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Speaker 1: The Princess of pop. Britney Spears is one of the

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most iconic and well known celebrities in the world. Guys

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wanted to date her and girls wanted to be her.

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She has been in and out of the spotlight since

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her dramatic downfall in two thousand and seven, and more recently,

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she has sold her entire catalog of music, leading many

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to believe if Britney Spears is even still alive, and

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if so, is she okay follow me down the rabbit

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Hole to learn more. Hello, friends, and welcome back to

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the rabbit Hole. I'm your host, Danny, and today we

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are talking about Britney Spears. Thank you Stephanie, Chloe Taylor, Carly,

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Sylvia Morgan and Rachel for requesting this episode. It's gonna

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be a long one, so buckle up for the long haul.

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But of course, before we get started, I love to

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think our sponsors, so thank you Wise with Gold for

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a sponsoring my podcast. Guys, if you want Golden Silver

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delivered straight to your front door for as little as

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fifty dollars a month, go to rabbit Hole Dog Gold

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right now. Brittany Jean Spears was born on December second,

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nineteen eighty one in McCombe, Mississippi. She was a second

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child of Lynn Irene and James Jamie Spears. Between her

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brother Brian and her younger sister, Jamie Lynn, Britney Spears

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started performing at the very young age of three. Like

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many young Southern girls, Brittany started taking dance classes and

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singing in her church choir. She was often described as

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very shy, but when she stepped in front of an audience,

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she came to life. She was just a natural star.

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But kids that young don't just become worldwide superstars overnight.

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Brittany's parents had significantly shaped her career. Brittany's mother, Lynn

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had a lot to do with her rapid rise to fame,

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and her dad Jamie had a lot to do with

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her demise. Together, they appeared to have controlled Britney's entire life.

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Getting to know her through her parents will help us

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to better understand how they had such an influence over

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Brittany's life. So we're going to just back it up

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a little bit. Brittany's maternal grandmother, Lillian Portel, met an

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American gi named Barney Bridges. This was not like the

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wholesome narrative that was pushed in the nineties, though, because

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Lillian was reportedly a feisty independent woman who lived with

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Barney before they were married, something that is unheard of

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for the nineteen forties. After the war, Lillian moved from

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the busy city of London to the tiny, isolated town

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of Gloucester, Mississippi. This transition was particularly rough on her.

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She reportedly never truly fit in with the rural Southern esthetic.

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She maintained a British sensibility that she passed down to

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her daughters, especially Lynn. Lily was known for being meticulous

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about her appearance and social standing. This pageant ready expectation

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became the standard for the Bridge's women. Lynn growing up

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seeing her mother as a woman who had escaped one

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world for another, reinforcing the idea that beauty and talent

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were tickets to a bigger life. So Lynn Bridges, Brittany's

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mother was raised in a household that valued performance, not

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just on stage, but in social life as well. When

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Lynn married Jamie in nineteen seventy five, it was a

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union of opposites. Lynn represented the refined Bridges portel side,

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while Jamie represented the rough Spears lineage. This created a

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home dynamic where Brittany saw her mother as the protector

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and the dreamer, while her father was the volatile force

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they had to manage. Because Lynn's own family had faced

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financial instability, she viewed Britney's talent not just as a gift,

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but as a stabilizer. The Bridges women were survivors, and

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Brittany was the ultimate survival mechanism for the family that

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was constantly one paycheck away from a Spears style collapse.

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Lilian didn't lose her British identity when she moved to Mississippi,

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she just weaponized it. In a town where most women

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were wearing house coats, Lilian was known for her city

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style and high standards. Lynn often spoke of how her mother,

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Lilian insisted on a level of poise unusual for the

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little town. This translated directly into Brittany's early years. Brittany

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wasn't just playing in the dirt. She was being groomed

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for the stage from the moment she could walk. Lynn

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saw Britney's talent through the lens of Lilian's aspirations. If

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Lillian had escaped post war London for a new life,

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Brittany would escape the stagnation of rural Louisiana, New York.

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Wasn't just a career move, It was the return to

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the cosmopolitan life Lillian had left behind. Brittany's paternal side

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is a bit more interesting. The lineage actually intersects with

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Marilyn Monroe. Their connection meets at a couple named Richard Scott,

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one of the earliest settlers of Providence, Rhode Island, and

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Catherine Marbury, a religious activist who was famously exiled from

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Massachusetts for heresy and was the s of the famous

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Anne Hutchinson. While they share only a tiny percent of

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DNA side by side, they appear nearly identical. On top

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of all that, many people believe they share the same spirit.

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Both are famous for being misunderstood blonde American icons known

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for their baby like voices, while being worldwide sex symbols

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almost by accident. Although they both embraced the role the

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public gave them, they also both shared this common ancestor,

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Catherine Marberry, who was herself a heretic exiled for her beliefs.

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It makes you wonder if they share the same spirit

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or if that fraction of DNA they share is really

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that strong. Switching gears to a closer paternal lineage. Brittany's grandfather,

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June Austen Spears, is the central figure in understanding Jamie's mentality.

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He was a man defined by tragedy and a terrifying temper.

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Britney's grandmother, Emma Jean Spears, lived a hard life full

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of tragedy too, so when Jamie was only five years old,

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Emma Jean gave birth to another son, Austin. At just

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three days old, he passed away, and this led Emma

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Jean down this really dark journey of mental health decline.

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For the next nine years, she would attempt to take

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her own life on at least three separate occasions. She

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would be in and out of mental hospitals and frequently

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spend time at baby Austin's grave. The nine years of

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mental distress culminated in tragedy when Emma Jean went missing

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in nineteen sixty six, when Jamie was fourteen. She had

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been declared missing, but was later found at Austin's grave

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after killing herself with a shotgun. Following the suicide, Juwn

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Auston's household became a place of survival rather than nurturing.

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June Austen was reportedly an alcoholic who was physically and

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emotionally demanding. Johne Austen had a background in the Air Force,

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and he ran the home like a boot camp. This

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command and control style of parenting was the only blueprint

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Jamie had for how a father interacts with his children.

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Growing up in Kentwood, Jamie was a talented athlete, a

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star quarterback and a base player. However, his identity was

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tied to physical dominance and winning at any cost. Jamie

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began drinking early, on a trait he inherited from his father.

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This created a jekyline hide personality, the charming, hardworking Southern

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man versus the unpredictable, aggressive alcoholic. The spears men were

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often Jacksonville trades, but masters of none. Jamie worked in construction,

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ran a jim and even worked as a cook. There

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was a constant anxiety about money, a fear that he

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was failing to provide, which later manifested as a hyperfixation

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on Britney's brand as a business asset. Both parents were

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so concerned about financial stability that they did whatever it

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took to gain it, including exploiting their children. In twenty

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twenty one, it was revealed through genealogical research that Jamie

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and Lynn actually share a common set of great great grandparents,

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how very Southern of them. While not uncommon in tiny,

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historical Southern towns, this fact just shows how trapped her

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family history really was. Brittany wasn't just born into a family,

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she was born into a centuries old social loop where

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the same names, same debts, and same traumas were recycled

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for generations. Jamie provided the muscle and later the control,

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but it was the Bridges women, Lillian and Lynn, who

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provided the vision of what a Spears girl could be

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if she just worked hard enough to leave the South behind.

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This fuels the spiritual warfare and recycled genetic female rebellion

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many people claim is the root of Britney's problems. Lynn

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would take eight year old Brittany to New York City

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to study at the Professional Performing Arts School, which was

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a radical departure from Southern norms, while Jamie stayed behind

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in Kentwood, struggling with his construction business and his sobriety.

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Lynn and Brittany lived in a cramped New York City sublet.

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While in New York, Lynn modeled the Bridges family's high

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standards behavior. As her mother had done for her, she

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sought out the best coaches and most prestigious auditions like

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the Mickey Mouse Club, even when the family couldn't actually

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afford it. There was a new jan Slayer here, though,

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so the Kentwood community often criticized Lynn for abandoning her

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husband and her other children, Brian and later Jamie Lynn

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to chase a dream for Brittany. This created an US

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against the World bond between the two that actually became

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a central point of contention in the conservatorship years. Lynn

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and Jamie were frequently broke, even filing for bankruptcy in

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nineteen ninety eight, the same year Baby One More Time

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was released. Because of this maternal history of striving, Brittany

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wasn't just a singer. She was a reparative child. She

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was meant to heal the family's financial wounds and fulfill

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the high class destiny that Lillian Portell had brought over

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from London but never quite achieved in the South. Meanwhile,

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in the traditional rural Southern patriarchal view, Jamie was raised

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in the head of the house, controls the assets and

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the movements of the women. Jamie didn't see a twenty

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six year old pop star. He saw a wayward daughter

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who needed to be reined in by the family patriarch,

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just as his in his family, Jamie likely viewed himself

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as the hero who stepped in when Brittany was at

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her lowest. He seemed to believe his own narrative that

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he was protecting the Golden Goose from outsiders, even if

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the protection looked like imprisonment to everyone else, and it did.

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Brittany became the product created by Lynn's ambition but managed

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by Jamie's iron fist style of parenting. She was caught

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between a mother who wanted her to be a star

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and a father who wanted her to be a subordinate.

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Brittany was born in Mississippi but raised in Kentwood, Louisiana.

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Her mother says she chose the name Brittany because it

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means from England, and she began performing almost as soon

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as she could walk, starting dance lessons at the age

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of three and seeing at her local Southern Baptist church choir.

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At just eight years old, Brittany traveled to Atlanta to

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audition for the revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. While

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she was rejected for being too young from that particular

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Mickey mouse Club. A casting director recognized her talent and

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actually helped her to enroll in the Professional Performing Arts

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School in New York City. She landed her first professional

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role as an understudy in the off Broadway musical Ruthless,

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and appeared on the TV talent show Star Search in

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nineteen ninety two, where she actually won the first round,

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but ultimately lost the competition. When she was eleven, Britney

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successfully auditioned for the all new Mickey mouse Club. She

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joined the cast of future stars, including Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera,

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and Ryan Gosling. Britney's talent wasn't just a hobby. It

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was a beacon for her parents, who were facing significant

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financial instability. Her mother, Lynn Spears, saw Britney's discipline as

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a way to transcend their circumstances in Kentwood. As the

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daughter of a British warbride, Lynn was raised on a

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strict sense of decorum and high expectations. This perfectionist standard

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was a significant factor in how she managed Brittany's early career.

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When the Mickey Mouse Club show was canceled two years later,

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in nineteen ninety four, she briefly returned to Kentwood for

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high school, where she played basketball and lived a relatively

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normal teenage life like anybody would. However, while Lynn had

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been in her stage mom era, Jamie started struggling with alcohol.

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Home life for Brittany and her siblings became very unstable.

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During this time, it was reported that Lynn set fourteen

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year old Brittany up on a date with a high

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school senior, Reg Jones. He said in an interview at

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the time Lynn approached him, he hadn't seen Brittany as

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a date, but just as like this little girl. He did, however,

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ask her to his senior prom and Brittany said yes,

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but you have to imagine, like the age difference here

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when you're fourteen and he's like seventeen or eighteen, Like

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that's a huge age difference. In any mom, you're like,

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I don't want my fourteen year old dating an eighteen

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year old because lord knows what could happen. But not

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Lynn spears. She said, you guys, just go ahead. But

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it might have to do with the fact that Reg

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Jones seemed to come from a pretty wealthy family. So

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in an interview, Reg Jones goes on to talk about

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the home he grew up in, a fourteen eighteen thousand

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square foot three story plantation home equipped with a theater

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and a pool. Reg gave a tour of the home,

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showing the basement where he stayed in the bed he

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shared with Brittany, the tub she enjoyed bathing in, and

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the elevator where he said they shared a lot of kissing.

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He was asked in the interview if he was the

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one who deflowered her, and he laughed and said to

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the interviewer quote Reg Jones r E g j O Nes.

