Speaker 1: The Princess of pop. Britney Spears is one of the
most iconic and well known celebrities in the world. Guys
wanted to date her and girls wanted to be her.
She has been in and out of the spotlight since
her dramatic downfall in two thousand and seven, and more recently,
she has sold her entire catalog of music, leading many
to believe if Britney Spears is even still alive, and
if so, is she okay follow me down the rabbit
Hole to learn more. Hello, friends, and welcome back to
the rabbit Hole. I'm your host, Danny, and today we
are talking about Britney Spears. Thank you Stephanie, Chloe Taylor, Carly,
Sylvia Morgan and Rachel for requesting this episode. It's gonna
be a long one, so buckle up for the long haul.
But of course, before we get started, I love to
think our sponsors, so thank you Wise with Gold for
a sponsoring my podcast. Guys, if you want Golden Silver
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right now. Brittany Jean Spears was born on December second,
nineteen eighty one in McCombe, Mississippi. She was a second
child of Lynn Irene and James Jamie Spears. Between her
brother Brian and her younger sister, Jamie Lynn, Britney Spears
started performing at the very young age of three. Like
many young Southern girls, Brittany started taking dance classes and
singing in her church choir. She was often described as
very shy, but when she stepped in front of an audience,
she came to life. She was just a natural star.
But kids that young don't just become worldwide superstars overnight.
Brittany's parents had significantly shaped her career. Brittany's mother, Lynn
had a lot to do with her rapid rise to fame,
and her dad Jamie had a lot to do with
her demise. Together, they appeared to have controlled Britney's entire life.
Getting to know her through her parents will help us
to better understand how they had such an influence over
Brittany's life. So we're going to just back it up
a little bit. Brittany's maternal grandmother, Lillian Portel, met an
American gi named Barney Bridges. This was not like the
wholesome narrative that was pushed in the nineties, though, because
Lillian was reportedly a feisty independent woman who lived with
Barney before they were married, something that is unheard of
for the nineteen forties. After the war, Lillian moved from
the busy city of London to the tiny, isolated town
of Gloucester, Mississippi. This transition was particularly rough on her.
She reportedly never truly fit in with the rural Southern esthetic.
She maintained a British sensibility that she passed down to
her daughters, especially Lynn. Lily was known for being meticulous
about her appearance and social standing. This pageant ready expectation
became the standard for the Bridge's women. Lynn growing up
seeing her mother as a woman who had escaped one
world for another, reinforcing the idea that beauty and talent
were tickets to a bigger life. So Lynn Bridges, Brittany's
mother was raised in a household that valued performance, not
just on stage, but in social life as well. When
Lynn married Jamie in nineteen seventy five, it was a
union of opposites. Lynn represented the refined Bridges portel side,
while Jamie represented the rough Spears lineage. This created a
home dynamic where Brittany saw her mother as the protector
and the dreamer, while her father was the volatile force
they had to manage. Because Lynn's own family had faced
financial instability, she viewed Britney's talent not just as a gift,
but as a stabilizer. The Bridges women were survivors, and
Brittany was the ultimate survival mechanism for the family that
was constantly one paycheck away from a Spears style collapse.
Lilian didn't lose her British identity when she moved to Mississippi,
she just weaponized it. In a town where most women
were wearing house coats, Lilian was known for her city
style and high standards. Lynn often spoke of how her mother,
Lilian insisted on a level of poise unusual for the
little town. This translated directly into Brittany's early years. Brittany
wasn't just playing in the dirt. She was being groomed
for the stage from the moment she could walk. Lynn
saw Britney's talent through the lens of Lilian's aspirations. If
Lillian had escaped post war London for a new life,
Brittany would escape the stagnation of rural Louisiana, New York.
Wasn't just a career move, It was the return to
the cosmopolitan life Lillian had left behind. Brittany's paternal side
is a bit more interesting. The lineage actually intersects with
Marilyn Monroe. Their connection meets at a couple named Richard Scott,
one of the earliest settlers of Providence, Rhode Island, and
Catherine Marbury, a religious activist who was famously exiled from
Massachusetts for heresy and was the s of the famous
Anne Hutchinson. While they share only a tiny percent of
DNA side by side, they appear nearly identical. On top
of all that, many people believe they share the same spirit.
Both are famous for being misunderstood blonde American icons known
for their baby like voices, while being worldwide sex symbols
almost by accident. Although they both embraced the role the
public gave them, they also both shared this common ancestor,
Catherine Marberry, who was herself a heretic exiled for her beliefs.
It makes you wonder if they share the same spirit
or if that fraction of DNA they share is really
that strong. Switching gears to a closer paternal lineage. Brittany's grandfather,
June Austen Spears, is the central figure in understanding Jamie's mentality.
He was a man defined by tragedy and a terrifying temper.
Britney's grandmother, Emma Jean Spears, lived a hard life full
of tragedy too, so when Jamie was only five years old,
Emma Jean gave birth to another son, Austin. At just
three days old, he passed away, and this led Emma
Jean down this really dark journey of mental health decline.
For the next nine years, she would attempt to take
her own life on at least three separate occasions. She
would be in and out of mental hospitals and frequently
spend time at baby Austin's grave. The nine years of
mental distress culminated in tragedy when Emma Jean went missing
in nineteen sixty six, when Jamie was fourteen. She had
been declared missing, but was later found at Austin's grave
after killing herself with a shotgun. Following the suicide, Juwn
Auston's household became a place of survival rather than nurturing.
June Austen was reportedly an alcoholic who was physically and
emotionally demanding. Johne Austen had a background in the Air Force,
and he ran the home like a boot camp. This
command and control style of parenting was the only blueprint
Jamie had for how a father interacts with his children.
Growing up in Kentwood, Jamie was a talented athlete, a
star quarterback and a base player. However, his identity was
tied to physical dominance and winning at any cost. Jamie
began drinking early, on a trait he inherited from his father.
This created a jekyline hide personality, the charming, hardworking Southern
man versus the unpredictable, aggressive alcoholic. The spears men were
often Jacksonville trades, but masters of none. Jamie worked in construction,
ran a jim and even worked as a cook. There
was a constant anxiety about money, a fear that he
was failing to provide, which later manifested as a hyperfixation
on Britney's brand as a business asset. Both parents were
so concerned about financial stability that they did whatever it
took to gain it, including exploiting their children. In twenty
twenty one, it was revealed through genealogical research that Jamie
and Lynn actually share a common set of great great grandparents,
how very Southern of them. While not uncommon in tiny,
historical Southern towns, this fact just shows how trapped her
family history really was. Brittany wasn't just born into a family,
she was born into a centuries old social loop where
the same names, same debts, and same traumas were recycled
for generations. Jamie provided the muscle and later the control,
but it was the Bridges women, Lillian and Lynn, who
provided the vision of what a Spears girl could be
if she just worked hard enough to leave the South behind.
This fuels the spiritual warfare and recycled genetic female rebellion
many people claim is the root of Britney's problems. Lynn
would take eight year old Brittany to New York City
to study at the Professional Performing Arts School, which was
a radical departure from Southern norms, while Jamie stayed behind
in Kentwood, struggling with his construction business and his sobriety.
Lynn and Brittany lived in a cramped New York City sublet.
While in New York, Lynn modeled the Bridges family's high
standards behavior. As her mother had done for her, she
sought out the best coaches and most prestigious auditions like
the Mickey Mouse Club, even when the family couldn't actually
afford it. There was a new jan Slayer here, though,
so the Kentwood community often criticized Lynn for abandoning her
husband and her other children, Brian and later Jamie Lynn
to chase a dream for Brittany. This created an US
against the World bond between the two that actually became
a central point of contention in the conservatorship years. Lynn
and Jamie were frequently broke, even filing for bankruptcy in
nineteen ninety eight, the same year Baby One More Time
was released. Because of this maternal history of striving, Brittany
wasn't just a singer. She was a reparative child. She
was meant to heal the family's financial wounds and fulfill
the high class destiny that Lillian Portell had brought over
from London but never quite achieved in the South. Meanwhile,
in the traditional rural Southern patriarchal view, Jamie was raised
in the head of the house, controls the assets and
the movements of the women. Jamie didn't see a twenty
six year old pop star. He saw a wayward daughter
who needed to be reined in by the family patriarch,
just as his in his family, Jamie likely viewed himself
as the hero who stepped in when Brittany was at
her lowest. He seemed to believe his own narrative that
he was protecting the Golden Goose from outsiders, even if
the protection looked like imprisonment to everyone else, and it did.
