still impeding on her rights.
@Amanda Absolutely
She is not allowed to make any medical decisions for herself. Her conservatorship controls every aspect of her life.
I have been saying for years that if she’s too mentally ill to handle her own life, then she’s too mentally ill to be doing performances and releasing albums. The fact that any judge allowed these orders to stand with such blatant proof of how badly manipulated and exploited she was is a reflection of just how many people had their hands in the pot and were profiting from her misery.
It’s honestly disgusting. I can’t imagine wishing something like this on my worst enemy.
I encourage people to listen to her, rather than just reading the transcript. She sounds completely lucid and clear. She is angry, as she should be. She has clearly been abused by the system. It’s clear her naivete has been used against her. The people, including her family, who have taken advantage of her need to be prosecuted. Listening to her speak is powerful.
Listening to her speak was very powerful; the transcript does not do proper justice to what she said and how she said it.
@Amanda: It is possible the IUD was not put in against her will. She was probably advised that the medication she is taking can cause harm to an unborn baby. At the time she may have not wanted to have kids. I think the problem is more recent. She is at a point were she feels ready to get married and have a baby. Now she finds herself not being able to remove it. My heart breaks for her. I hope she is able to find a doctor she is comfortable with so she can discuss becoming pregnant in a safe manner. That may require adjustments or suspension of meds, using a gestational carrier or Some other alternative. I wish her happiness and peace.
I sure hope that’s the case.
F these people, this is heart breaking! I agree with others, if she is incapable of living on her own, then she is incapable of working.
People on twitter were suggesting Kris Jenner as her new manager, I don’t know how that would work, it seems to me that Britney is done with her public persona and just wants to have a normal life.
I just read the entire transcript and it’s heartbreaking. She can’t even be a passenger in her boyfriend’s car? Can’t have another child, can’t take a vacation when she wants, forced to work when she doesn’t want to and she’s basically just locked up in her house all the time with no friends…it’s so sad. She is totally coherent and aware of all the messed up stuff they have been doing to her while they siphon off her money. Doctors, lawyers, therapists and her family are all making a buck off her (and let’s be real, overcharging her for everything because of how much money she has – that part is very clear when she said they were charging her $60,000 a MONTH for treatment and forced her to do it) while controlling everything she does. It’s sickening.
I was never a huge Britney fan but we’re around the same age and I remember when she became a star and was everywhere, and the way the press and paparazzi treated her was awful to watch. After reading this you can officially count me as part of the #freebritney movement. My heart goes out to her. I hope she can find happiness.
How could she ever be trusting enough of a mental health professional after all of this to be able to get the help she really needs to heal? I’m just dumbstruck by how she’s been treated by so many people who took an oath to do no harm, who chose to follow a path to help others. Her parents are a whole other story though, they are really monsters to treat their child as though the whole world are entitled to them.
It seems like she wants her life back so she can have another child and have control. But, she is refusing further evaluation, wants to dismantle her support team, was unaware of her legal options, and in consideration of a future healthy child would have to be carefully monitored for the effect her medication regimen would have on the fetus. So say she gets her life back and all that entails, what if she reverts to Britney of the past? I am so sorry for her and her parents have a lot to answer for.
She has every right to do all of the above, even if she is mentally ill, mentally ill people have the right to marry, conceive, and have children, and refuse medication or treatment, and act in a way that other people think is peculiar, but as long as she is not endangering or neglecting the children, she has every right to do so.
And, if she does endanger or neglect the children, then she may lose custody, but it doesn’t mean she should be forced into a position where she loses ALL of her legal rights, loses the rights to her own body, gets forced to work, gets blackmailed onto taking a psych med that turns her into a complaint vegetable, loses the access to her own money. Mentally ill people still have human rights and it’s not right to take them away no matter how mentally ill the person is. It’s her money, she’s worked since she was a child, supported countless adults from that time forward, and she has the right to squander every last dime on any kooky shit she wants to, and nobody has the right to control her money no matter how mentally ill she gets if she doesn’t want them to.
And needless to say, nobody would EVER suggest to push the above on a mentally ill adult man, such as Charlie Sheen or Kanye. Imagine a relative forcing Sheen or Kanye to get a vasectomy against their will and people thinking that was okay. Would NEVER happen to a man in his prime who was capable of working. Charlie Sheen HAS lost his custody multiple times of multiple children, still nobody is ripping away his reproductive autonomy against his will or even suggesting it.
Alec Baldwin has been way more violent to the paps than Britney with her umbrella, is anyone forcing a vasectomy on him? Unimaginable.
Then she reverts to the Britney of the past. Clearly what’s happening now is not working. How is she actually better off today? She says she’s crying every day, angry, and depressed. How is that any better?
I think she is vulnerable to vultures like Sam Lutfi and there should be some kind of protections in place for her finances, but there’s got to be a better option than what’s going on now. One where she is at least happy. One where she decides when to get her nails done and when to take a vacation to Maui.