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He literally spelled it out, took Britney's virginity end quote.

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What a real gentleman Lynne picked for her daughter. Literally,

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why would you do that to her? Brittany recently confirmed

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in her memoir that Rege Jones was in fact her first.

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In nineteen ninety seven, she was led back to music.

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She recorded a demo tape that caught the attention of

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Jive Records, leading to a developmental deal. Brittany was then

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sent to Sweden to work with producer Max Martin, resulting

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in her debut single and album. The single Baby One

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More Time, was released in late nineteen ninety eight. This

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iconic music video featuring Brittany in a stylized Catholic schoolgirl uniform,

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was a cultural sensation. She continued dating Redge long distance,

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writing letters to one another. As soon as she hit

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the global stage in nineteen ninety eight, Brittany's personal life

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became public property. She was famously pressured to discuss her

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virginity in almost every interview, creating this good girl persona

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that she felt she had to maintain to protect the

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family brand. The debut album Baby One More Time, released

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in January nineteen ninety nine and debut at number one.

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It became the best selling album by a teenage artist

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at the time, establishing her as the face of teen

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pop revival. By early two thousands, Brittany had transitioned from

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a teen idol to a global icon. Increasingly asserting her

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own creative voice, She released her second album, Oops, I

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Did It Again, which broke records by selling over one

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point three million copies in its first week and shaving

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the lives of millennials everywhere I know I I had

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a copy. It was like one of the first albums

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I ever had. That same year, she confirmed her high

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profile relationship with Justin Timberlake. This was the first time

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the public saw her as an adult woman with a

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personal life rather than a child. However, even this was

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highly managed. They were the golden couple of pop, and

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the pressure to be perfect remained immense. While the public

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saw matching denim and Super Bowl performances, the reality was

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a relationship strained by infidelity, a hidden pregnancy, and a

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sudden cold ending. Brittany has since revealed that Justin was

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unfaithful several times during this period. One notable instance involved

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a member of the British group All Saints. Despite the rumors,

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Brittany remained infatuated and chose to look the other way

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to maintain their life together. Brittany has shared that while

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she wanted a family, Justin was so sure he didn't

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want to be a father. This led to a private,

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agonizing abortion at their home, an event that left her

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deeply traumatized. While she continued to maintain her high energy

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public persona the thousand and one, the perfectionist standard inherited

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from her maternal lineage began to clash with her desire

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for autonomy. This marked a pivot toward a more mature

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00:16:09,519 --> 00:16:12,720
provocative image. She performed I'm a Slave for You at

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the MTV Video Music Awards while draped in a live

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albino Burmese python, a moment that became one of the

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most famous images in pop history. In September two thousand

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and one, the world shifted, Brittany announced that she aimed

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to raise two million dollars from her fall tour earnings

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to donate to the children of police officers and firemen

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who died when the World Trade centers collapsed. Brittany performed

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live with Michael Jackson. They performed Jackson's song The Way

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You Make Me Feel at the Michael Jackson thirtieth Anniversary

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Special in Madison Square Garden. This was Jackson's last live

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00:16:47,759 --> 00:16:50,279
performance of this song in front of an audience. Her

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00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,240
third album, Brittany, was released in November two thousand and one,

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making her the first female artist to have her first

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three albums debut at number one on the Billboard two high.

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She also signed a massive endorsement deal with Pepsi, further

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cementing her status as the era's most powerful celebrity. As

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Justin began working on his debut solo album, Justified, Brittany

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noticed him becoming increasingly distant, and she later reflected that

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he seemed to be quote using her as ammunition, creating

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00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:24,759
a coldness that replaced their previous closeness. After learning of

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Justin's ongoing infidelities, Brittany admitted to her own brief laps

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a kiss with choreographer Wade Robson at a Spanish bar.

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She stated that she was honest with Justin about it,

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00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,400
and they initially agreed to just move past it. On

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February fifteen, two thousand and two, the movie Crossroads premiered

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in the US, starring Brittany. Justin was interviewed at the premiere,

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00:17:47,079 --> 00:17:51,240
appearing uncomfortable and jealous of the kissing scenes between Brittany

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00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,039
and her co stars. Though Justin didn't admit his jealousy,

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he said it was uncomfortable to watch. In March two

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thousand and two, while Brittany was on the set of

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00:17:59,759 --> 00:18:03,599
over Protected Dark Child remix music video, she received a

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00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,799
text message from Justin that simply said it's over. The

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00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,720
director of the video recalled her sitting in her trailer

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00:18:10,039 --> 00:18:13,440
devastated before she pulled herself together to finish the shoe,

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00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,839
which was a testament to that work ethic fueled by

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the perfectionism of her mother. In November two thousand and two,

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00:18:20,079 --> 00:18:23,839
Justin released crimea River, and by casting a Brittany look

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alike in the video, he successfully framed her as the

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00:18:27,039 --> 00:18:31,279
unfaithful harlot who broke his heart. While Justin was quote

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00:18:31,319 --> 00:18:34,640
happily running around Hollywood and launching a massive solo career,

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00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:39,440
Brittany describes herself as being in a state of clinical shock.

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She retreated to her home in Kentwood, where she spent

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00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,440
months barely able to speak. But Brittany picked herself up

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00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,319
and started a new year off really busy, focused and determined.

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She would go on to release a new album in

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the Zone, featuring her massive hit song Toxic, and she

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00:18:57,039 --> 00:19:01,240
had effectively turned her sadness into an incredible success and

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00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,519
started making her public transition from a teen pop icon

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00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,279
to a more mature adult superstar. She appeared on Saturday

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00:19:09,319 --> 00:19:12,599
Night Live, an ABC concert special, and in many other

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00:19:12,839 --> 00:19:16,960
high profile television appearances. In August, she opened the show

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00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,759
with performances of Like a Virgin in Hollywood alongside Madonna

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and Christina Aguilera, culminating in the famous on stage kiss

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00:19:24,519 --> 00:19:28,279
between Brittany and Madonna. The camera instantly panned to Justin's

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00:19:28,319 --> 00:19:31,240
reaction in the audience, which was at the very least

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00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:35,319
highly uncomfortable. This marked a turning point where the perfect

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00:19:35,319 --> 00:19:38,519
standard she was raised with were publicly weaponized against her.

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00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,839
It became super apparent in the November two thousand and

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00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:46,319
three ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer titled Britney Spears

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00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:49,640
in the Zone, which is now widely regarded as one

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00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,960
of the most glaring examples of the villain narrative being

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00:19:53,039 --> 00:19:56,799
forced on her. Brittany, who was only twenty one at

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00:19:56,839 --> 00:19:59,640
the time, was subjected to a line of questioning that

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00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,519
sh I did the blame for her breakup and public

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00:20:02,559 --> 00:20:07,440
image entirely onto her shoulders. Sawyer leaned heavily into the

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fallout from the Justin Timberlake breakup, treating his Crimeier River

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video as a factual account of their relationship. Sawyer famously asked, quote,

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00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:19,839
he's gone on television and pretty much said, you broke

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00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,839
his heart. You did something that caused him so much pain,

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00:20:23,039 --> 00:20:26,200
so much suffering. What did you do? End quote. Brittany

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00:20:26,319 --> 00:20:29,480
was forced to defend her integrity while still clearly grieving.

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At one point when Sawyer pressed her about her rough year.

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00:20:33,559 --> 00:20:36,559
Brittany began to sob and asked to stop the interview,

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00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,720
saying I'm embarrassed. Can we stop? And Sawyer didn't want to.

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She also confronted Brittany with criticisms from the public regarding

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her role model status, effectively blaming her for the way

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the media sexualized her. Sawyer brought up the quote from

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00:20:51,759 --> 00:20:55,119
the First Lady of Marylyn Kendall Erlik, who said in

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00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:57,720
a speech that if she had the opportunity, she would

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shoot Britney Spears, which is really aggressive. Instead of condemning

359
00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,279
the violent rhetoric, Sawyer asked Brittany, quote, what is it

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about you that so scared so many people? Quote as

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00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,400
if it's her fault that somebody wants to shoot her?

362
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,039
And this still wasn't the end. Brittany was being questioned

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00:21:14,039 --> 00:21:17,359
about her clothes and her performances, with Sawyer suggesting she

364
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,440
was responsible for upsetting mothers across America. The interview effectively

365
00:21:21,759 --> 00:21:25,400
served as a public trial that Brittany could never win.

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While Justin was praised for his vulnerability in his solo music,

367
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Brittany was painted as a corruptor of youth and an

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00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,480
unfaithful partner. Many historians of her life point to this

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00:21:36,559 --> 00:21:39,359
interview as the moment the media realized they could push

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00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,960
her to an emotional breaking point for ratings. It set

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the stage for the hyper aggressive paparazzi culture that would

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00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,200
define the next several years of her life. But also

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00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,799
it showcases so blatantly the double standard that is in

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00:21:53,839 --> 00:21:57,440
our culture. The Diane Sawyer interview didn't just happen. It

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00:21:57,519 --> 00:22:01,559
was a professional obligation forced her by her father and

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management during a period where she could hardly speak from

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the trauma of her breakup with Justin. Brittany later revealed

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00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,599
that after the interview aired, she felt humiliated and betrayed

379
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by her family for allowing her to be ambush on

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00:22:14,039 --> 00:22:17,279
national television. This set in the growing distrust for the

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00:22:17,319 --> 00:22:20,319
adults in her life who were supposed to protect her.

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00:22:20,599 --> 00:22:23,559
Just days after the interview, she released her fourth album.

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It was her most creatively autonomous work yet, featuring every Time,

384
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,680
a song she wrote as a direct response to the

385
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,759
crimea River narrative. On December second of that year, her

386
00:22:34,759 --> 00:22:38,279
twenty second birthday, she announced the Onyx Hotel tour. The

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00:22:38,319 --> 00:22:42,680
tour theme a mysterious, dark hotel where quote darkest secrets

388
00:22:42,759 --> 00:22:47,279
are revealed reflected her internal state. She was moving away

389
00:22:47,319 --> 00:22:50,960
from the light this bubblegum pop reputation she had created

390
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,720
and towards something darker. Around this time, she was spotted

391
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,240
with actor Colin Farrell. While brief. This fling was a

392
00:22:58,279 --> 00:23:02,160
sharp departure from her Golden couple passed with Justin It

393
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:06,200
was her first public attempt at a rebel phase, choosing

394
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,680
a partner known for being a Hollywood bad boy. Although

395
00:23:09,759 --> 00:23:13,160
Lynn was still managing her, Brittany began spending more time

396
00:23:13,319 --> 00:23:17,319
with childhood friends from Kentwood, people who knew her before

397
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:21,039
she was famous. This was a direct attempt to find

398
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:25,519
grounding outside the Spears family industry. There is this theory

399
00:23:25,599 --> 00:23:28,119
that from nineteen ninety eight to two thousand and three,

400
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,400
Brittany was selected for Project Monarch programming within the entertainment industry,

401
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,720
which is very common like a lot of entertainers unfortunately

402
00:23:36,759 --> 00:23:39,839
go through this. People claim that her rapid transition from

403
00:23:39,839 --> 00:23:44,079
this innocent schoolgirl to the snake wilding goddess symbolizes the

404
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,160
destruction of her former persona. Her frequent use of occult

405
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,119
symbolism in music videos, The repetitive nature of her choreography

406
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,000
and her rapid artificial transition from a child to a

407
00:23:56,039 --> 00:23:59,559
sex symbol are pointed to as signs of a carefully

408
00:23:59,599 --> 00:24:03,799
construct did multi personality creation designed to influence the youth

409
00:24:03,839 --> 00:24:06,559
of America. We also have to remember this time in

410
00:24:06,599 --> 00:24:10,279
America was super chaotic. We now know the Clintons have

411
00:24:10,319 --> 00:24:13,880
been involved in many suspicious activities with Jeffrey Epstein, who

412
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:18,640
was beginning to peak in trafficking, and many other evil

413
00:24:18,759 --> 00:24:22,839
mind control projects with elites, and there is no denying

414
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,240
that when it came to Britney Spears, especially around this time,

415
00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:30,200
there was a drastic shift in how celebrities were followed

416
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,519
and she was the most sought after person in the world.