Brittany became the product created by Lynn's ambition but managed
by Jamie's iron fist style of parenting. She was caught
between a mother who wanted her to be a star
and a father who wanted her to be a subordinate.
Brittany was born in Mississippi but raised in Kentwood, Louisiana.
Her mother says she chose the name Brittany because it
means from England, and she began performing almost as soon
as she could walk, starting dance lessons at the age
of three and seeing at her local Southern Baptist church choir.
At just eight years old, Brittany traveled to Atlanta to
audition for the revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. While
she was rejected for being too young from that particular
Mickey mouse Club. A casting director recognized her talent and
actually helped her to enroll in the Professional Performing Arts
School in New York City. She landed her first professional
role as an understudy in the off Broadway musical Ruthless,
and appeared on the TV talent show Star Search in
nineteen ninety two, where she actually won the first round,
but ultimately lost the competition. When she was eleven, Britney
successfully auditioned for the all new Mickey mouse Club. She
joined the cast of future stars, including Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera,
and Ryan Gosling. Britney's talent wasn't just a hobby. It
was a beacon for her parents, who were facing significant
financial instability. Her mother, Lynn Spears, saw Britney's discipline as
a way to transcend their circumstances in Kentwood. As the
daughter of a British warbride, Lynn was raised on a
strict sense of decorum and high expectations. This perfectionist standard
was a significant factor in how she managed Brittany's early career.
When the Mickey Mouse Club show was canceled two years later,
in nineteen ninety four, she briefly returned to Kentwood for
high school, where she played basketball and lived a relatively
normal teenage life like anybody would. However, while Lynn had
been in her stage mom era, Jamie started struggling with alcohol.
Home life for Brittany and her siblings became very unstable.
During this time, it was reported that Lynn set fourteen
year old Brittany up on a date with a high
school senior, Reg Jones. He said in an interview at
the time Lynn approached him, he hadn't seen Brittany as
a date, but just as like this little girl. He did, however,
ask her to his senior prom and Brittany said yes,
but you have to imagine, like the age difference here
when you're fourteen and he's like seventeen or eighteen, Like
that's a huge age difference. In any mom, you're like,
I don't want my fourteen year old dating an eighteen
year old because lord knows what could happen. But not
Lynn spears. She said, you guys, just go ahead. But
it might have to do with the fact that Reg
Jones seemed to come from a pretty wealthy family. So
in an interview, Reg Jones goes on to talk about
the home he grew up in, a fourteen eighteen thousand
square foot three story plantation home equipped with a theater
and a pool. Reg gave a tour of the home,
showing the basement where he stayed in the bed he
shared with Brittany, the tub she enjoyed bathing in, and
the elevator where he said they shared a lot of kissing.
He was asked in the interview if he was the
one who deflowered her, and he laughed and said to
the interviewer quote Reg Jones r E g j O Nes.
He literally spelled it out, took Britney's virginity end quote.
What a real gentleman Lynne picked for her daughter. Literally,
why would you do that to her? Brittany recently confirmed
in her memoir that Rege Jones was in fact her first.
In nineteen ninety seven, she was led back to music.
She recorded a demo tape that caught the attention of
Jive Records, leading to a developmental deal. Brittany was then
sent to Sweden to work with producer Max Martin, resulting
in her debut single and album. The single Baby One
More Time, was released in late nineteen ninety eight. This
iconic music video featuring Brittany in a stylized Catholic schoolgirl uniform,
was a cultural sensation. She continued dating Redge long distance,
writing letters to one another. As soon as she hit
the global stage in nineteen ninety eight, Brittany's personal life
became public property. She was famously pressured to discuss her
virginity in almost every interview, creating this good girl persona
that she felt she had to maintain to protect the
family brand. The debut album Baby One More Time, released
in January nineteen ninety nine and debut at number one.
It became the best selling album by a teenage artist
at the time, establishing her as the face of teen
pop revival. By early two thousands, Brittany had transitioned from
a teen idol to a global icon. Increasingly asserting her
own creative voice, She released her second album, Oops, I
Did It Again, which broke records by selling over one
point three million copies in its first week and shaving
the lives of millennials everywhere I know I I had
a copy. It was like one of the first albums
I ever had. That same year, she confirmed her high
profile relationship with Justin Timberlake. This was the first time
the public saw her as an adult woman with a
personal life rather than a child. However, even this was
highly managed. They were the golden couple of pop, and
the pressure to be perfect remained immense. While the public
saw matching denim and Super Bowl performances, the reality was
a relationship strained by infidelity, a hidden pregnancy, and a
sudden cold ending. Brittany has since revealed that Justin was
unfaithful several times during this period. One notable instance involved
a member of the British group All Saints. Despite the rumors,
Brittany remained infatuated and chose to look the other way
to maintain their life together. Brittany has shared that while
she wanted a family, Justin was so sure he didn't
want to be a father. This led to a private,
agonizing abortion at their home, an event that left her
deeply traumatized. While she continued to maintain her high energy
public persona the thousand and one, the perfectionist standard inherited
from her maternal lineage began to clash with her desire
for autonomy. This marked a pivot toward a more mature
provocative image. She performed I'm a Slave for You at
the MTV Video Music Awards while draped in a live
albino Burmese python, a moment that became one of the
most famous images in pop history. In September two thousand
and one, the world shifted, Brittany announced that she aimed
to raise two million dollars from her fall tour earnings
to donate to the children of police officers and firemen
who died when the World Trade centers collapsed. Brittany performed
live with Michael Jackson. They performed Jackson's song The Way
You Make Me Feel at the Michael Jackson thirtieth Anniversary
Special in Madison Square Garden. This was Jackson's last live
performance of this song in front of an audience. Her
third album, Brittany, was released in November two thousand and one,
making her the first female artist to have her first
three albums debut at number one on the Billboard two high.
She also signed a massive endorsement deal with Pepsi, further
cementing her status as the era's most powerful celebrity. As
Justin began working on his debut solo album, Justified, Brittany
noticed him becoming increasingly distant, and she later reflected that
he seemed to be quote using her as ammunition, creating
a coldness that replaced their previous closeness. After learning of
Justin's ongoing infidelities, Brittany admitted to her own brief laps
a kiss with choreographer Wade Robson at a Spanish bar.
She stated that she was honest with Justin about it,
and they initially agreed to just move past it. On
February fifteen, two thousand and two, the movie Crossroads premiered
in the US, starring Brittany. Justin was interviewed at the premiere,
appearing uncomfortable and jealous of the kissing scenes between Brittany
and her co stars. Though Justin didn't admit his jealousy,
he said it was uncomfortable to watch. In March two
thousand and two, while Brittany was on the set of
over Protected Dark Child remix music video, she received a
text message from Justin that simply said it's over. The
director of the video recalled her sitting in her trailer
devastated before she pulled herself together to finish the shoe,
which was a testament to that work ethic fueled by
the perfectionism of her mother. In November two thousand and two,
Justin released crimea River, and by casting a Brittany look
alike in the video, he successfully framed her as the
unfaithful harlot who broke his heart. While Justin was quote
happily running around Hollywood and launching a massive solo career,
Brittany describes herself as being in a state of clinical shock.
She retreated to her home in Kentwood, where she spent
months barely able to speak. But Brittany picked herself up
and started a new year off really busy, focused and determined.