“ But, she is refusing further evaluation, wants to dismantle her support team, was unaware of her legal options, and in consideration of a future healthy child would have to be carefully monitored for the effect her medication regimen would have on the fetus.”
And? It’s her right to refuse further evaluations. It’s her right to have a child. Plenty of women with mental health issues have healthy babies and are great mothers. They just need support, not the inhumane treatment Britney is getting.
A further evaluation wouldn’t even be fair to her. She is pumped up with so much medication that she is forced to take against her will, any evaluation wouldn’t be fair to her. If she is to be assessed her team will make sure they sabotage it. The whole system is against her including her own lawyers and family members. She needs her freedom, peace and control of her life. She has never been given my of those things, therefore she can never truly thrive.
Also I think 2007 Britney was gaslit to hell. I don’t blame her for whatever happened to her back then because she was being exploited and provoked all over the place and the media wouldn’t leave her alone. And she is blamed for her reaction to it, I don’t think anyone would have coped going through the same thing.
The conservatorship is definitely working against her. She should have positive relationships with her therapist and doctors, and she should be able to try new doctors until she finds that. What is the point of therapy if the patient doesn’t trust or like the therapist? Thirteen years of this supposed mental health help and she still doesn’t have that? That’s insane. Instead she’s thanking God when her psychiatrist dies because she felt he was abusive. But I guess that’s the point. Keep her unhappy, keep her depressed, keep her under your thumb.
It sounds medieval. A woman’s father locking her away and fitting her with a chastity belt.
This false imprisonment is stunning;, just stunningly abusive. Between reading about this abuse and seeing the Miami apartment complex collapse, I feel hollowed out.
How heartbreaking. She’s basically trapped because her wealth sustains these parasites. I hope she gets the right people in place that actually have her best interests in place.
As someone who has been on lithium it is not a pleasant drug with a myriad of very crappy side effects. I’ve never heard of her reaction, but it’s within the realm of reason that she would have a serious reaction to a serious drug like lithium. I wish her the best-and her freedom to do what she wants.
As a mental health professional, this is deeply disturbing and wrong. I’m less familiar with the US conservatorship laws, but where I am from, if a person is declared incapable of consenting to treatment, there is a hierarchy of people who can act as Substitute Decision maker. It is the role of the SDM to consider what the individual would want to consent to and would not consent to if that individual was capable to make decisions,. For example, any one of us has the right to go against medical advice. If my doctor advised an IUD, I’d have thr right to go against that. If I became incapable of consenting and my Dr advised my SDM that I should get an IUD, it would be my SDM s duty to decline that IUD in my behalf. Hence, why it’s a hierarchy to ensure the person knows you well enough to make the best assumption about what your wishes would be regardless of their personal opinion. It’s an incredibly vulnerable position to be in because it’s so easy to exploit. Also, where I’m from you can’t just be Carte Blanche incapable. Every single thing needs to be assessed. Just because you’re incapable of consenting to mental health medication does not mean you’re incapable of consenting to all medications. I imagine the US is the same. So, I fail to see how they are able to legally exercise this much control over this woman. I fail to understand how it is legally allowed that this woman is forced to keep an IUD she does not want. There is no way in hell that she is surrounded by anyone who has her best interests in mind. This is pure abusive exploitation
Do I think she’s mentally and emotionally stable? Absolutely not. Should she be allowed to wreck whatever is left? Without a doubt, yes. She’s an adult; it’s her life; it’s her money. Let her go.
Have you all seen I Care A Lot starring Rosamund Pike? It’s essentially about how the courts work with guardianship for the elderly. Spoiler: not all elderly need their lives/finances/autonomy controlled by someone else. This movie might provide a peek inside what Brit is going through and how impossible it is to get out of it.
This borders on the gothic. It’s past time for her to regain her autonomy. And her father and his fellow leeches need to be investigated and held to account.
So, my husband and I obtained guardianship of our adult son who has multiple significant disabilities, including intellectual disabilities. This is a life-long situation, and not something he could recover from.
We did this because he was (and still isn’t) capable of making decisions and understanding the ramifications of those decisions.
We had a lawyer, and paid another lawyer to represent him. Information was gathered by both lawyers and presented to the court. Our son didn’t really understand what was happening – he just wanted to know that he was going to continue to live with us and not go to a group home. (We have never told him he was going to a group home, he just sees other adults w/disabilities living in them, and he wants to stay w/family.)
To be quite blunt: guardianship (conservatorship in CA) is for people who cannot care for themselves, make sound medical or financial decisions, or understand the ramifications of their decisions. In fact, Guardianship/ Conservatorship over vulnerable people is supposed to prevent the kind of abuse that Britney has been subjected to.
Heads need to roll and people need to go to jail for what they’ve done to Britney.