417
00:24:34,799 --> 00:24:38,240
There are even reports that say Britney Spears' paparazzi pictures

418
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,720
were single handedly keeping some tabloids in business. Everyone was

419
00:24:42,759 --> 00:24:45,960
making money off of her. Everyone. On January third, two

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00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,720
thousand and four, Brittany was in Las Vegas with friends,

421
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,799
including Paris Hilton and her childhood friend from Kentwood, Jason Alexander.

422
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,319
In her twenty twenty three memoir The Woman in Me,

423
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:00,480
Brittany describes her mindset as being quote drunk and very

424
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,200
bored before going out that night, She and Jason spent

425
00:25:03,319 --> 00:25:05,960
the evening lounging in her suite at the Palms Casino

426
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,119
Resort watching Mona Lisa Smile and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,

427
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:14,680
which are very different movies. Around three thirty in the morning,

428
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:19,440
Brittany suggested that they get married. She has since clarified

429
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,200
that she didn't really view it as like this life

430
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,440
altering commitment. It was just like innocent fun, the kind

431
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,640
of goof around Vegas wedding stuff that people do as

432
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,880
a joke. The pair took a green limousine from the

433
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,119
Palms to a little white wedding chapel on the Strip,

434
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,200
and Brittany didn't wear a gown. She just like wore

435
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,119
baseball cap and some rip jeans, and no family members

436
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:42,480
were present, so she just had like the limousine driver

437
00:25:42,599 --> 00:25:45,160
walker down the aisle. They paid a fee, exchange fowls,

438
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,319
and were legally married by five thirty in the morning.

439
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,359
The drunken fun joke abruptly ended the moment Brittany's family

440
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,839
and management found out. Brittany said that her family reacted

441
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,559
as if she had started World War three. Jason Alexander

442
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,359
later claimed that Lynn Spear and a team of lawyers

443
00:26:01,559 --> 00:26:05,640
swooped in almost immediately. He alleged they were both pressured

444
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,359
into an annulment under dress. Jason claimed the family tricked

445
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,759
him into signing the papers by promising that if he

446
00:26:11,839 --> 00:26:14,240
and Britney still loved each other in six months, they

447
00:26:14,279 --> 00:26:18,240
would give them a proper, large wedding. Once he signed,

448
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:20,920
they changed Britney's phone number, and he never spoke to

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00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,359
her again. To get the annulment processed in record time,

450
00:26:24,519 --> 00:26:28,599
just fifty five hours, her legal team used specific damaging

451
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,799
language that would later be used against her. The petition

452
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:36,799
stated that Britney quote lacked understanding of her actions end quote,

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00:26:37,039 --> 00:26:40,480
to the extent that she was quote incapable of agreeing

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00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,599
to the marriage en quote. Both things that say that

455
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,759
she doesn't know what she's doing. While this was a

456
00:26:45,839 --> 00:26:49,359
legal shortcut to avoid a lengthy divorce, it publicly established

457
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:53,000
this narrative that Brittany was mentally incompetent or unable to

458
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,799
make her own decisions. This want of understanding clause is

459
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,799
often viewed by historians as the first formal legal brick

460
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,640
laid in the path toward her eventual conservatorship. Brittany began

461
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:09,119
the Onyx Hotel tour that March, with scheduled performances in

462
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,480
North America and Europe. She met her backup dancer, Kevin

463
00:27:12,519 --> 00:27:16,039
Federline at the Hollywood Club Joseph's the next month. He

464
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,519
had a daughter and a pregnant fiance at the time,

465
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,279
but that didn't stop him from messing around with Brittany.

466
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,720
She had already performed concerts in North America and completed

467
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,559
the European portion when on June eighth, while filming the

468
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,720
music video for her single Outrageous, her knee gave out.

469
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,519
She was taken to a local hospital when the MRI

470
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,559
revealed floating cartilage in her knee. She had to undergo

471
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:41,400
surgery and the tour was done. With her force downtime,

472
00:27:41,519 --> 00:27:44,519
Brittany had a lot of free time, which is often

473
00:27:44,559 --> 00:27:47,160
cited as a major turning point in her career. She

474
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,440
and Kevin Federline began spending a lot more time together,

475
00:27:51,039 --> 00:27:53,400
though he was still engaged to shar Jackson at the time.

476
00:27:53,799 --> 00:27:57,400
The couple had officially separated shortly before their son's birth.

477
00:27:57,599 --> 00:28:01,559
Jackson reportedly learned about the relationship between Brittany and Kevin

478
00:28:01,799 --> 00:28:04,759
through tabloid photos of the two together. After just three

479
00:28:04,759 --> 00:28:07,240
months of dating, Brittany and Kevin got married in a

480
00:28:07,279 --> 00:28:11,279
surprise backyard ceremony and studio city Guests were served chicken

481
00:28:11,279 --> 00:28:14,519
wings and ribs, and the bridal party wore tracksuits with

482
00:28:14,599 --> 00:28:17,599
the Maids and Pimps written on the back. Just a

483
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,119
few months later, Brittany became pregnant with their first child.

484
00:28:20,279 --> 00:28:22,720
In September two thousand and five, Brittany gave birth to

485
00:28:22,759 --> 00:28:27,400
Sean Preston just before her first wedding anniversary. Brittany had

486
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,519
quietly suffered postpartum depression, which resulted in the media headlining

487
00:28:31,559 --> 00:28:33,759
photos of her in tears with her baby, which is

488
00:28:33,839 --> 00:28:38,319
just awful. One image in particular happened just after being

489
00:28:38,359 --> 00:28:41,160
swarmed by paparazzi while she was pregnant with her second

490
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,759
son and holding baby Sean. So she actually tripped and

491
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,000
Sean's head kind of like fell back a little bit,

492
00:28:47,519 --> 00:28:51,440
and she didn't drop the baby, but she was probably

493
00:28:51,519 --> 00:28:53,880
stressed out, and she's got postpardon depression, and she's pregnant,

494
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,359
so she's kind of going through all these things. So

495
00:28:55,359 --> 00:28:57,519
she like runs into this restaurant with the baby, and

496
00:28:57,519 --> 00:28:59,839
they're like taking pictures of her through the windows as

497
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,759
she's crying, which just tripping and being worried about your

498
00:29:03,839 --> 00:29:06,000
new baby would be a hard thing to deal with

499
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,799
on its own, let alone all the pop arazzi and

500
00:29:08,839 --> 00:29:11,559
the post partner depression, Like, it's really scary being a

501
00:29:11,599 --> 00:29:14,039
first time mom. As I mentioned, she was pregnant with

502
00:29:14,039 --> 00:29:17,079
her second son, Jayden James, within three months of Sean

503
00:29:17,119 --> 00:29:21,119
Preston's birth. It is generally known that becoming pregnant so

504
00:29:21,119 --> 00:29:25,519
soon after a pregnancy, especially already having Postparder depression, can

505
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:30,519
cause a condition known as perinatal postpartum psychosis or PPP.

506
00:29:30,759 --> 00:29:36,400
Between rapid hormone changes, significant stressors, sleep deprivation, and any

507
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:40,319
pre existing mental health struggles, there are major triggers for

508
00:29:40,359 --> 00:29:43,960
psychotic symptoms. This leads to February two thousand and six,

509
00:29:44,039 --> 00:29:47,880
the infamous driving incident. Brittany, who we know was around

510
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,880
like three months pregnant at the time, was photographed driving

511
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,559
with her infant son in her lap. She would later

512
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,319
explain that the incident was a panicked reaction to a

513
00:29:57,359 --> 00:30:00,640
frightening encounter with pop arazzi, but the media actually used

514
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,200
it against her to like frame her as this unfit mother.

515
00:30:04,759 --> 00:30:08,680
TMZ came out much later and said they changed their

516
00:30:08,759 --> 00:30:12,160
policy because of this event, noting that they recognized the

517
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,519
paparazzi chasing Brittany and her baby created a dangerous situation

518
00:30:17,119 --> 00:30:21,279
and that something wasn't right about it, which, yeah, duh.

519
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,279
This goes for anyone, especially when there's a child involved,

520
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,880
But there should be some restraints on how far paparozzi

521
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,039
can go when trying to take pictures of celebrities. The

522
00:30:32,079 --> 00:30:35,160
people in Brittany's life should have been trying to encourage

523
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,759
her to get help at this point, especially with her

524
00:30:37,759 --> 00:30:41,079
postpartum depression. She should have had an entourage of people

525
00:30:41,119 --> 00:30:44,039
around her, like her family. She had plenty of money.

526
00:30:44,039 --> 00:30:46,200
She could have paid for anything, right. They could have

527
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,440
paid for help for postpartum depression. They could have paid

528
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,200
for nanny. They could have paid for somebody to just

529
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:51,880
go out and run her errands for her. But at

530
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,720
the same time, maybe she just wanted to leave the house.

531
00:30:55,039 --> 00:30:57,359
Like being a postpart a mom, sometimes you just need

532
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,039
to get out of the house so you don't go crazy.

533
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,200
Either way, instead of caring about her and her babies,

534
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,119
it seemed like her mental health was actually exploited and

535
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:06,920
just used as a weapon against her. In May of

536
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,720
two thousand and six, Brittany made a surprise appearance on

537
00:31:09,759 --> 00:31:12,559
the Late Night Show with David Letterman, and she officially

538
00:31:12,559 --> 00:31:15,799
announced she was expecting her second child with husband Kevin Federline.

539
00:31:15,799 --> 00:31:17,880
The next month, in June, she sat down with Matt

540
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,079
Lauer on Dateline NBC. She tearfully addressed the relentless media

541
00:31:22,079 --> 00:31:25,680
harassment and defended her parenting skills, and she also famously

542
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,720
stated quote I'm not perfect, I'm human end quote, which,

543
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,200
first of all, how heartbreaking is that I don't think

544
00:31:32,359 --> 00:31:35,240
many first time parents can say they did everything right. Again,

545
00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:39,519
she could have hired somebody to run her errands for her,

546
00:31:39,599 --> 00:31:41,920
because she knew that she was going to get harassed

547
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:46,039
by the paparazzi. But maybe, just maybe she just wanted

548
00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:47,759
to leave the house, Like I don't know. I go

549
00:31:47,799 --> 00:31:50,200
back and forth, and I'm like, you know that paparazzi's

550
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,119
gonna chase you're Britney Spears. But also you're like, why

551
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,880
can't I do normal things? Like I'm just a human being.

552
00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:59,880
So this is like a weird double edged sword, I think. Anyway,

553
00:32:00,119 --> 00:32:02,480
on September twelve, two thousand and six, just two days

554
00:32:02,519 --> 00:32:06,880
before Sean Preston's first birthday, Brittany gave birth to Jaden

555
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:10,640
James via c section in Los Angeles. In her memoir

556
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,759
The Woman in Me, Brittany describes her second pregnancy as

557
00:32:13,799 --> 00:32:18,240
a time of significant isolation and emotional distress. She says

558
00:32:18,279 --> 00:32:21,400
she felt abandoned by Kevin, even claiming that she flew

559
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:23,559
to New York while she was pregnant with Jaden to

560
00:32:23,559 --> 00:32:27,640
see Kevin, but he refused to meet her. She also

561
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,680
says that he would spend a lot of time in

562
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:33,519
Las Vegas shooting music videos and pursuing his own career interests,

563
00:32:33,799 --> 00:32:36,400
leaving her alone while she was pregnant and caring for

564
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,559
their first son, and dealing with postpartum depression and dealing

565
00:32:39,559 --> 00:32:42,480
with paparazzi. She describes herself as being in a bubble

566
00:32:42,559 --> 00:32:45,599
during this time, dealing with the physical and mental toll

567
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:49,200
of back to back pregnancies. Since Jaden was conceived three

568
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:52,119
months after the birth of Sean Preston, Brittany was literally

569
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,559
raising an infant while navigating a high stress, high profile

570
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,480
second pregnancy. It is also worth noting that Brittany often

571
00:32:58,519 --> 00:33:01,319
looks back on this period as the beginning of the

572
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,240
collapse that the media exploited while she felt she was

573
00:33:05,279 --> 00:33:10,119
simply a struggling young mother whose husband had completely checked out.