She would go on to release a new album in
the Zone, featuring her massive hit song Toxic, and she
had effectively turned her sadness into an incredible success and
started making her public transition from a teen pop icon
to a more mature adult superstar. She appeared on Saturday
Night Live, an ABC concert special, and in many other
high profile television appearances. In August, she opened the show
with performances of Like a Virgin in Hollywood alongside Madonna
and Christina Aguilera, culminating in the famous on stage kiss
between Brittany and Madonna. The camera instantly panned to Justin's
reaction in the audience, which was at the very least
highly uncomfortable. This marked a turning point where the perfect
standard she was raised with were publicly weaponized against her.
It became super apparent in the November two thousand and
three ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer titled Britney Spears
in the Zone, which is now widely regarded as one
of the most glaring examples of the villain narrative being
forced on her. Brittany, who was only twenty one at
the time, was subjected to a line of questioning that
sh I did the blame for her breakup and public
image entirely onto her shoulders. Sawyer leaned heavily into the
fallout from the Justin Timberlake breakup, treating his Crimeier River
video as a factual account of their relationship. Sawyer famously asked, quote,
he's gone on television and pretty much said, you broke
his heart. You did something that caused him so much pain,
so much suffering. What did you do? End quote. Brittany
was forced to defend her integrity while still clearly grieving.
At one point when Sawyer pressed her about her rough year.
Brittany began to sob and asked to stop the interview,
saying I'm embarrassed. Can we stop? And Sawyer didn't want to.
She also confronted Brittany with criticisms from the public regarding
her role model status, effectively blaming her for the way
the media sexualized her. Sawyer brought up the quote from
the First Lady of Marylyn Kendall Erlik, who said in
a speech that if she had the opportunity, she would
shoot Britney Spears, which is really aggressive. Instead of condemning
the violent rhetoric, Sawyer asked Brittany, quote, what is it
about you that so scared so many people? Quote as
if it's her fault that somebody wants to shoot her?
And this still wasn't the end. Brittany was being questioned
about her clothes and her performances, with Sawyer suggesting she
was responsible for upsetting mothers across America. The interview effectively
served as a public trial that Brittany could never win.
While Justin was praised for his vulnerability in his solo music,
Brittany was painted as a corruptor of youth and an
unfaithful partner. Many historians of her life point to this
interview as the moment the media realized they could push
her to an emotional breaking point for ratings. It set
the stage for the hyper aggressive paparazzi culture that would
define the next several years of her life. But also
it showcases so blatantly the double standard that is in
our culture. The Diane Sawyer interview didn't just happen. It
was a professional obligation forced her by her father and
management during a period where she could hardly speak from
the trauma of her breakup with Justin. Brittany later revealed
that after the interview aired, she felt humiliated and betrayed
by her family for allowing her to be ambush on
national television. This set in the growing distrust for the
adults in her life who were supposed to protect her.
Just days after the interview, she released her fourth album.
It was her most creatively autonomous work yet, featuring every Time,
a song she wrote as a direct response to the
crimea River narrative. On December second of that year, her
twenty second birthday, she announced the Onyx Hotel tour. The
tour theme a mysterious, dark hotel where quote darkest secrets
are revealed reflected her internal state. She was moving away
from the light this bubblegum pop reputation she had created
and towards something darker. Around this time, she was spotted
with actor Colin Farrell. While brief. This fling was a
sharp departure from her Golden couple passed with Justin It
was her first public attempt at a rebel phase, choosing
a partner known for being a Hollywood bad boy. Although
Lynn was still managing her, Brittany began spending more time
with childhood friends from Kentwood, people who knew her before
she was famous. This was a direct attempt to find
grounding outside the Spears family industry. There is this theory
that from nineteen ninety eight to two thousand and three,
Brittany was selected for Project Monarch programming within the entertainment industry,
which is very common like a lot of entertainers unfortunately
go through this. People claim that her rapid transition from
this innocent schoolgirl to the snake wilding goddess symbolizes the
destruction of her former persona. Her frequent use of occult
symbolism in music videos, The repetitive nature of her choreography
and her rapid artificial transition from a child to a
sex symbol are pointed to as signs of a carefully
construct did multi personality creation designed to influence the youth
of America. We also have to remember this time in
America was super chaotic. We now know the Clintons have
been involved in many suspicious activities with Jeffrey Epstein, who
was beginning to peak in trafficking, and many other evil
mind control projects with elites, and there is no denying
that when it came to Britney Spears, especially around this time,
there was a drastic shift in how celebrities were followed
and she was the most sought after person in the world.
There are even reports that say Britney Spears' paparazzi pictures
were single handedly keeping some tabloids in business. Everyone was
making money off of her. Everyone. On January third, two
thousand and four, Brittany was in Las Vegas with friends,
including Paris Hilton and her childhood friend from Kentwood, Jason Alexander.
In her twenty twenty three memoir The Woman in Me,
Brittany describes her mindset as being quote drunk and very
bored before going out that night, She and Jason spent
the evening lounging in her suite at the Palms Casino
Resort watching Mona Lisa Smile and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,
which are very different movies. Around three thirty in the morning,
Brittany suggested that they get married. She has since clarified
that she didn't really view it as like this life
altering commitment. It was just like innocent fun, the kind
of goof around Vegas wedding stuff that people do as
a joke. The pair took a green limousine from the
Palms to a little white wedding chapel on the Strip,
and Brittany didn't wear a gown. She just like wore
baseball cap and some rip jeans, and no family members
were present, so she just had like the limousine driver
walker down the aisle. They paid a fee, exchange fowls,
and were legally married by five thirty in the morning.
The drunken fun joke abruptly ended the moment Brittany's family
and management found out. Brittany said that her family reacted
as if she had started World War three. Jason Alexander
later claimed that Lynn Spear and a team of lawyers
swooped in almost immediately. He alleged they were both pressured
into an annulment under dress. Jason claimed the family tricked
him into signing the papers by promising that if he
and Britney still loved each other in six months, they
would give them a proper, large wedding. Once he signed,
they changed Britney's phone number, and he never spoke to
her again. To get the annulment processed in record time,
just fifty five hours, her legal team used specific damaging
language that would later be used against her. The petition
stated that Britney quote lacked understanding of her actions end quote,
to the extent that she was quote incapable of agreeing
to the marriage en quote. Both things that say that
she doesn't know what she's doing. While this was a
legal shortcut to avoid a lengthy divorce, it publicly established
this narrative that Brittany was mentally incompetent or unable to
make her own decisions. This want of understanding clause is
often viewed by historians as the first formal legal brick
laid in the path toward her eventual conservatorship. Brittany began
the Onyx Hotel tour that March, with scheduled performances in
North America and Europe. She met her backup dancer, Kevin
Federline at the Hollywood Club Joseph's the next month. He
had a daughter and a pregnant fiance at the time,
but that didn't stop him from messing around with Brittany.
She had already performed concerts in North America and completed
the European portion when on June eighth, while filming the
music video for her single Outrageous, her knee gave out.
She was taken to a local hospital when the MRI
revealed floating cartilage in her knee. She had to undergo
surgery and the tour was done. With her force downtime,
Brittany had a lot of free time, which is often
cited as a major turning point in her career. She
and Kevin Federline began spending a lot more time together,
though he was still engaged to shar Jackson at the time.
The couple had officially separated shortly before their son's birth.
Jackson reportedly learned about the relationship between Brittany and Kevin
through tabloid photos of the two together. After just three
months of dating, Brittany and Kevin got married in a
surprise backyard ceremony and studio city Guests were served chicken
wings and ribs, and the bridal party wore tracksuits with
the Maids and Pimps written on the back. Just a
few months later, Brittany became pregnant with their first child.