Thanks for your comment – it was really interesting to read about your experience. From what I’ve read, the way conservatorships should function is that decisions are made for the person that they would make if they were able to make sound decisions in their best interests. If Britney decided she didn’t want to work 7 days a week, then the conservatorship should have worked to enable this decision, because it’s a decision any reasonable person could make.
Your’e right, something has gone very, very wrong with the conservatorship and it is working in plenty of people’s best interests – just not the person it was set up to support!
Yes. It’s eerie how similar the situation appears to be. I hope BS can retire and get her IUD removed. She’s probably taking meds that cause grave harm to a fetus. Hopefully an ob/gyn can guide her through a pregnancy or surrogacy so she can have a baby. She’s earned the right to live her life. There is definitely a risk of her losing her money or becoming very I’ll if she discontinues her meds but that risk does not justify her current situation.
I always suspected all Britney really wanted to do was settle down, hang out with her kids, and drive to Starbucks. It was obvious that she did not enjoy performing anymore. We don’t know what mental illnesses she has, but her father should not have control of her affairs any longer. He hasn’t even SEEN her in a couple of years, right? How would he even know what she is like or what her needs are if he’s not even part of her life!!
@Amando: Agreed. The court should probably assign a new team. She has more than enough money to retire and be in peace.
There is a special place in hell for her father and any other human who KNEW this was happening…and they were making crazy money off of her….I’m so appalled by this entire story. FREE BRITNEY!
It’s hilarious how many hypocrites are here right now pretending to be pro-britney, pro-women, and pro-mental health. As if the celebitchy comment section hasn’t proved time and time again that’s incredibly ableist and refuses to listen to mentally ill people, except when it’s time to bring up “I have a mentally ill cousin/friend/brother/lover” or treat us with condescension or contempt. And I don’t want to hear sh*t from the mental health professionals that comment here, you disgusts me.
Britney’s case should spark a worldwide (or at least a national) conversation on how we as a society treat mentally ill people, especially mentally ill women. Mental health professionals and the legal system must be held accountable for this woman’s years of pain and suffering.
Are any of the rest of you actually listening to what she is saying? Does anyone else know that if you are in a conservatorship you have to be reavaluated for it to end. Period. She is saying she won’t do that. I know it is difficult to get the proper medicine to help mental illness. But she sounds like she isn’t really taking anything. She sounds almost out of control already. Does anyone remember who she was surrounding herself with before the conservatorship? Those types of people are still out there waiting to pounce on her. I’m sorry she is feeling this way. But most people with mental illness feel they are fine when they aren’t. Maybe her family shouldn’t be in charge of her. I don’t know. But if you really listen to her you know she isn’t ready yet to make any big decisions. Especially bringing more children into this already messed up world.
Mentally ill people have human rights, and they have the right to make their own decisions no matter whether you or anyone else thinks they are “ready” or not. There’s a reason why our human rights don’t depend on someone else’s arbitrary judgments on who’s “ready.”
As long as she’s not in imminent danger of causing physical harm to herself, or someone else, she can do whatever she wants and be as out of control as she wants. It’s her right. And, if she was in danger of causing that imminent physical harm, she could only be held temporarily, until she wasn’t in imminent danger of that anymore. Not indentured for years on end and forced to perform and make money to everyone’s whim.
It’s also obvious that she doesn’t want to get evaluated again because of the past 12 years where she’s been abused by all kinds of corrupt mental health professionals who are profiting off of her staying stuck in this situation. She doesn’t trust that she will get a fair, accurate, or truthful evaluation and she’s absolutely right about that. She shouldn’t have to put herself through it again. She’s mentally well enough to work full-time and support a boatload of adults living off of her, they had absolutely no qualms about that. If you genuinely thought someone was so mentally ill they should have the legal status of a child, what would it say about you if you thought it was okay to force that mentally impaired “child” to work and you fully live off their income and profit from it? Despicable! Either they are lying about thinking she’s so mentally impaired as to need this, or they are DISGUSTINGLY exploitative!
You guys keep mentioning Britney talking fast. I do that too when speaking in front of large groups. I get terrified of public speaking and start speaking faster to get it over with. And I think that’s why a lot of times she looks uncomfortable in pictures etc. she’s really an introvert being forced to be an extrovert. She probably just loved dancing and her stage mom and dad saw her as a potential cash cow and led her down the path to fame. They probably drug her up more before she goes on stage. That might be why she’s not the greatest performer. But the makeover into a white male’s fantasy worked and she became famous
@Robert: You are probably right. The Conservatorship will NOT end until she receives an evaluation saying she is capable of making her own decisions. Hopefully they can assemble a group of doctors and financial planners that can better address her concerns. She should have the right to retire if she wants to. At this point, working might be detrimental to her health.
Wasnt there a reason why she’s in hawaii? I cant remember what was said in the past, years ago, about her not being able to be in certain states, and hawaii being one of those? Cant remember