574
00:33:10,319 --> 00:33:13,000
Just eight weeks after Jaden was born, Brittany filed for

575
00:33:13,039 --> 00:33:17,160
divorce from Kevin. This was worldwide news, of course, that

576
00:33:17,279 --> 00:33:22,279
created a major uproar. The Women on the View made

577
00:33:22,279 --> 00:33:26,319
a special announcement on their show that had a loud celebration.

578
00:33:26,599 --> 00:33:29,799
The audience stood up and cheered and everyone clapped. Tabloids

579
00:33:29,839 --> 00:33:33,440
everywhere made this their front page news. Paparazzi were more

580
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,240
reckless than ever trying to get even a glimpse of

581
00:33:36,279 --> 00:33:39,400
Brittany with her kids. Her kids, Why can't you leave

582
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,680
the children alone? At least one thing to note about

583
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,640
Southern women in general, especially considering who her mother is,

584
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,599
is that they are trained to be respectful and sweet

585
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,920
while smiling through grief in public. There's actually a song

586
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,160
that makes this point perfectly by Miranda Lambert called Mama's

587
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,559
Broken Heart, and it literally just talks about how it

588
00:33:57,599 --> 00:33:59,119
doesn't matter that your heart's broken, you need to put

589
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,079
on a smile and get out there. The world doesn't

590
00:34:01,119 --> 00:34:03,880
need to see you breaking. It's a very lady like

591
00:34:04,039 --> 00:34:06,519
to be strong all the time. Nobody wants to see

592
00:34:06,559 --> 00:34:09,719
her tears. This was especially true for Britney Spears. I

593
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:11,800
say all this because some people wonder why she was

594
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,960
so nice to paparazzi, accusing her of liking the attention,

595
00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:17,719
even though she was known for being very polite to

596
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,639
photographers and joking with them and sometimes even bringing them

597
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:24,039
coffee or snacks. For people who do not fully understand

598
00:34:24,079 --> 00:34:27,119
her upbringing, it would be easy to mistake her over

599
00:34:27,599 --> 00:34:33,079
kindness for enjoying the attention. Still, in reality, southern ladylike

600
00:34:33,119 --> 00:34:36,800
behavior mixed with being constantly told to please the public

601
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:39,800
by her mother and having to navigate an alcoholic father,

602
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,920
all culminate in a natural response of attempting to control

603
00:34:44,039 --> 00:34:48,920
chaos with cooperation and joyful hospitality. She's just a people pleaser,

604
00:34:49,159 --> 00:34:52,239
and she's literally been bred and groomed into it. This

605
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,639
is why the shock of two thousand and seven Brittany

606
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,480
hit her public reputation so hard. Brittany was transitioning from

607
00:34:58,559 --> 00:35:01,400
being a mega pop star to wife and then in

608
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,119
less than two years, a single mother to two babies.

609
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,360
The start of two thousand and seven, which should have

610
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,320
been a fresh start to a new year for her,

611
00:35:08,519 --> 00:35:11,840
was immediately trampled on when her aunt, Sandra, whom she

612
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:13,800
had said in her memoir was like a second mother

613
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,360
to her, passed away from a varian cancer. There was

614
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,960
an increase in the aggressive presence of paparazzi following her

615
00:35:20,039 --> 00:35:23,920
every move during this time, which led to frequent negative confrontations.

616
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,239
In early February, she made a brief visit to an

617
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:31,440
addiction treatment center in Antiqua, only to leave less than

618
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,920
twenty four hours later. By mid February, she was captured

619
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,320
in the now infamous footage injuring the hair salon in California,

620
00:35:38,519 --> 00:35:41,400
where she shaved her head. As she was trying to leave,

621
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,920
the paparazzi blocked her vehicle, so she got out and

622
00:35:45,159 --> 00:35:49,039
literally smashed his car window with an umbrella. After that incident,

623
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:53,000
she checked into the Promises Treatment Center in Malibu, where

624
00:35:53,039 --> 00:35:55,880
she remained for several weeks. In March, she completed the

625
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,159
program and was successfully discharged. She was seen spending time

626
00:35:59,199 --> 00:36:02,719
with her children, making efforts to return to some sense

627
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:06,320
of normalcy. However, there was still a constant presence of

628
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,760
paparazzi and photographers posted outside her home, taking pictures of

629
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,119
her through her fence, trying to get into her yard,

630
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,000
and when she tried to leave, chasing her wherever she went.

631
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,719
She literally had no privacy or peace at all, no

632
00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,639
matter who you are. I can't imagine any young mother

633
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,599
handling that. Well, you just want to play in the

634
00:36:23,679 --> 00:36:26,519
yard with your kids, but you're worried some creepy guy

635
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,320
is in the bushes taking pictures of them, so you

636
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:31,719
try to leave and go somewhere else, and the same

637
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,079
creepy guy follows you with your children, and you can't

638
00:36:35,079 --> 00:36:37,639
call the police because it's not illegal for someone to

639
00:36:37,639 --> 00:36:40,639
stand on the sidewalk or drive behind someone else. You

640
00:36:40,639 --> 00:36:42,920
can't leave for a place no one recognizes you, because

641
00:36:43,119 --> 00:36:46,320
everyone recognizes Britney Spears. And she couldn't even leave the

642
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,360
country because she's going through a divorce. All I'm saying is,

643
00:36:49,559 --> 00:36:52,159
can we really blame her for losing her shit? I

644
00:36:52,159 --> 00:36:55,400
don't think so. This harassment and constant attention went on

645
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:59,440
all year. That kind of year would be bad for

646
00:36:59,599 --> 00:37:03,440
any perfectly normal human. Still, for Brittany, she was painted

647
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:07,760
as a person having mental health instability, framed as having

648
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:12,280
outbursts against photographers and being a bad mother. Brittany really

649
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,000
just needed a break at that point. However, instead of

650
00:37:15,079 --> 00:37:17,480
finding a place where she could relax out of the spotlight,

651
00:37:17,679 --> 00:37:20,440
she found herself at a Ditty party. On September seventh,

652
00:37:20,519 --> 00:37:23,079
Brittany was pictured with Ditty and Paris Hilton at a

653
00:37:23,159 --> 00:37:26,480
nightclub where Ditty's ex girlfriend Cassie later testified that it

654
00:37:26,519 --> 00:37:28,840
was her twenty first birthday in the place where she

655
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,800
and Ditty made their relationship personal rather than professional. Later

656
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:35,199
that night, it was reported that the group moved to

657
00:37:35,199 --> 00:37:37,599
a second party at the Hard Rock Hotel, where she

658
00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:41,159
was pictured very glassy eyed staring up at Ditty. She

659
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:43,880
then continued partying with him through the night and into

660
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:46,719
the early morning of September eighth. This was a day

661
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:50,880
before Brittany's disastrous VMA performances on September ninth, where she

662
00:37:51,079 --> 00:37:54,519
was clearly unable to perform. Brittany explained that she was

663
00:37:54,639 --> 00:37:58,480
dizzy and exhausted, but headlines around the world described her

664
00:37:58,519 --> 00:38:02,960
performance as lard and clear. A jab at her unusually

665
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:07,119
bloated appearance, lackluster dancing, poor lip syncing, and painful to

666
00:38:07,199 --> 00:38:11,039
watch were all phrases used to describe the performance. In

667
00:38:11,119 --> 00:38:13,880
her memoir, Brittany wrote, quote, there was a problem with

668
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,719
my costume and with my hair extensions. I hadn't slept

669
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,159
the night before. I was dizzy. It was less than

670
00:38:19,199 --> 00:38:21,639
a year since I'd had my second baby in two years,

671
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,639
but everyone was acting like my not having six pack

672
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:28,000
abs was offensive. End quote. Some people now speculate whether

673
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,159
Ditty was working with the CIA and was used to

674
00:38:30,199 --> 00:38:33,760
trigger her in the Project Monarch experiment to traumatize her

675
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,679
and see if she would fall, while others theorized that

676
00:38:38,159 --> 00:38:40,840
maybe she was just a victim of Ditty. Now let's

677
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:42,920
talk about that day that changed Britney's life forever. On

678
00:38:43,039 --> 00:38:45,639
the evening of January third, two thousand and eight, officers

679
00:38:45,639 --> 00:38:47,760
were called to her home after she refused to hand

680
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:50,800
her two sons over to Kevin Federline's representatives at the

681
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,440
end of a court monitored visit. According to her manager,

682
00:38:54,679 --> 00:38:57,519
Brittany and the boys had a great visit, and she

683
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,079
had always made sure that the boy had like new clothes,

684
00:39:01,199 --> 00:39:03,920
had eaten well, and that she bathed them before sending

685
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:07,159
them back to their father. However, this evening, he says

686
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:10,800
Brittany told Kevin's representative she needed an extra hour to

687
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,880
bathe the boys. The representative were like, cool, no problem,

688
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,400
have your extra hour. However, when Kevin's team arrived to

689
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,880
take the children, the situation escalated rapidly. The message had

690
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,400
not been communicated to the team by the representative that

691
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:27,480
she was going to have an extra hour, So from

692
00:39:27,559 --> 00:39:31,280
here the story gets skewed, but reports indicate that she

693
00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:34,719
locked herself in a room with one of her children

694
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:37,119
and refused to open the door to police or the

695
00:39:37,199 --> 00:39:42,599
court appointed monitor. After an intense hours long standoff involving police, paramedics,

696
00:39:42,599 --> 00:39:45,800
and fire trucks, she eventually turned the children over around

697
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,480
ten point fifty pm. She was then transported to Cedars

698
00:39:49,559 --> 00:39:54,400
Sinai Medical Center on a gurney, visibly distressed and placed

699
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:59,039
under involuntary psychiatric hold. Sam Lutfey, her manager, claimed at

700
00:39:59,079 --> 00:40:02,400
the time Brittany went willingly and that her psychiatrist was

701
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:06,039
the one who determined the intervention was necessary. The whole

702
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:08,880
was placed for seventy two hours. However, it only lasted

703
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:11,079
twenty four hours because it was determined that she was

704
00:40:11,079 --> 00:40:13,719
not actually at risk of harming herself or others and

705
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,360
did not have any drugs in her system, so the

706
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:19,800
physician allowed Brittany to check herself out. By this time,

707
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:23,079
Brittany's dad, Jamie, had begun working with Lou Taylor, and

708
00:40:23,199 --> 00:40:26,280
after this event, he hired her as a business manager,

709
00:40:26,639 --> 00:40:30,519
and Jamie also replaced Brittany's psychiatrists during this time. In

710
00:40:30,599 --> 00:40:33,760
late January, police were called to her gated community after

711
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:38,079
reports that paparazzi were trespassing on private property to follow Brittany.

712
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,559
When officers arrived, they could not find trespassers, but they

713
00:40:41,599 --> 00:40:45,719
did issue several citations for illegally parked vehicles around her home.