In September two thousand and five, Brittany gave birth to
Sean Preston just before her first wedding anniversary. Brittany had
quietly suffered postpartum depression, which resulted in the media headlining
photos of her in tears with her baby, which is
just awful. One image in particular happened just after being
swarmed by paparazzi while she was pregnant with her second
son and holding baby Sean. So she actually tripped and
Sean's head kind of like fell back a little bit,
and she didn't drop the baby, but she was probably
stressed out, and she's got postpardon depression, and she's pregnant,
so she's kind of going through all these things. So
she like runs into this restaurant with the baby, and
they're like taking pictures of her through the windows as
she's crying, which just tripping and being worried about your
new baby would be a hard thing to deal with
on its own, let alone all the pop arazzi and
the post partner depression, Like, it's really scary being a
first time mom. As I mentioned, she was pregnant with
her second son, Jayden James, within three months of Sean
Preston's birth. It is generally known that becoming pregnant so
soon after a pregnancy, especially already having Postparder depression, can
cause a condition known as perinatal postpartum psychosis or PPP.
Between rapid hormone changes, significant stressors, sleep deprivation, and any
pre existing mental health struggles, there are major triggers for
psychotic symptoms. This leads to February two thousand and six,
the infamous driving incident. Brittany, who we know was around
like three months pregnant at the time, was photographed driving
with her infant son in her lap. She would later
explain that the incident was a panicked reaction to a
frightening encounter with pop arazzi, but the media actually used
it against her to like frame her as this unfit mother.
TMZ came out much later and said they changed their
policy because of this event, noting that they recognized the
paparazzi chasing Brittany and her baby created a dangerous situation
and that something wasn't right about it, which, yeah, duh.
This goes for anyone, especially when there's a child involved,
But there should be some restraints on how far paparozzi
can go when trying to take pictures of celebrities. The
people in Brittany's life should have been trying to encourage
her to get help at this point, especially with her
postpartum depression. She should have had an entourage of people
around her, like her family. She had plenty of money.
She could have paid for anything, right. They could have
paid for help for postpartum depression. They could have paid
for nanny. They could have paid for somebody to just
go out and run her errands for her. But at
the same time, maybe she just wanted to leave the house.
Like being a postpart a mom, sometimes you just need
to get out of the house so you don't go crazy.
Either way, instead of caring about her and her babies,
it seemed like her mental health was actually exploited and
just used as a weapon against her. In May of
two thousand and six, Brittany made a surprise appearance on
the Late Night Show with David Letterman, and she officially
announced she was expecting her second child with husband Kevin Federline.
The next month, in June, she sat down with Matt
Lauer on Dateline NBC. She tearfully addressed the relentless media
harassment and defended her parenting skills, and she also famously
stated quote I'm not perfect, I'm human end quote, which,
first of all, how heartbreaking is that I don't think
many first time parents can say they did everything right. Again,
she could have hired somebody to run her errands for her,
because she knew that she was going to get harassed
by the paparazzi. But maybe, just maybe she just wanted
to leave the house, Like I don't know. I go
back and forth, and I'm like, you know that paparazzi's
gonna chase you're Britney Spears. But also you're like, why
can't I do normal things? Like I'm just a human being.
So this is like a weird double edged sword, I think. Anyway,
on September twelve, two thousand and six, just two days
before Sean Preston's first birthday, Brittany gave birth to Jaden
James via c section in Los Angeles. In her memoir
The Woman in Me, Brittany describes her second pregnancy as
a time of significant isolation and emotional distress. She says
she felt abandoned by Kevin, even claiming that she flew
to New York while she was pregnant with Jaden to
see Kevin, but he refused to meet her. She also
says that he would spend a lot of time in
Las Vegas shooting music videos and pursuing his own career interests,
leaving her alone while she was pregnant and caring for
their first son, and dealing with postpartum depression and dealing
with paparazzi. She describes herself as being in a bubble
during this time, dealing with the physical and mental toll
of back to back pregnancies. Since Jaden was conceived three
months after the birth of Sean Preston, Brittany was literally
raising an infant while navigating a high stress, high profile
second pregnancy. It is also worth noting that Brittany often
looks back on this period as the beginning of the
collapse that the media exploited while she felt she was
simply a struggling young mother whose husband had completely checked out.
Just eight weeks after Jaden was born, Brittany filed for
divorce from Kevin. This was worldwide news, of course, that
created a major uproar. The Women on the View made
a special announcement on their show that had a loud celebration.
The audience stood up and cheered and everyone clapped. Tabloids
everywhere made this their front page news. Paparazzi were more
reckless than ever trying to get even a glimpse of
Brittany with her kids. Her kids, Why can't you leave
the children alone? At least one thing to note about
Southern women in general, especially considering who her mother is,
is that they are trained to be respectful and sweet
while smiling through grief in public. There's actually a song
that makes this point perfectly by Miranda Lambert called Mama's
Broken Heart, and it literally just talks about how it
doesn't matter that your heart's broken, you need to put
on a smile and get out there. The world doesn't
need to see you breaking. It's a very lady like
to be strong all the time. Nobody wants to see
her tears. This was especially true for Britney Spears. I
say all this because some people wonder why she was
so nice to paparazzi, accusing her of liking the attention,
even though she was known for being very polite to
photographers and joking with them and sometimes even bringing them
coffee or snacks. For people who do not fully understand
her upbringing, it would be easy to mistake her over
kindness for enjoying the attention. Still, in reality, southern ladylike
behavior mixed with being constantly told to please the public
by her mother and having to navigate an alcoholic father,
all culminate in a natural response of attempting to control
chaos with cooperation and joyful hospitality. She's just a people pleaser,
and she's literally been bred and groomed into it. This
is why the shock of two thousand and seven Brittany
hit her public reputation so hard. Brittany was transitioning from
being a mega pop star to wife and then in
less than two years, a single mother to two babies.
The start of two thousand and seven, which should have
been a fresh start to a new year for her,
was immediately trampled on when her aunt, Sandra, whom she
had said in her memoir was like a second mother
to her, passed away from a varian cancer. There was
an increase in the aggressive presence of paparazzi following her
every move during this time, which led to frequent negative confrontations.
In early February, she made a brief visit to an
addiction treatment center in Antiqua, only to leave less than
twenty four hours later. By mid February, she was captured
in the now infamous footage injuring the hair salon in California,
where she shaved her head. As she was trying to leave,
the paparazzi blocked her vehicle, so she got out and
literally smashed his car window with an umbrella. After that incident,
she checked into the Promises Treatment Center in Malibu, where
she remained for several weeks. In March, she completed the
program and was successfully discharged. She was seen spending time
with her children, making efforts to return to some sense
of normalcy. However, there was still a constant presence of
paparazzi and photographers posted outside her home, taking pictures of
her through her fence, trying to get into her yard,
and when she tried to leave, chasing her wherever she went.