714
00:40:46,119 --> 00:40:48,679
Just a few days later, on January thirty first, two

715
00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,639
thousand and eight, police were called again to her residence

716
00:40:51,679 --> 00:40:54,400
in the early hours of the morning, this time for

717
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,719
a medical emergency. She was taken by ambulance under a

718
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,440
police escort. Paparazzi were making it difficult for the ambulance

719
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:05,119
to leave her driveway, and she was admitted to UCLA

720
00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:08,280
Medical Center and placed on an involuntary fifty one to

721
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:12,159
fifty psychiatric hold. Again, according to reports and family memoirs,

722
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:16,559
Jamie his legal and business team, including the new psychiatrist

723
00:41:16,599 --> 00:41:19,960
and business manager Lou Taylor, both of whom did not

724
00:41:20,039 --> 00:41:22,639
have a relationship with Brittany, had been working with the

725
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:26,360
LAPD for weeks to execute a plan to place Brittany

726
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:31,639
under psychiatric care. Although we now know that Brittany was

727
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:34,920
cleared by medical and psychiatric professionals earlier in the month,

728
00:41:35,199 --> 00:41:38,119
the new narrative was that Brittany was unwell and could

729
00:41:38,159 --> 00:41:41,960
not care for herself. Her new psychiatrists reportedly triggered the

730
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:45,760
fifty one to fifty, though the specific clinical motivations, like

731
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,840
reports of sleep deprivation and refusal to take medication, have

732
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:54,039
remained a dispute between family members, her previous manager, Sam

733
00:41:54,119 --> 00:41:56,960
and Brittany herself. While Brittany was still being held in

734
00:41:57,039 --> 00:42:01,440
the hospital under this hold, Jamie petitioned the court for

735
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:05,280
an emergency temporary conservatorship. A conservatorship is when the court

736
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:09,760
appoints a responsible individual to manage the financial affairs, personal care,

737
00:42:10,199 --> 00:42:12,480
or both for an adult who was unable to do

738
00:42:12,559 --> 00:42:17,280
so for themselves due to mental or physical incapacity. Commissioner

739
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,119
Riva Goetz granted it in a hearing that reportedly lasted

740
00:42:21,199 --> 00:42:24,559
only about ten minutes. The legal filing alleged that Brittany

741
00:42:24,599 --> 00:42:27,920
suffered from a dementia related illness, a claim that was

742
00:42:28,519 --> 00:42:33,280
never corroborated by medical evidence. There were numerous reports of

743
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,159
screaming matches in the hospital halls between family members and

744
00:42:36,199 --> 00:42:40,679
Sam Lutfy, while the family consolidated control over Brittany's medical

745
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:45,559
and personal decisions. Within days of the hold, Brittany attempted

746
00:42:45,599 --> 00:42:50,519
to retain her own counsel, Adam Streisand, but the court

747
00:42:50,599 --> 00:42:54,519
denied her request, ruling that she lacked the capacity to

748
00:42:54,639 --> 00:42:59,079
hire an attorney. Instead, the court appointed Samuel d Ingham

749
00:42:59,119 --> 00:43:02,880
the Third to represent her, which ensured the conservatorship team

750
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:06,800
had control over her legal defense from the start. It

751
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:11,199
is extremely important to note that within weeks of this

752
00:43:11,519 --> 00:43:14,760
dementia claim that prevented her from being able to hire

753
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:18,039
her own attorney and manage her own life, she was

754
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:23,880
actively working on albums and television appearances, like her guest

755
00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:26,639
starring in the TV series How I Met Your Mother?

756
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,559
How can she be so incapacitated that she couldn't make

757
00:43:30,599 --> 00:43:33,599
a decision for herself like hiring her own attorney, which

758
00:43:33,639 --> 00:43:35,599
is a freaking attorney that they would be able to

759
00:43:35,639 --> 00:43:39,199
know if she was incapacitated, right, But no, they said, no,

760
00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:42,440
you can't hire your own attorney. We'll appoint you one. However,

761
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,760
go back to work. And then the conservatorship was supposed

762
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:51,559
to only be temporary, it was actually explicitly temporary and

763
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:56,400
an emergency conservatorship. It was filed as an ex parte application,

764
00:43:56,679 --> 00:44:00,000
meaning it was requested by only one party, Britney's father,

765
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:04,480
without advanced notice to the other, Brittany, due to concerns

766
00:44:04,519 --> 00:44:08,320
regarding her immediate safety and mental health. The order is

767
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:11,639
meant to provide immediate oversight while the court evaluates the

768
00:44:11,639 --> 00:44:15,559
need for a more formal, long term arrangement. However, in

769
00:44:15,599 --> 00:44:19,440
Britney's case, the court did not stop at the temporary order.

770
00:44:19,599 --> 00:44:22,800
It was repeatedly extended in the months following February two

771
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:26,280
thousand and eight, through multiple court dates. This is where

772
00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:29,639
things get muddy. Brittany was not allowed to speak for herself,

773
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,000
was represented by someone she did not choose and who

774
00:44:33,079 --> 00:44:36,159
did not actually know her. She was unable to express

775
00:44:36,159 --> 00:44:39,039
what was happening to her. Meanwhile, like I said before,

776
00:44:39,159 --> 00:44:42,119
and it is clear, Brittany was still working and managing

777
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:45,960
the empire she built, only she had no authority to

778
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,639
manage her own life. The order also mandated evaluations regarding

779
00:44:49,639 --> 00:44:53,599
her capacity to participate in the proceedings, manage financial affairs,

780
00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:58,880
retain counsel, and her susceptibility to undo influence. Evaluations were

781
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:02,800
conducted by people Jamie hired, not Brittany, and again she

782
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:06,039
was not allowed to be alone during these evaluations. In

783
00:45:06,079 --> 00:45:08,880
her much later testimony that we'll get into later, she

784
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,800
reported that during her psychiatric evaluation she had no privacy

785
00:45:13,159 --> 00:45:16,559
that nurses and security personnel were present, including while she

786
00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:20,559
changed clothes and showered. Jamie was given power over her

787
00:45:20,719 --> 00:45:24,199
entire person and estate. He had the authority to restrict

788
00:45:24,199 --> 00:45:27,039
and limit visits to her. Although she was able to

789
00:45:27,079 --> 00:45:30,199
meet with her attorney, sam Ingham, Jamie had the power

790
00:45:30,199 --> 00:45:33,760
to approve the meeting location and require security, so she

791
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:37,760
was never alone with her attorney. So much for attorney

792
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,440
client privilege. Jamie had the authority to hire twenty four

793
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,519
to seven security guards and caretakers. He also had the

794
00:45:43,559 --> 00:45:47,239
power to prosecute civil harassment restraining orders on her, behalf

795
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:49,960
like putting a restraining order on people who had been

796
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:54,880
her closest friends, including her most recent boyfriend at Non

797
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:59,360
glib He and his attorney Andrew Wallat no pun intended here. Yes,

798
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,719
that's his name, Andrew Wallat, and he actually lives up

799
00:46:02,719 --> 00:46:07,000
to it were appointed as temporary co conservators of her estate,

800
00:46:07,199 --> 00:46:10,440
granting them control over all her assets, bank accounts, and

801
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:14,719
financial decision making, effectively revoking her existing powers of attorney

802
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,119
over a period of approximately nine months. The conservatorship was

803
00:46:18,199 --> 00:46:21,360
extended until October twenty eight, two thousand and eight, when

804
00:46:21,639 --> 00:46:26,360
Judge Goetz ruled that the arrangement was necessary and appropriate

805
00:46:26,639 --> 00:46:29,480
due to the complexity of Britney Spears's business and financial

806
00:46:29,599 --> 00:46:34,679
entities and her susceptibility to undo influence, effectively removing the

807
00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:38,760
expiration date and making the conservatorship indefinite. The court characterized

808
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:40,880
the nature of the estate as a hybrid business model

809
00:46:41,119 --> 00:46:45,079
at the time. This referred to the intricate network of companies, trusts,

810
00:46:45,119 --> 00:46:48,480
and professional teams surrounding her career, and the court argued

811
00:46:48,599 --> 00:46:52,440
that because her wealth was not simply held in personal accounts,

812
00:46:52,559 --> 00:46:57,079
but was tied to corporate interests, touring entities, and complex contracts,

813
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,760
it required specialized, ongoing professional management. The other critical component

814
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,920
was susceptibility to undo influence. The court found that she

815
00:47:06,039 --> 00:47:10,079
was vulnerable to exploitation or manipulation by third parties or

816
00:47:10,119 --> 00:47:13,679
like her father. By appointing a permanent conservator of the estate,

817
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:17,039
the court aimed to place a legal barrier between her

818
00:47:17,079 --> 00:47:20,400
assets and individuals who the court, at the urging of

819
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:25,639
conservators deemed to be bad influences. So the judge took

820
00:47:25,679 --> 00:47:30,440
Britney's abusive, alcoholic father's word for it and allowed him

821
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:34,239
to essentially own her, understanding that she was vulnerable to

822
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:38,920
being taken advantage of what are you kidding me? Once

823
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:43,559
the conservatorship became permanent, the control granted to the conservators

824
00:47:43,639 --> 00:47:47,639
became far more invasive than the temporary crisis management phase.

825
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:51,679
The permanent letters of conservatorship empowered Jamie Spears to revoke

826
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:55,599
existing powers of attorney and modify, amend or revoke revocable

827
00:47:55,639 --> 00:47:59,239
trusts without needing a court order for each specific action.

828
00:47:59,639 --> 00:48:02,880
That is, in legal terms, to say, everything Brittany had

829
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:06,679
put in place to protect herself and safeguard her own assets, wealth,

830
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,039
and personal well being was all nolan void and now

831
00:48:10,559 --> 00:48:13,840
in the hands of her father. Additionally, a major stipulation

832
00:48:14,039 --> 00:48:17,719
of the permanent arrangement was that any future professional commitments

833
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:21,559
such as tours albums and residencies required approval from her

834
00:48:21,599 --> 00:48:26,639
medical team hired by her father and conservators also her father,

835
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:30,119
and this essentially tied her ability to work and earn

836
00:48:30,199 --> 00:48:35,400
money to the ongoing satisfaction of the conservatorship's requirements. This

837
00:48:35,599 --> 00:48:39,119
also provided a legal way to mandate Britney work like

838
00:48:39,159 --> 00:48:43,639
a slave and provide income to all the teams Jamie hired,

839
00:48:44,079 --> 00:48:48,159
including himself. A security firm called black Box Security was

840
00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:51,639
hired by Jamie with Britney's money to monitor her daily life,

841
00:48:51,639 --> 00:48:53,519
so she was literally paying for a security team to

842
00:48:53,679 --> 00:48:56,599
report back to her father. Former employees alleged that the

843
00:48:56,599 --> 00:49:00,360
firm was instructed to monitor her private conversations and moments,

844
00:49:00,679 --> 00:49:04,280
including with medical and legal professionals, with her children, and

845
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:08,159
even more twisted, they had cameras and voice recording devices

846
00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:11,320
set up in her bedroom. Brittany also alleges that any

847
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:14,679
perspective dates had to have background check and submit a

848
00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:17,079
blood test before they could go on a first date,

849
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:21,239
and then the staff working for her dad would contact

850
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:25,000
the date and disclose all of her medical and sexual

851
00:49:25,119 --> 00:49:29,519
history beforehand. Talk about invasive and also like, isn't that

852
00:49:29,559 --> 00:49:33,199
a hip of violation? Although Jamie can consent to that.

853
00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:36,800
He can give her medical information to anybody if he

854
00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,840
wants to, he could just put it on TMZ. In

855
00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:41,239
two thousand and nine, she began dating her talent agent,

856
00:49:41,559 --> 00:49:44,679
Jason Trowick, who had been working for her dad since

857
00:49:44,679 --> 00:49:48,000
two thousand and eight. They became engaged in December twenty eleven,

858
00:49:48,039 --> 00:49:51,159
and in April twenty twelve, he was officially added as

859
00:49:51,159 --> 00:49:54,760
a co conservator of her person. He was granted legal

860
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:58,239
control over her daily decisions, such as the food she ate,

861
00:49:58,519 --> 00:50:01,280
the clothing she wore, and and even the medical care

862
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:04,679
she received. However, he did not have control over her

863
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:09,119
financial assets. Their relationship did not last, and in January

864
00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:12,639
twenty thirteen, he called off their engagement and he was

865
00:50:12,679 --> 00:50:15,239
also removed as a co conservator. Almost a year later,

866
00:50:15,519 --> 00:50:18,840
on December twenty seven, twenty thirteen, Brittany began a four

867
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:22,079
year residence he had at the Axis a Planet hotel,

868
00:50:22,159 --> 00:50:25,599
resort and casino. The residency was called Brittany Piece of Me.

869
00:50:26,039 --> 00:50:28,840
It was originally supposed to last only two years, but

870
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:31,920
because it was so successful, it ran for an additional

871
00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:34,559
two years. She later claimed that she had no control

872
00:50:34,599 --> 00:50:37,000
over the set, the timing, the moves or the songs.

873
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:39,719
She also had a lot of time to work on

874
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:42,960
new moves and music, and that she desperately wanted to

875
00:50:43,039 --> 00:50:44,880
change things up for her fans and give them what

876
00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:47,719
they deserved, but no one cared, No one wanted to

877
00:50:47,719 --> 00:50:49,559
listen to her. She was just a work machine for

878
00:50:49,559 --> 00:50:53,159
her father. October twenty sixteen, Brittany met Sam Ashgari, a model,

879
00:50:53,199 --> 00:50:55,800
actor and fitness trainer who was playing the role of

880
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:58,559
her love interest, on the set of a music video

881
00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:01,199
for Slumber Party, and just a few months later, in

882
00:51:01,280 --> 00:51:05,559
January twenty seventeen, they made their relationship Instagram official. When

883
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:10,280
Sam met Brittany, they had an immediate connection. They exchanged

884
00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:14,440
phone numbers and began talking about everything. Their initial interaction

885
00:51:14,639 --> 00:51:17,480
led to a sushi date and the beginning of their relationship.

886
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:20,840
Brittany and Sam's relationship would begin to deepen over the

887
00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:23,719
next few months, and Brittany says Sam was supportive throughout

888
00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:26,679
her conservatorship and that they would go on hikes and

889
00:51:26,679 --> 00:51:29,280
they would work out and attend public events together, like

890
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:32,039
they went to the twenty eighteen GLAD Media Awards together,

891
00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:35,760
and during this time, Brittany frequently spoke of Sam as

892
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:38,360
a source of inspiration who helped her feel like the

893
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:40,960
luckiest girl in the world. In twenty eighteen, Brittany described

894
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:44,639
the conservatorship as becoming increasingly strained. In her books, she

895
00:51:44,679 --> 00:51:47,440
talked about her mother and sister going on beach trips

896
00:51:47,519 --> 00:51:50,639
to a beach house that she bought, and her family

897
00:51:50,679 --> 00:51:53,440
was living their lives while she worked day in and

898
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:56,239
day out, following the strict rules set by her father.

899
00:51:56,639 --> 00:51:58,960
She recalled a little girl she worked with in a

900
00:51:59,039 --> 00:52:01,880
dance class that she taught. So she actually bumped into

901
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,760
this little girl, and she was so concerned about her.

902
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:06,599
She kept making sure that she was okay, and she

903
00:52:06,639 --> 00:52:10,000
was so worried, right, and the little girl reportedly told

904
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:12,400
her that, like, it's fine. This kind of thing happens

905
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:14,119
in dance classes all the time. It's like not a

906
00:52:14,159 --> 00:52:17,639
big deal. And Brittany said that in this moment, she

907
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:20,599
realized she was more worried about the comfort of this

908
00:52:20,719 --> 00:52:23,039
little girl that she was teaching a dance class to

909
00:52:23,519 --> 00:52:27,639
than her family was worried about her comfort. Through this conservatorship,

910
00:52:27,719 --> 00:52:29,840
it dawned on her that she had been creating a

911
00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:33,599
life for her family, working for their livelihood, and they

912
00:52:33,639 --> 00:52:37,239
did not care for her even a fraction as much

913
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:39,559
as she cared for that little girl she accidentally bumped into.

914
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:42,760
She later testified that she felt forced to perform on

915
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:45,480
the Piece of Me World tour in twenty eighteen out

916
00:52:45,519 --> 00:52:50,239
of fear that refusing would result in legal or financial repercussions.

917
00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:53,679
Also in her memoir, she confirmed that another residency was

918
00:52:53,679 --> 00:52:56,760
supposed to be announced for the following year, and in

919
00:52:56,800 --> 00:53:00,119
twenty nineteen, she was introduced to a huge audience in

920
00:53:00,199 --> 00:53:03,800
Las Vegas, rising from the stage as fans and press

921
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:06,039
awaited her announcement. So all these people were like waiting,

922
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:08,840
she admitted, Like, she waved to them, she signed some autographs,

923
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:11,039
and then she's like, I'm out of here. She just left,

924
00:53:11,559 --> 00:53:14,599
and according to her, her father was pissed. Following the cancelation,

925
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:18,800
speculation regarding her well being intensified. In March twenty nineteen,

926
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:22,639
Andrew Walllett, her co conspirator i mean conservator from the beginning,

927
00:53:23,119 --> 00:53:27,239
unexpectedly resigned, leaving her father as a sole conservator. That

928
00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:32,039
period of uncertainty and perceived lack of control fueled the

929
00:53:32,079 --> 00:53:35,400
Free Brittany movement, although at the time she did not

930
00:53:35,559 --> 00:53:38,119
know about the movement. Fans had begun to question the

931
00:53:38,199 --> 00:53:41,599
management of her life and estate. In April twenty nineteen,

932
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:44,159
Brittany said she was with one of her bodyguards when

933
00:53:44,159 --> 00:53:46,519
she received a call from her mother, who claimed the

934
00:53:46,559 --> 00:53:48,760
police were after her and that she needed to get

935
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:51,639
to the beach house immediately. Brittany was like super confused

936
00:53:51,679 --> 00:53:54,760
by this whole situation because she really hadn't done anything illegal,

937
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:57,039
Like there's no reason that the police would be after her,

938
00:53:57,199 --> 00:53:59,639
and also like her mom doesn't just like urgently call

939
00:53:59,679 --> 00:54:02,360
her need her to get somewhere, So she thought the

940
00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:04,559
whole thing was weird. She's like, Okay, I'm just gonna

941
00:54:04,559 --> 00:54:06,440
go to the beach house. Obviously my mom needs something.

942
00:54:07,079 --> 00:54:10,639
When she arrived, she says, there were helicopters and paparazzi

943
00:54:10,679 --> 00:54:13,840
and her family had staged an intervention. While the public

944
00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:16,719
narrative was that she was taking time off for herself,

945
00:54:17,079 --> 00:54:20,559
this period became the key component to her later testimony

946
00:54:20,639 --> 00:54:23,760
about the abuse she endured. She described that her family

947
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:26,639
coerced her into a Beverly Hills facility, forced her to

948
00:54:26,639 --> 00:54:30,079
take lithium, and denied her basic personal freedoms. She was

949
00:54:30,119 --> 00:54:32,559
set up in an isolated wing, which she had to

950
00:54:32,559 --> 00:54:36,360
pay sixty thousand dollars a month for she could not leave, drive,

951
00:54:36,559 --> 00:54:39,639
bathe in private, or even shut her bedroom door. In

952
00:54:39,679 --> 00:54:42,119
her memoir, Brittany goes on to say that she had

953
00:54:42,159 --> 00:54:45,360
been praying, she was miserable, and she was convinced at

954
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:48,039
this point that her family intended to kill her or

955
00:54:48,119 --> 00:54:50,920
had hoped that she would give up and commit suicide

956
00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:53,800
in the facility. It was just after this that a

957
00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:57,199
nurse started showing her clips of fans discussing the hashtag

958
00:54:57,239 --> 00:55:00,280
free Britney movement on a talk show. She said, seeing

959
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:02,480
those clips of people trying to figure out if she

960
00:55:02,559 --> 00:55:05,519
was being held against her will was quote the most

961
00:55:05,599 --> 00:55:08,679
amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life. She said.

962
00:55:09,119 --> 00:55:12,079
This was a pivotal moment for her. It helped her

963
00:55:12,119 --> 00:55:14,559
realize that her fans were aware of her situation and

964
00:55:14,639 --> 00:55:17,519
or fighting for her when she felt completely alone. The

965
00:55:17,639 --> 00:55:20,880
ultimate catalyst that made the hashtag free Brittany movement a

966
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:25,000
turning point was in mid April twenty nineteen, comedians Tess

967
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:28,599
Barker and Barbara Gray, hosts of The Brittany's Gram podcast,

968
00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:32,360
released an episode featuring an anonymous voicemail from a source

969
00:55:32,400 --> 00:55:35,719
claiming to be a paralegal with first hand knowledge of

970
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:39,360
the conservatorship. The source alleged that Brittany had been forced

971
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:42,079
into a mental health facility against her will in mid

972
00:55:42,199 --> 00:55:45,519
January twenty nineteen after refusing to take her medication and

973
00:55:45,639 --> 00:55:49,280
driving without permission, contradicting the official story that she had

974
00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:52,800
voluntarily checked in due to stress. Once the podcast aired,

975
00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:56,840
the hashtag Free Brittany movement spread across Twitter and Instagram.

976
00:55:57,159 --> 00:56:00,840
Fans known as the Brittany Army, began acting as amateur

977
00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:06,199
investigative journalists, which like every mid thirties female is probably

978
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:08,400
part of Brittany's army. We're really good at finding things

979
00:56:08,400 --> 00:56:13,519
on the Internet. They scored legal documents, analyzed inconsistencies in

980
00:56:13,599 --> 00:56:18,320
Brittany's social media posts for coded distress signals, and tracked

981
00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:22,960
the movements of those managing her conservatorship. The movement was

982
00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:27,119
propelled by people like Kevin Wu at Free Brittany, La,

983
00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:31,320
who used social media to organize, provide updates on court hearings,

984
00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:34,440
and act as a hub for information. By late April

985
00:56:34,519 --> 00:56:38,519
twenty nineteen, the movement moved offline and supporters began gathering

986
00:56:38,559 --> 00:56:42,079
in person outside the courthouse. In Los Angeles, the media

987
00:56:42,239 --> 00:56:46,840
could no longer ignore this activism. Outlets like TMZ promoted

988
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:52,440
the voluntary stay narrative. They talked about fans as conspiracy theorists, which, like,

989
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,199
I'm pretty sure at this point it's just a phrase

990
00:56:55,199 --> 00:56:57,320
that means people who do their own research and like

991
00:56:58,119 --> 00:57:02,239
actually care about the world. We Even TMZ eventually shifted

992
00:57:02,239 --> 00:57:06,039
its view. The movement gained legitimacy as more details leaked,

993
00:57:06,119 --> 00:57:10,800
including information regarding the resignation of co conservator Andrew Walllett

994
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:13,760
in March of twenty nineteen. By the time Brittany arrived

995
00:57:13,760 --> 00:57:17,639
at the courthouse in May twenty nineteen, reportedly without shoes

996
00:57:17,719 --> 00:57:20,480
and with her mother Lynn, the Free Brittany movement had

997
00:57:20,519 --> 00:57:24,880
successfully reframed the entire narrative of her life. It shifted

998
00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:31,400
from a conspiracy theory to a mainstream conversation about conservatorship, abuse, autonomy,

999
00:57:31,559 --> 00:57:35,039
and disability rights. While Brittany continued dating Sam, the Free

1000
00:57:35,039 --> 00:57:38,519
Brittany movement snowballed over the next couple of years. Fans

1001
00:57:38,599 --> 00:57:42,360
began using code signals to communicate with Brittany. One fan

1002
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:45,679
claimed that she commented to her, if you need help,

1003
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:49,280
wear yellow in your next video, the next video Brittany

1004
00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:53,840
posted was yellow. This communication solidified in fans' minds that

1005
00:57:53,880 --> 00:57:56,679
Brittany was in trouble and could not speak freely about

1006
00:57:56,719 --> 00:58:00,719
what was happening to Her signals became the primary of

1007
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,400
constant worry among her fans, and they obsessively analyzed her

1008
00:58:04,400 --> 00:58:07,440
eye movements, the placement of flowers in her house, the

1009
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:10,599
color of her clothing, believing every post was either a

1010
00:58:10,719 --> 00:58:13,960
literal cry for help or, on the flip side, proved

1011
00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:17,280
that the person posting was a handler using her face.