She literally had no privacy or peace at all, no
matter who you are. I can't imagine any young mother
handling that. Well, you just want to play in the
yard with your kids, but you're worried some creepy guy
is in the bushes taking pictures of them, so you
try to leave and go somewhere else, and the same
creepy guy follows you with your children, and you can't
call the police because it's not illegal for someone to
stand on the sidewalk or drive behind someone else. You
can't leave for a place no one recognizes you, because
everyone recognizes Britney Spears. And she couldn't even leave the
country because she's going through a divorce. All I'm saying is,
can we really blame her for losing her shit? I
don't think so. This harassment and constant attention went on
all year. That kind of year would be bad for
any perfectly normal human. Still, for Brittany, she was painted
as a person having mental health instability, framed as having
outbursts against photographers and being a bad mother. Brittany really
just needed a break at that point. However, instead of
finding a place where she could relax out of the spotlight,
she found herself at a Ditty party. On September seventh,
Brittany was pictured with Ditty and Paris Hilton at a
nightclub where Ditty's ex girlfriend Cassie later testified that it
was her twenty first birthday in the place where she
and Ditty made their relationship personal rather than professional. Later
that night, it was reported that the group moved to
a second party at the Hard Rock Hotel, where she
was pictured very glassy eyed staring up at Ditty. She
then continued partying with him through the night and into
the early morning of September eighth. This was a day
before Brittany's disastrous VMA performances on September ninth, where she
was clearly unable to perform. Brittany explained that she was
dizzy and exhausted, but headlines around the world described her
performance as lard and clear. A jab at her unusually
bloated appearance, lackluster dancing, poor lip syncing, and painful to
watch were all phrases used to describe the performance. In
her memoir, Brittany wrote, quote, there was a problem with
my costume and with my hair extensions. I hadn't slept
the night before. I was dizzy. It was less than
a year since I'd had my second baby in two years,
but everyone was acting like my not having six pack
abs was offensive. End quote. Some people now speculate whether
Ditty was working with the CIA and was used to
trigger her in the Project Monarch experiment to traumatize her
and see if she would fall, while others theorized that
maybe she was just a victim of Ditty. Now let's
talk about that day that changed Britney's life forever. On
the evening of January third, two thousand and eight, officers
were called to her home after she refused to hand
her two sons over to Kevin Federline's representatives at the
end of a court monitored visit. According to her manager,
Brittany and the boys had a great visit, and she
had always made sure that the boy had like new clothes,
had eaten well, and that she bathed them before sending
them back to their father. However, this evening, he says
Brittany told Kevin's representative she needed an extra hour to
bathe the boys. The representative were like, cool, no problem,
have your extra hour. However, when Kevin's team arrived to
take the children, the situation escalated rapidly. The message had
not been communicated to the team by the representative that
she was going to have an extra hour, So from
here the story gets skewed, but reports indicate that she
locked herself in a room with one of her children
and refused to open the door to police or the
court appointed monitor. After an intense hours long standoff involving police, paramedics,
and fire trucks, she eventually turned the children over around
ten point fifty pm. She was then transported to Cedars
Sinai Medical Center on a gurney, visibly distressed and placed
under involuntary psychiatric hold. Sam Lutfey, her manager, claimed at
the time Brittany went willingly and that her psychiatrist was
the one who determined the intervention was necessary. The whole
was placed for seventy two hours. However, it only lasted
twenty four hours because it was determined that she was
not actually at risk of harming herself or others and
did not have any drugs in her system, so the
physician allowed Brittany to check herself out. By this time,
Brittany's dad, Jamie, had begun working with Lou Taylor, and
after this event, he hired her as a business manager,
and Jamie also replaced Brittany's psychiatrists during this time. In
late January, police were called to her gated community after
reports that paparazzi were trespassing on private property to follow Brittany.
When officers arrived, they could not find trespassers, but they
did issue several citations for illegally parked vehicles around her home.
Just a few days later, on January thirty first, two
thousand and eight, police were called again to her residence
in the early hours of the morning, this time for
a medical emergency. She was taken by ambulance under a
police escort. Paparazzi were making it difficult for the ambulance
to leave her driveway, and she was admitted to UCLA
Medical Center and placed on an involuntary fifty one to
fifty psychiatric hold. Again, according to reports and family memoirs,
Jamie his legal and business team, including the new psychiatrist
and business manager Lou Taylor, both of whom did not
have a relationship with Brittany, had been working with the
LAPD for weeks to execute a plan to place Brittany
under psychiatric care. Although we now know that Brittany was
cleared by medical and psychiatric professionals earlier in the month,
the new narrative was that Brittany was unwell and could
not care for herself. Her new psychiatrists reportedly triggered the
fifty one to fifty, though the specific clinical motivations, like
reports of sleep deprivation and refusal to take medication, have
remained a dispute between family members, her previous manager, Sam
and Brittany herself. While Brittany was still being held in
the hospital under this hold, Jamie petitioned the court for
an emergency temporary conservatorship. A conservatorship is when the court
appoints a responsible individual to manage the financial affairs, personal care,
or both for an adult who was unable to do
so for themselves due to mental or physical incapacity. Commissioner
Riva Goetz granted it in a hearing that reportedly lasted
only about ten minutes. The legal filing alleged that Brittany
suffered from a dementia related illness, a claim that was
never corroborated by medical evidence. There were numerous reports of
screaming matches in the hospital halls between family members and
Sam Lutfy, while the family consolidated control over Brittany's medical
and personal decisions. Within days of the hold, Brittany attempted
to retain her own counsel, Adam Streisand, but the court
denied her request, ruling that she lacked the capacity to
hire an attorney. Instead, the court appointed Samuel d Ingham
the Third to represent her, which ensured the conservatorship team
had control over her legal defense from the start. It
is extremely important to note that within weeks of this
dementia claim that prevented her from being able to hire
her own attorney and manage her own life, she was
actively working on albums and television appearances, like her guest
starring in the TV series How I Met Your Mother?
How can she be so incapacitated that she couldn't make
a decision for herself like hiring her own attorney, which
is a freaking attorney that they would be able to
know if she was incapacitated, right, But no, they said, no,
you can't hire your own attorney. We'll appoint you one. However,
go back to work. And then the conservatorship was supposed
to only be temporary, it was actually explicitly temporary and
an emergency conservatorship. It was filed as an ex parte application,
meaning it was requested by only one party, Britney's father,
without advanced notice to the other, Brittany, due to concerns
regarding her immediate safety and mental health. The order is
meant to provide immediate oversight while the court evaluates the
need for a more formal, long term arrangement. However, in
Britney's case, the court did not stop at the temporary order.
It was repeatedly extended in the months following February two
thousand and eight, through multiple court dates. This is where
things get muddy. Brittany was not allowed to speak for herself,
was represented by someone she did not choose and who
did not actually know her. She was unable to express
what was happening to her. Meanwhile, like I said before,
and it is clear, Brittany was still working and managing
the empire she built, only she had no authority to
manage her own life. The order also mandated evaluations regarding
her capacity to participate in the proceedings, manage financial affairs,
retain counsel, and her susceptibility to undo influence. Evaluations were
conducted by people Jamie hired, not Brittany, and again she
was not allowed to be alone during these evaluations. In
her much later testimony that we'll get into later, she
reported that during her psychiatric evaluation she had no privacy
that nurses and security personnel were present, including while she
changed clothes and showered. Jamie was given power over her
entire person and estate. He had the authority to restrict
and limit visits to her. Although she was able to
meet with her attorney, sam Ingham, Jamie had the power
to approve the meeting location and require security, so she
was never alone with her attorney. So much for attorney
client privilege. Jamie had the authority to hire twenty four
to seven security guards and caretakers. He also had the
power to prosecute civil harassment restraining orders on her, behalf
like putting a restraining order on people who had been
her closest friends, including her most recent boyfriend at Non
glib He and his attorney Andrew Wallat no pun intended here. Yes,
that's his name, Andrew Wallat, and he actually lives up
to it were appointed as temporary co conservators of her estate,
granting them control over all her assets, bank accounts, and
financial decision making, effectively revoking her existing powers of attorney
over a period of approximately nine months. The conservatorship was
extended until October twenty eight, two thousand and eight, when
Judge Goetz ruled that the arrangement was necessary and appropriate
due to the complexity of Britney Spears's business and financial
entities and her susceptibility to undo influence, effectively removing the
expiration date and making the conservatorship indefinite. The court characterized
the nature of the estate as a hybrid business model
at the time. This referred to the intricate network of companies, trusts,
and professional teams surrounding her career, and the court argued
that because her wealth was not simply held in personal accounts,
but was tied to corporate interests, touring entities, and complex contracts,
it required specialized, ongoing professional management. The other critical component
was susceptibility to undo influence. The court found that she
was vulnerable to exploitation or manipulation by third parties or
like her father. By appointing a permanent conservator of the estate,
the court aimed to place a legal barrier between her
assets and individuals who the court, at the urging of
conservators deemed to be bad influences. So the judge took
Britney's abusive, alcoholic father's word for it and allowed him
to essentially own her, understanding that she was vulnerable to
being taken advantage of what are you kidding me? Once
the conservatorship became permanent, the control granted to the conservators
became far more invasive than the temporary crisis management phase.
The permanent letters of conservatorship empowered Jamie Spears to revoke
existing powers of attorney and modify, amend or revoke revocable
trusts without needing a court order for each specific action.
That is, in legal terms, to say, everything Brittany had
put in place to protect herself and safeguard her own assets, wealth,
and personal well being was all nolan void and now
in the hands of her father. Additionally, a major stipulation
of the permanent arrangement was that any future professional commitments
such as tours albums and residencies required approval from her
medical team hired by her father and conservators also her father,
and this essentially tied her ability to work and earn
money to the ongoing satisfaction of the conservatorship's requirements. This
also provided a legal way to mandate Britney work like
a slave and provide income to all the teams Jamie hired,
including himself. A security firm called black Box Security was
hired by Jamie with Britney's money to monitor her daily life,
so she was literally paying for a security team to
report back to her father. Former employees alleged that the
firm was instructed to monitor her private conversations and moments,
including with medical and legal professionals, with her children, and
even more twisted, they had cameras and voice recording devices
set up in her bedroom. Brittany also alleges that any
perspective dates had to have background check and submit a
blood test before they could go on a first date,
and then the staff working for her dad would contact
the date and disclose all of her medical and sexual
history beforehand. Talk about invasive and also like, isn't that
a hip of violation? Although Jamie can consent to that.
He can give her medical information to anybody if he
wants to, he could just put it on TMZ. In
two thousand and nine, she began dating her talent agent,
Jason Trowick, who had been working for her dad since
two thousand and eight. They became engaged in December twenty eleven,
and in April twenty twelve, he was officially added as
a co conservator of her person. He was granted legal
control over her daily decisions, such as the food she ate,
the clothing she wore, and and even the medical care
she received. However, he did not have control over her
financial assets. Their relationship did not last, and in January
twenty thirteen, he called off their engagement and he was
also removed as a co conservator. Almost a year later,
on December twenty seven, twenty thirteen, Brittany began a four
year residence he had at the Axis a Planet hotel,
resort and casino. The residency was called Brittany Piece of Me.
It was originally supposed to last only two years, but
because it was so successful, it ran for an additional
two years. She later claimed that she had no control
over the set, the timing, the moves or the songs.
She also had a lot of time to work on
new moves and music, and that she desperately wanted to
change things up for her fans and give them what
they deserved, but no one cared, No one wanted to
listen to her. She was just a work machine for
her father. October twenty sixteen, Brittany met Sam Ashgari, a model,
actor and fitness trainer who was playing the role of
her love interest, on the set of a music video
for Slumber Party, and just a few months later, in
January twenty seventeen, they made their relationship Instagram official. When
Sam met Brittany, they had an immediate connection. They exchanged
phone numbers and began talking about everything. Their initial interaction
led to a sushi date and the beginning of their relationship.
Brittany and Sam's relationship would begin to deepen over the
next few months, and Brittany says Sam was supportive throughout
her conservatorship and that they would go on hikes and
they would work out and attend public events together, like
they went to the twenty eighteen GLAD Media Awards together,
and during this time, Brittany frequently spoke of Sam as
a source of inspiration who helped her feel like the
luckiest girl in the world. In twenty eighteen, Brittany described
the conservatorship as becoming increasingly strained. In her books, she
talked about her mother and sister going on beach trips
to a beach house that she bought, and her family
was living their lives while she worked day in and
day out, following the strict rules set by her father.
She recalled a little girl she worked with in a
dance class that she taught. So she actually bumped into
this little girl, and she was so concerned about her.
She kept making sure that she was okay, and she
was so worried, right, and the little girl reportedly told
her that, like, it's fine. This kind of thing happens
in dance classes all the time. It's like not a
big deal. And Brittany said that in this moment, she
realized she was more worried about the comfort of this
little girl that she was teaching a dance class to
than her family was worried about her comfort. Through this conservatorship,
it dawned on her that she had been creating a
life for her family, working for their livelihood, and they
did not care for her even a fraction as much
as she cared for that little girl she accidentally bumped into.
She later testified that she felt forced to perform on
the Piece of Me World tour in twenty eighteen out
of fear that refusing would result in legal or financial repercussions.
Also in her memoir, she confirmed that another residency was
supposed to be announced for the following year, and in
twenty nineteen, she was introduced to a huge audience in
Las Vegas, rising from the stage as fans and press
awaited her announcement. So all these people were like waiting,
she admitted, Like, she waved to them, she signed some autographs,
and then she's like, I'm out of here. She just left,
and according to her, her father was pissed. Following the cancelation,
speculation regarding her well being intensified. In March twenty nineteen,
Andrew Walllett, her co conspirator i mean conservator from the beginning,
unexpectedly resigned, leaving her father as a sole conservator. That
period of uncertainty and perceived lack of control fueled the
Free Brittany movement, although at the time she did not
know about the movement. Fans had begun to question the
management of her life and estate. In April twenty nineteen,
Brittany said she was with one of her bodyguards when
she received a call from her mother, who claimed the
police were after her and that she needed to get
to the beach house immediately. Brittany was like super confused
by this whole situation because she really hadn't done anything illegal,
Like there's no reason that the police would be after her,
and also like her mom doesn't just like urgently call
her need her to get somewhere, So she thought the
whole thing was weird. She's like, Okay, I'm just gonna
go to the beach house. Obviously my mom needs something.
When she arrived, she says, there were helicopters and paparazzi
and her family had staged an intervention. While the public
narrative was that she was taking time off for herself,
this period became the key component to her later testimony
about the abuse she endured. She described that her family
coerced her into a Beverly Hills facility, forced her to
take lithium, and denied her basic personal freedoms. She was
set up in an isolated wing, which she had to
pay sixty thousand dollars a month for she could not leave, drive,
bathe in private, or even shut her bedroom door. In
her memoir, Brittany goes on to say that she had
been praying, she was miserable, and she was convinced at
this point that her family intended to kill her or
had hoped that she would give up and commit suicide
in the facility. It was just after this that a
nurse started showing her clips of fans discussing the hashtag
free Britney movement on a talk show. She said, seeing
those clips of people trying to figure out if she
was being held against her will was quote the most
amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life. She said.
This was a pivotal moment for her. It helped her
realize that her fans were aware of her situation and
or fighting for her when she felt completely alone. The
ultimate catalyst that made the hashtag free Brittany movement a
turning point was in mid April twenty nineteen, comedians Tess
Barker and Barbara Gray, hosts of The Brittany's Gram podcast,
released an episode featuring an anonymous voicemail from a source
claiming to be a paralegal with first hand knowledge of
the conservatorship. The source alleged that Brittany had been forced
into a mental health facility against her will in mid
January twenty nineteen after refusing to take her medication and
driving without permission, contradicting the official story that she had
voluntarily checked in due to stress. Once the podcast aired,
the hashtag Free Brittany movement spread across Twitter and Instagram.
Fans known as the Brittany Army, began acting as amateur
investigative journalists, which like every mid thirties female is probably
part of Brittany's army. We're really good at finding things
on the Internet. They scored legal documents, analyzed inconsistencies in
Brittany's social media posts for coded distress signals, and tracked
the movements of those managing her conservatorship. The movement was
propelled by people like Kevin Wu at Free Brittany, La,
who used social media to organize, provide updates on court hearings,
and act as a hub for information. By late April
twenty nineteen, the movement moved offline and supporters began gathering
in person outside the courthouse. In Los Angeles, the media
could no longer ignore this activism. Outlets like TMZ promoted
the voluntary stay narrative. They talked about fans as conspiracy theorists, which, like,
I'm pretty sure at this point it's just a phrase
that means people who do their own research and like
actually care about the world. We Even TMZ eventually shifted
its view. The movement gained legitimacy as more details leaked,
including information regarding the resignation of co conservator Andrew Walllett
in March of twenty nineteen. By the time Brittany arrived
at the courthouse in May twenty nineteen, reportedly without shoes
and with her mother Lynn, the Free Brittany movement had
successfully reframed the entire narrative of her life. It shifted
from a conspiracy theory to a mainstream conversation about conservatorship, abuse, autonomy,
and disability rights. While Brittany continued dating Sam, the Free
Brittany movement snowballed over the next couple of years. Fans
began using code signals to communicate with Brittany. One fan
claimed that she commented to her, if you need help,
wear yellow in your next video, the next video Brittany
posted was yellow. This communication solidified in fans' minds that
Brittany was in trouble and could not speak freely about
what was happening to Her signals became the primary of
constant worry among her fans, and they obsessively analyzed her
eye movements, the placement of flowers in her house, the
color of her clothing, believing every post was either a
literal cry for help or, on the flip side, proved
that the person posting was a handler using her face.