1012
00:58:17,559 --> 00:58:21,039
From twenty nine through twenty nineteen, many people believed that

1013
00:58:21,079 --> 00:58:23,840
Brittany was literally no longer in charge of her own

1014
00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:27,599
social media, and that belief was proven true. Also, it

1015
00:58:27,679 --> 00:58:30,880
was speculated that her posts were part of a sophisticated

1016
00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:35,840
algorithmic psychological operation. Some went as far to as far

1017
00:58:35,880 --> 00:58:39,000
as to suggest she had been replaced by an AI

1018
00:58:39,159 --> 00:58:43,400
generated digital avatar in her music videos and promotional content.

1019
00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:46,880
One of the judges on X Factor, Lewis Walsh, recalled

1020
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:51,559
that although Brittany was physically there, she was mentally not there.

1021
00:58:52,239 --> 00:58:56,119
He explicitly stated in multiple interviews that she appeared to

1022
00:58:56,199 --> 00:58:59,480
be quote on so much medication that she struggled to

1023
00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:02,440
sit up straight, describing how she would slump over in

1024
00:59:02,480 --> 00:59:05,599
her chair, and he also claimed that production often had

1025
00:59:05,639 --> 00:59:09,079
to stop the show and remove her from the room

1026
00:59:09,239 --> 00:59:12,199
because of her condition. By February twenty twenty one, a

1027
00:59:12,280 --> 00:59:16,079
documentary called Framing Britney Spears was released. While the movement

1028
00:59:16,159 --> 00:59:19,559
had been building for around two years through podcasts, fan

1029
00:59:19,639 --> 00:59:23,239
led social media campaigns and protests, the documentary brought the

1030
00:59:23,280 --> 00:59:28,519
conservatorship into the mainstream officially. It provided a clear, high

1031
00:59:28,559 --> 00:59:31,920
production value timeline of her life, and the film forced

1032
00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:35,079
the public to confront the tabloid culture drama Brittany endured

1033
00:59:35,119 --> 00:59:39,599
in the two thousands. It highlighted the misogyny, objectification, hypocrisy,

1034
00:59:39,639 --> 00:59:42,079
and bullying that she was forced to overcome. Because the

1035
00:59:42,199 --> 00:59:46,159
entire film was produced without Brittany's direct cooperation, it relied

1036
00:59:46,199 --> 00:59:50,079
on interviews with former associates and legal experts to shift

1037
00:59:50,119 --> 00:59:52,880
the public's perception of her from the two thousand and

1038
00:59:52,920 --> 00:59:56,559
seven breakdown to recognizing her as a human being reacting

1039
00:59:56,639 --> 01:00:00,679
to reacting to inhumane treatment while essentially living in a

1040
01:00:00,719 --> 01:00:05,400
fish bowl. The documentary directly influenced the legal proceedings Shortly

1041
01:00:05,440 --> 01:00:10,599
after the documentary aired. Public support was palpable. When Brittany

1042
01:00:10,639 --> 01:00:13,639
finally broke her silence in her June twenty twenty one

1043
01:00:13,760 --> 01:00:17,400
court testimony, the public already understood the weight of her

1044
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:22,920
plea to end the abusive arrangement. Everyone managing her conservatorship

1045
01:00:23,199 --> 01:00:25,760
had been outed, and they were beginning to drop like

1046
01:00:25,800 --> 01:00:29,119
flies to Starting with Andrew Wallat, there was a cascade

1047
01:00:29,159 --> 01:00:33,360
of major departures, including the resignation of her court appointed lawyer,

1048
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:38,760
Samuel Ingham and her longtime manager Larry Rudolph. These resignations

1049
01:00:38,800 --> 01:00:42,360
allowed Brittany the chance to finally choose her own legal counsel,

1050
01:00:42,599 --> 01:00:47,119
Matthew Rosngart, who aggressively pushed for her father's removal and

1051
01:00:47,239 --> 01:00:51,480
the eventual termination of the entire conservatorship. On November twelfth,

1052
01:00:51,519 --> 01:00:54,440
twenty twenty one, Brittany said that as she was thinking

1053
01:00:54,519 --> 01:00:58,039
her attorney and her fans, it was mister Rosengart who

1054
01:00:58,519 --> 01:01:00,719
told her it was because of her her courage in

1055
01:01:00,840 --> 01:01:04,480
advocating for herself. In her testimony that she was free.

1056
01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:06,960
Brittany says it was the first time in a very

1057
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:10,119
long time that she was given credit for something good

1058
01:01:10,199 --> 01:01:13,000
and not something bad. In June twenty twenty two, after

1059
01:01:13,039 --> 01:01:16,000
six years of dating, Sam and Brittany got married at

1060
01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:18,840
their Los Angeles home, and the guest list included a

1061
01:01:18,920 --> 01:01:22,039
variety of high profile celebrities and friends. Some of those

1062
01:01:22,079 --> 01:01:25,599
guests included Madonna, Selena Gomez, Paris Hilton with her husband

1063
01:01:25,599 --> 01:01:29,639
and mother, Brittany's brother Brian, and Sam's sisters. It was

1064
01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:33,320
very notable that her parents, sister, and two sons were

1065
01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:35,719
not at her wedding. In August twenty twenty two, she

1066
01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:39,159
released Told Me Closer, a collaboration with Sir Elton John,

1067
01:01:39,480 --> 01:01:42,800
marking her return to the music industry. However, she has

1068
01:01:42,880 --> 01:01:45,039
made it known that the trauma caused by the music

1069
01:01:45,119 --> 01:01:48,800
industry during her years under the conservatorship make her hesitant

1070
01:01:48,840 --> 01:01:51,800
to return. Just a little over a year later, in

1071
01:01:51,840 --> 01:01:55,119
August twenty twenty three, Sam filed for divorce. He cited

1072
01:01:55,119 --> 01:01:59,039
irreconcilable differences as a reason for the split. However, Brittany

1073
01:01:59,039 --> 01:02:02,559
expressed that she was shocked but couldn't take the pain anymore.

1074
01:02:02,679 --> 01:02:06,199
Many people have speculated that the couple had been experiencing

1075
01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:08,920
ups and downs for a while, with frequent arguments over

1076
01:02:09,000 --> 01:02:12,760
various issues you know, marriage stuff. There are rumors that

1077
01:02:12,800 --> 01:02:17,000
Sam actually threatened to release extraordinarily embarrassing information about Spears

1078
01:02:17,320 --> 01:02:22,440
unless she agreed to renegotiate their prenuptial agreement. However, Sam's

1079
01:02:22,480 --> 01:02:25,639
representatives have denied these claims and stated that there were

1080
01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:29,840
no negative intentions toward Brittany. Then the divorce ended in

1081
01:02:29,880 --> 01:02:32,960
May of twenty twenty four, in accordance with the original

1082
01:02:33,039 --> 01:02:36,280
terms of their prenuptial agreement. One of the most talked

1083
01:02:36,280 --> 01:02:40,199
about theories about Brittany today is whether she ever actually

1084
01:02:40,239 --> 01:02:44,159
regained her true freedom, or if the version of Brittany

1085
01:02:44,199 --> 01:02:47,440
we see today is a product of a deep bake

1086
01:02:48,000 --> 01:02:51,440
or a continuation of the same industry control that simply

1087
01:02:51,480 --> 01:02:55,920
rebranded after the Free Britney movement. This theory has a

1088
01:02:56,079 --> 01:03:01,239
ton of plausible evidence. Her sporadic posting on Instagram contradicts

1089
01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:04,599
the official public statements her brand tries to project. She

1090
01:03:04,679 --> 01:03:08,199
has not had direct contact with the public in several years,

1091
01:03:08,480 --> 01:03:11,280
and some people even believe the person seen with Sam

1092
01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:14,960
during their dating period was never Brittany at all, but

1093
01:03:15,079 --> 01:03:18,000
a body double. She has not been photographed at a

1094
01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:21,360
public event since twenty nineteen, and her Instagram posts seem

1095
01:03:21,400 --> 01:03:24,360
to indicate that she has not actually posted a new

1096
01:03:24,440 --> 01:03:27,440
photo or video since around twenty twenty one, and her

1097
01:03:27,480 --> 01:03:31,880
current posts are recycled AI generated media from images that

1098
01:03:31,960 --> 01:03:36,119
she has already posted. There's also a super creepy image

1099
01:03:36,159 --> 01:03:40,000
sequence of Brittany posted November one, twenty twenty one, of

1100
01:03:40,039 --> 01:03:43,800
her appearing to be handcuffed and unconscious, which is odd.

1101
01:03:43,920 --> 01:03:46,840
Some of these images are obvious fakes. There is a

1102
01:03:46,880 --> 01:03:49,960
picture of her with her son Jaden, where somehow he

1103
01:03:50,039 --> 01:03:52,880
only has four fingers. You could argue that his pinky

1104
01:03:52,920 --> 01:03:55,760
finger is somehow hidden behind the phone, but if you

1105
01:03:55,800 --> 01:03:58,639
look closely, it just doesn't look right, and some people

1106
01:03:58,679 --> 01:04:02,599
have pointed out that it could Brittany's brother's fiance, Amber Lynn,

1107
01:04:02,880 --> 01:04:06,559
actually posing as Brittany and using a filter. Amber Lynn

1108
01:04:06,880 --> 01:04:10,079
looks very similar to Brittany in bone structure and coloring,

1109
01:04:10,280 --> 01:04:13,320
and during their relationship they had broken off their engagement,

1110
01:04:13,519 --> 01:04:16,320
and during that time Amber Lynn had posted some pretty

1111
01:04:16,320 --> 01:04:19,239
serious allegations about the Spears family, stating that they were

1112
01:04:19,280 --> 01:04:23,320
actually drugging Brittany and then pimping her out. However, Amber

1113
01:04:23,360 --> 01:04:26,880
and Brian have since got back together and she has

1114
01:04:26,920 --> 01:04:30,719
not made those allegations public. Again. This is also super weird,

1115
01:04:30,760 --> 01:04:32,920
like did they force her to reconcile with Brian to

1116
01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:37,400
continue portraying Brittany like did they blackmail her or threaten

1117
01:04:37,440 --> 01:04:39,920
to kill her if she didn't comply. There are many

1118
01:04:39,920 --> 01:04:43,199
similarities in parallels between Amber and Brittany. Amber came into

1119
01:04:43,239 --> 01:04:46,360
the public picture around twenty twenty one, and they are

1120
01:04:46,400 --> 01:04:50,039
pictured holding the same mug in several occasions. Amber has

1121
01:04:50,119 --> 01:04:55,119
videos of staying at Brittany's house, but Brittany is nowhere

1122
01:04:55,280 --> 01:04:57,960
to be seen. There are more theories that is actually

1123
01:04:58,159 --> 01:05:01,639
Kate Hudson, Brittany's manager the videos using an AI filter.

1124
01:05:02,280 --> 01:05:04,880
This one might not actually be that far off either.