From twenty nine through twenty nineteen, many people believed that
Brittany was literally no longer in charge of her own
social media, and that belief was proven true. Also, it
was speculated that her posts were part of a sophisticated
algorithmic psychological operation. Some went as far to as far
as to suggest she had been replaced by an AI
generated digital avatar in her music videos and promotional content.
One of the judges on X Factor, Lewis Walsh, recalled
that although Brittany was physically there, she was mentally not there.
He explicitly stated in multiple interviews that she appeared to
be quote on so much medication that she struggled to
sit up straight, describing how she would slump over in
her chair, and he also claimed that production often had
to stop the show and remove her from the room
because of her condition. By February twenty twenty one, a
documentary called Framing Britney Spears was released. While the movement
had been building for around two years through podcasts, fan
led social media campaigns and protests, the documentary brought the
conservatorship into the mainstream officially. It provided a clear, high
production value timeline of her life, and the film forced
the public to confront the tabloid culture drama Brittany endured
in the two thousands. It highlighted the misogyny, objectification, hypocrisy,
and bullying that she was forced to overcome. Because the
entire film was produced without Brittany's direct cooperation, it relied
on interviews with former associates and legal experts to shift
the public's perception of her from the two thousand and
seven breakdown to recognizing her as a human being reacting
to reacting to inhumane treatment while essentially living in a
fish bowl. The documentary directly influenced the legal proceedings Shortly
after the documentary aired. Public support was palpable. When Brittany
finally broke her silence in her June twenty twenty one
court testimony, the public already understood the weight of her
plea to end the abusive arrangement. Everyone managing her conservatorship
had been outed, and they were beginning to drop like
flies to Starting with Andrew Wallat, there was a cascade
of major departures, including the resignation of her court appointed lawyer,
Samuel Ingham and her longtime manager Larry Rudolph. These resignations
allowed Brittany the chance to finally choose her own legal counsel,
Matthew Rosngart, who aggressively pushed for her father's removal and
the eventual termination of the entire conservatorship. On November twelfth,
twenty twenty one, Brittany said that as she was thinking
her attorney and her fans, it was mister Rosengart who
told her it was because of her her courage in
advocating for herself. In her testimony that she was free.
Brittany says it was the first time in a very
long time that she was given credit for something good
and not something bad. In June twenty twenty two, after
six years of dating, Sam and Brittany got married at
their Los Angeles home, and the guest list included a
variety of high profile celebrities and friends. Some of those
guests included Madonna, Selena Gomez, Paris Hilton with her husband
and mother, Brittany's brother Brian, and Sam's sisters. It was
very notable that her parents, sister, and two sons were
not at her wedding. In August twenty twenty two, she
released Told Me Closer, a collaboration with Sir Elton John,
marking her return to the music industry. However, she has
made it known that the trauma caused by the music
industry during her years under the conservatorship make her hesitant
to return. Just a little over a year later, in
August twenty twenty three, Sam filed for divorce. He cited
irreconcilable differences as a reason for the split. However, Brittany
expressed that she was shocked but couldn't take the pain anymore.
Many people have speculated that the couple had been experiencing
ups and downs for a while, with frequent arguments over
various issues you know, marriage stuff. There are rumors that
Sam actually threatened to release extraordinarily embarrassing information about Spears
unless she agreed to renegotiate their prenuptial agreement. However, Sam's
representatives have denied these claims and stated that there were
no negative intentions toward Brittany. Then the divorce ended in
May of twenty twenty four, in accordance with the original
terms of their prenuptial agreement. One of the most talked
about theories about Brittany today is whether she ever actually
regained her true freedom, or if the version of Brittany
we see today is a product of a deep bake
or a continuation of the same industry control that simply
rebranded after the Free Britney movement. This theory has a
ton of plausible evidence. Her sporadic posting on Instagram contradicts
the official public statements her brand tries to project. She
has not had direct contact with the public in several years,
and some people even believe the person seen with Sam
during their dating period was never Brittany at all, but
a body double. She has not been photographed at a
public event since twenty nineteen, and her Instagram posts seem
to indicate that she has not actually posted a new
photo or video since around twenty twenty one, and her
current posts are recycled AI generated media from images that
she has already posted. There's also a super creepy image
sequence of Brittany posted November one, twenty twenty one, of
her appearing to be handcuffed and unconscious, which is odd.
Some of these images are obvious fakes. There is a
picture of her with her son Jaden, where somehow he
only has four fingers. You could argue that his pinky
finger is somehow hidden behind the phone, but if you
look closely, it just doesn't look right, and some people
have pointed out that it could Brittany's brother's fiance, Amber Lynn,
actually posing as Brittany and using a filter. Amber Lynn
looks very similar to Brittany in bone structure and coloring,
and during their relationship they had broken off their engagement,
and during that time Amber Lynn had posted some pretty
serious allegations about the Spears family, stating that they were
actually drugging Brittany and then pimping her out. However, Amber
and Brian have since got back together and she has
not made those allegations public. Again. This is also super weird,
like did they force her to reconcile with Brian to
continue portraying Brittany like did they blackmail her or threaten
to kill her if she didn't comply. There are many
similarities in parallels between Amber and Brittany. Amber came into
the public picture around twenty twenty one, and they are
pictured holding the same mug in several occasions. Amber has
videos of staying at Brittany's house, but Brittany is nowhere
to be seen. There are more theories that is actually
Kate Hudson, Brittany's manager the videos using an AI filter.
This one might not actually be that far off either.
If you slow down some of the videos she has posted,
you can see anomalies in her appearance. One picture shows
a man reflected in a picture frame taking a picture
of a cat in a Chipotle bag, as if to say,
they have not let the cat out of the bag yet.
Maybe I don't know. There are videos where it looks
like Brittany has male genitalia between her legs. Some look
like there is a hint of a beard under her face.
Some show her hair flipping over and it looks like short,
dark hair under a wig. Her face shape shifts her
eyes change. Some shots she is holding a phone in
her hand one second, and then it disappears the next second.
Somehow jewelry that disappears into her skin or changes altogether
between movements. Her videos are obviously heavily edited, but it
can't all just be explained away as simple editing. Sometimes
it looks like a total different person. Some theories suggest
she has adopted a baby girl. In July twenty twenty five,
she posted on Instagram that she adopted a quote beautiful
baby girl end quote named Lennon London Spears and planned
to move to Italy. However, sources later clarified that the
post was not a factual announcement. It was supposedly understood
to be a playful or trolling post because she had
used winking and silly face emojis, which I don't know
how you get a trolling post from the winky face
emojis anyway. This theory has been countered by fans who
speculate that she might have been referring to a reborn doll,
so these are like hyper realistic dolls that sometimes are
used for therapeutic purposes. She has been pictured with pacifiers,
a baby carrier baby dolls and other girl toys, and
sources have noted that the baby carrier was used to
transport her dolls. So child representation therapy is a professional
approach to heal childhood trauma by reparenting oneself through a doll,
so the doll actually serves as a tangible focus for
that nurturing energy, helping the individual externalize the trauma and
move through in a safe, controlled environment. Given that Brittany
was essentially entertaining and working since she was like three
years old, along with having an alcoholic father and a
perfectionist mother, then all the entertainment industry staff that she
grew up around, it is likely that she went through
way more trauma than she has ever revealed publicly. She
has been teasing a be Tiny jewelry and perfume line
for years, though this has not come to fruition either.
She has changed her name several times online, from Britney
Spears to Zela Zela, Marie Zeela, Marie river Red, and
then back to Britney Spears again, which is important and
we'll get to it in just a second. Her name
has also mysteriously come up in the Epstein Files two
different times in one email to Epstein from something called
No Workout Free Trials. There is a single statement that says, quote,
don't lose out, just lose it. Britney spears, did it
end quote? It is followed by a hyperlink that doesn't
work anymore. But when you go to the root web page,
it is a photography site. The subject of the linked
web page, though, is Isaacson Walnut. So I googled that
and the first thing to come up was an Isaacson
dining set on Wayfair. Coincidence, probably not. Another email featuring
Britney's name was from a man named Mark troumo An,
MD and PhD, who was working at UCLA when she
was admitted in two thousand and eight. The email was
sent to Jeffrey Epstein. It alludes to Epstein being a
potential donor to Tromo's foundation, the Institute for Music and
Brain Science. He says, quote the Institute. A'llah the attached
picture A sent you with a thank you note back
in December. There's already a number from my class asking
to do some projects with me. Y would free me
up to write some grants e g. My new pal
at Universal Music has offered to send Britney Spears the
neonatal ICU project I sent the Florida Science Foundation in nine.
There's a custody issue surrounding her kids since he is
her publisher, but time has been prohibiting me from pursuing it.
In quote, Traumo goes on to say he hopes to
see Epstein and have quote some fun here in one
to two weeks end quote. As we talked about before,
the conservatorship of Brittany was set up initially in two
thousand and eight after being hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center,
and was made permanent just before two thousand and nine.
Back then, the hospital made a statement that thirteen hospital
workers were fired for quote unquote snooping in Britney Spears's
medical records, which also makes me think about the Lilith episode.
If you heard that, you'll probably remember that the number
thirteen was closely associated with chaos, rebellion, and a divine
feminine spirit. You don't have to worship numerology to see
the correlation. Not to mention that Brittany was locked into
a conservatorship for thirteen years as well. What's up with
that number thirteen? Anyway? Getting back on topic, the way
the email was worded makes people wonder what was done
to Brittany against her will during the conservatorship. The way
Tromo says that his pal at University at Universal quote
unquote offered Brittany, Knowing what we know now that she
was not able to consent to any decisions made about her,
makes us wonder if she was used in an experiment
involving babies, because they're talking about the prenatal ICU. In
her memoir, Brittany revealed that she had suffered brain damage
in the past after being held for four months without
being able to move her arms or legs. However, checking
in to her rehab stays and even documented hospitalizations, there's
no public record that she ever had to stay anywhere
for four months. So she remembers this. She put it
in her memoir because it was such a significant impact
on her life, and yet there's no records of it
unless they were doing it not at the hospital. Another
odd thing to note is Gino U, a man known
for his deep research into human consciousness, is in the
Epstein files as well. He tells Epstein about his hopes
for doing research studies in Tulum, Mexico. So you mentions
in an email to Epstein about being quote the guy
that organizes Wu Moon and the guy that provides the
sound system for the big parties in Tulum and Ibiza
end quote. He mentions to Epstein that he was developing
a research lab in Tulum. Later, Epstein told you about
his funding Mark Traumo's foundation on music in the brain.
In Brittany's Instagram videos, she has seen many times wearing
a hat that is actually known as a Tulum hat,
and she seems to have one in every single color.
With her frequent trips to Mexico. It brings up a
lot a lot of questions. Also, the name she went by, Zila,
means woman in Mexican indigenous language of Zepodic. The word
also comes from a flower found in Oxaca, Mexico, which
is just a short boat ride from Tuloum. I have
a lot of questions but no real answers. There is
a lot of speculation about whether all this is connected.
Is she connected to Epstein, Mark Tromo and Gino U.
Were the experiments done on her for music and brain
research that left her brain damaged? I don't know, but
there's a lot of mysterious signs that something did happen.
In February twenty twenty six, Brittany sold her entire music
catalog for two hundred million dollars. This move has had
people talking about her again and begging for her to
address her fans publicly in person, because again, we have
not seen her in person since twenty nineteen. Many people
have called the FBI to check on her, and police
have showed up out of her door, and nothing has
come out publicly about where she is. Maybe she is
perfectly fine and going through like a healing journey. I
don't know she's totally allowed to do all that, but
we're concerned about her safety. And she was so excited
about the Free Brittany movement back in twenty nineteen when
it started that you think that she would come out
and be like, I'm guys, I'm good, I'm safe, like
all good. But if she really was sending us these
signals through Instagram and all these different posts, then you
think that she would want to officially tell us that
she was okay. Just after the research for this episode
was done, news came out that Brittany had been arrested
the night before for a DUI. Since then, TMZ and
many Other sources have claimed that she took police on
a high speed chase for an hour thought law enforcement,
and then was found to have smuggled over Adderall from
Mexico in her car. However, the Ventura County Public Information
officer debunked all of that and said Brittany was pulled
over for speeding and erratic lane changes. She was suspected
to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol and
was taken to the hospital for a blood draw. No
drugs were found on her vehicle and the blood tests
were still pending, but they did find that her blood
alcohol level was a point zero six. The legal limit
is point zero eight. May mean the only law that
she actually broke was driving too fast and changing lanes
too quickly. Her court date is set for May fourth,
where she will hopefully get more information, and she was
arrested around like nine pm. She was booked into jail
at three am and then released around six am, so
she didn't even spend like that long of police custody
all things considered. But maybe during her court hearing in
May we'll actually get to see her. And these things
happen all the time, and although I am not excusing
driving while intoxicated in any situation, no matter who it is.
I don't see anyone calling for a conservatorship on anyone
else other than Brittany after having an incident like this.
The same energy was not given to Justin Timberlake or
anyone else who has done a lot more than Brittany.
This leads me to believe that there was a setup.
Lynn Spears was seen arriving in Los Angeles the day
after Britney's music was sold, and there have not been
reports that she left. Was she being set up by
Lynn or someone else in her close circle? It was
also mentioned that just a couple weeks ago she fired
her entire sobriety coaching team. Did she find out someone
was snooping on her? Maybe? Britney's manager Kate Hudson made
this statement after her arrest, quote, this was an unfortunate
incident that is completely inexcusable. Brittany is going to take
the right steps and comply with the lot, and hopefully
this can be the first step in long overdue change
that needs to occur in Britney's life. Hopefully she can
get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.
Her boys are going to be spending time with her.
Her loved ones are going to come up with an
overdue needed plan to set her up for success for
well being. In quote, I don't know who he's calling
her loved ones because it seems like everybody in her
close circle doesn't actually care about her. But hopefully it
is not the same people that took advantage of her
her conservatorship. I also cannot leave this stone unturned either.
Just the day before Brittany was arrested, she had a
major win with a restraining order filed against a man
who had been stalking her for reported thirteen years since
twenty thirteen. So there's that number thirteen again. The man
was only identified as Donald. The individual has been engaging
in disturbing online harassment and was arrested for trespassing after
showing up at her southern California home in twenty twenty five.
This one is tough because there was a point where
there weren't people believing the conspiracy theories about her, but
the ones who did actually saved her life, and she
has said that if it weren't for her fans, she
wouldn't have been freed. So do we leave it alone
and wish her well. Do we keep looking into her
and demand proof of life, wellness and freedom? I think,
I mean probably. I think there will be a lot
more coming out about her in the next few months.
We will hopefully see Brittany doing well. As always, this
episode has left me with more question questions then when
I started with. I think there is something going on,
even if she's just being used to distract us from
other news. We need to remember that Brittany is a
real human and deserves dignity and respect just like everybody else,
but especially after everything she has gone through, she deserves
a little bit of grace. Let me know what you
think about all of this. Do you think that Brittany
is even still alive? Do you think it's ai? Do
you think that she's been replaced by somebody? And of
course until next week, my friends, stay skeptical and I
will see you all then. Hey friends. The rabbit Hole
is an independent podcast written, hosted, and produced by me
Danny Mercy. Special thanks to Lindsay for research and writing.
If you love the podcast, please leave us a five
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