1125
01:05:05,320 --> 01:05:07,719
If you slow down some of the videos she has posted,

1126
01:05:07,840 --> 01:05:11,719
you can see anomalies in her appearance. One picture shows

1127
01:05:11,719 --> 01:05:15,119
a man reflected in a picture frame taking a picture

1128
01:05:15,159 --> 01:05:17,599
of a cat in a Chipotle bag, as if to say,

1129
01:05:17,639 --> 01:05:19,920
they have not let the cat out of the bag yet.

1130
01:05:20,239 --> 01:05:23,559
Maybe I don't know. There are videos where it looks

1131
01:05:23,559 --> 01:05:27,639
like Brittany has male genitalia between her legs. Some look

1132
01:05:27,840 --> 01:05:31,000
like there is a hint of a beard under her face.

1133
01:05:31,559 --> 01:05:34,519
Some show her hair flipping over and it looks like short,

1134
01:05:34,639 --> 01:05:38,880
dark hair under a wig. Her face shape shifts her

1135
01:05:38,880 --> 01:05:42,199
eyes change. Some shots she is holding a phone in

1136
01:05:42,239 --> 01:05:45,239
her hand one second, and then it disappears the next second.

1137
01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:49,719
Somehow jewelry that disappears into her skin or changes altogether

1138
01:05:49,880 --> 01:05:55,360
between movements. Her videos are obviously heavily edited, but it

1139
01:05:55,400 --> 01:05:59,159
can't all just be explained away as simple editing. Sometimes

1140
01:05:59,199 --> 01:06:02,199
it looks like a total different person. Some theories suggest

1141
01:06:02,400 --> 01:06:05,599
she has adopted a baby girl. In July twenty twenty five,

1142
01:06:05,960 --> 01:06:09,639
she posted on Instagram that she adopted a quote beautiful

1143
01:06:09,639 --> 01:06:13,679
baby girl end quote named Lennon London Spears and planned

1144
01:06:13,679 --> 01:06:17,480
to move to Italy. However, sources later clarified that the

1145
01:06:17,559 --> 01:06:22,119
post was not a factual announcement. It was supposedly understood

1146
01:06:22,159 --> 01:06:26,039
to be a playful or trolling post because she had

1147
01:06:26,159 --> 01:06:30,400
used winking and silly face emojis, which I don't know

1148
01:06:30,440 --> 01:06:33,000
how you get a trolling post from the winky face

1149
01:06:33,079 --> 01:06:35,800
emojis anyway. This theory has been countered by fans who

1150
01:06:35,880 --> 01:06:40,639
speculate that she might have been referring to a reborn doll,

1151
01:06:40,920 --> 01:06:44,039
so these are like hyper realistic dolls that sometimes are

1152
01:06:44,159 --> 01:06:48,239
used for therapeutic purposes. She has been pictured with pacifiers,

1153
01:06:48,239 --> 01:06:51,199
a baby carrier baby dolls and other girl toys, and

1154
01:06:51,320 --> 01:06:54,079
sources have noted that the baby carrier was used to

1155
01:06:54,119 --> 01:06:59,039
transport her dolls. So child representation therapy is a professional

1156
01:06:59,039 --> 01:07:03,880
approach to heal childhood trauma by reparenting oneself through a doll,

1157
01:07:04,119 --> 01:07:07,440
so the doll actually serves as a tangible focus for

1158
01:07:07,599 --> 01:07:12,079
that nurturing energy, helping the individual externalize the trauma and

1159
01:07:12,159 --> 01:07:15,679
move through in a safe, controlled environment. Given that Brittany

1160
01:07:15,920 --> 01:07:19,440
was essentially entertaining and working since she was like three

1161
01:07:19,519 --> 01:07:22,400
years old, along with having an alcoholic father and a

1162
01:07:22,400 --> 01:07:26,280
perfectionist mother, then all the entertainment industry staff that she

1163
01:07:26,320 --> 01:07:28,360
grew up around, it is likely that she went through

1164
01:07:28,559 --> 01:07:32,199
way more trauma than she has ever revealed publicly. She

1165
01:07:32,280 --> 01:07:35,920
has been teasing a be Tiny jewelry and perfume line

1166
01:07:35,960 --> 01:07:39,000
for years, though this has not come to fruition either.

1167
01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:42,440
She has changed her name several times online, from Britney

1168
01:07:42,440 --> 01:07:47,199
Spears to Zela Zela, Marie Zeela, Marie river Red, and

1169
01:07:47,239 --> 01:07:50,119
then back to Britney Spears again, which is important and

1170
01:07:50,119 --> 01:07:52,159
we'll get to it in just a second. Her name

1171
01:07:52,239 --> 01:07:56,199
has also mysteriously come up in the Epstein Files two

1172
01:07:56,199 --> 01:08:00,360
different times in one email to Epstein from something called

1173
01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:04,960
No Workout Free Trials. There is a single statement that says, quote,

1174
01:08:05,079 --> 01:08:08,000
don't lose out, just lose it. Britney spears, did it

1175
01:08:08,360 --> 01:08:11,280
end quote? It is followed by a hyperlink that doesn't

1176
01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:13,800
work anymore. But when you go to the root web page,

1177
01:08:13,880 --> 01:08:17,000
it is a photography site. The subject of the linked

1178
01:08:17,000 --> 01:08:21,439
web page, though, is Isaacson Walnut. So I googled that

1179
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:24,279
and the first thing to come up was an Isaacson

1180
01:08:24,479 --> 01:08:29,199
dining set on Wayfair. Coincidence, probably not. Another email featuring

1181
01:08:29,199 --> 01:08:32,640
Britney's name was from a man named Mark troumo An,

1182
01:08:32,800 --> 01:08:36,680
MD and PhD, who was working at UCLA when she

1183
01:08:36,880 --> 01:08:39,600
was admitted in two thousand and eight. The email was

1184
01:08:39,640 --> 01:08:42,760
sent to Jeffrey Epstein. It alludes to Epstein being a

1185
01:08:42,760 --> 01:08:46,640
potential donor to Tromo's foundation, the Institute for Music and

1186
01:08:46,720 --> 01:08:50,560
Brain Science. He says, quote the Institute. A'llah the attached

1187
01:08:50,600 --> 01:08:54,079
picture A sent you with a thank you note back

1188
01:08:54,119 --> 01:08:57,880
in December. There's already a number from my class asking

1189
01:08:57,920 --> 01:09:01,079
to do some projects with me. Y would free me

1190
01:09:01,239 --> 01:09:05,039
up to write some grants e g. My new pal

1191
01:09:05,159 --> 01:09:09,079
at Universal Music has offered to send Britney Spears the

1192
01:09:09,119 --> 01:09:13,680
neonatal ICU project I sent the Florida Science Foundation in nine.

1193
01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:17,880
There's a custody issue surrounding her kids since he is

1194
01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:21,840
her publisher, but time has been prohibiting me from pursuing it.

1195
01:09:22,079 --> 01:09:25,199
In quote, Traumo goes on to say he hopes to

1196
01:09:25,199 --> 01:09:28,479
see Epstein and have quote some fun here in one

1197
01:09:28,479 --> 01:09:30,920
to two weeks end quote. As we talked about before,

1198
01:09:31,039 --> 01:09:34,880
the conservatorship of Brittany was set up initially in two

1199
01:09:34,920 --> 01:09:38,359
thousand and eight after being hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center,

1200
01:09:38,640 --> 01:09:41,680
and was made permanent just before two thousand and nine.

1201
01:09:42,039 --> 01:09:45,359
Back then, the hospital made a statement that thirteen hospital

1202
01:09:45,439 --> 01:09:49,159
workers were fired for quote unquote snooping in Britney Spears's

1203
01:09:49,159 --> 01:09:53,039
medical records, which also makes me think about the Lilith episode.

1204
01:09:53,239 --> 01:09:55,600
If you heard that, you'll probably remember that the number

1205
01:09:55,640 --> 01:09:59,920
thirteen was closely associated with chaos, rebellion, and a divine

1206
01:10:00,039 --> 01:10:03,279
feminine spirit. You don't have to worship numerology to see

1207
01:10:03,279 --> 01:10:07,520
the correlation. Not to mention that Brittany was locked into

1208
01:10:07,560 --> 01:10:11,079
a conservatorship for thirteen years as well. What's up with

1209
01:10:11,079 --> 01:10:13,880
that number thirteen? Anyway? Getting back on topic, the way

1210
01:10:13,920 --> 01:10:17,039
the email was worded makes people wonder what was done

1211
01:10:17,039 --> 01:10:20,359
to Brittany against her will during the conservatorship. The way

1212
01:10:20,399 --> 01:10:25,319
Tromo says that his pal at University at Universal quote

1213
01:10:25,399 --> 01:10:29,399
unquote offered Brittany, Knowing what we know now that she

1214
01:10:29,600 --> 01:10:32,720
was not able to consent to any decisions made about her,

1215
01:10:33,119 --> 01:10:36,239
makes us wonder if she was used in an experiment

1216
01:10:36,399 --> 01:10:40,840
involving babies, because they're talking about the prenatal ICU. In

1217
01:10:40,880 --> 01:10:44,880
her memoir, Brittany revealed that she had suffered brain damage

1218
01:10:45,039 --> 01:10:48,319
in the past after being held for four months without

1219
01:10:48,319 --> 01:10:51,479
being able to move her arms or legs. However, checking

1220
01:10:51,520 --> 01:10:56,199
in to her rehab stays and even documented hospitalizations, there's

1221
01:10:56,319 --> 01:10:59,680
no public record that she ever had to stay anywhere

1222
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:02,640
for four months. So she remembers this. She put it

1223
01:11:02,640 --> 01:11:04,840
in her memoir because it was such a significant impact

1224
01:11:04,920 --> 01:11:08,079
on her life, and yet there's no records of it

1225
01:11:08,560 --> 01:11:11,520
unless they were doing it not at the hospital. Another

1226
01:11:11,560 --> 01:11:14,720
odd thing to note is Gino U, a man known

1227
01:11:14,840 --> 01:11:18,319
for his deep research into human consciousness, is in the

1228
01:11:18,319 --> 01:11:21,159
Epstein files as well. He tells Epstein about his hopes

1229
01:11:21,159 --> 01:11:25,079
for doing research studies in Tulum, Mexico. So you mentions

1230
01:11:25,119 --> 01:11:27,680
in an email to Epstein about being quote the guy

1231
01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:31,439
that organizes Wu Moon and the guy that provides the

1232
01:11:31,520 --> 01:11:35,359
sound system for the big parties in Tulum and Ibiza

1233
01:11:35,720 --> 01:11:39,359
end quote. He mentions to Epstein that he was developing

1234
01:11:39,399 --> 01:11:43,079
a research lab in Tulum. Later, Epstein told you about

1235
01:11:43,079 --> 01:11:46,840
his funding Mark Traumo's foundation on music in the brain.

1236
01:11:47,039 --> 01:11:50,840
In Brittany's Instagram videos, she has seen many times wearing

1237
01:11:50,840 --> 01:11:53,560
a hat that is actually known as a Tulum hat,

1238
01:11:54,159 --> 01:11:56,720
and she seems to have one in every single color.

1239
01:11:57,319 --> 01:11:59,840
With her frequent trips to Mexico. It brings up a

1240
01:11:59,880 --> 01:12:04,439
lot a lot of questions. Also, the name she went by, Zila,

1241
01:12:04,800 --> 01:12:09,119
means woman in Mexican indigenous language of Zepodic. The word

1242
01:12:09,199 --> 01:12:12,359
also comes from a flower found in Oxaca, Mexico, which

1243
01:12:12,439 --> 01:12:15,079
is just a short boat ride from Tuloum. I have

1244
01:12:15,920 --> 01:12:19,000
a lot of questions but no real answers. There is

1245
01:12:19,039 --> 01:12:22,359
a lot of speculation about whether all this is connected.

1246
01:12:22,479 --> 01:12:25,399
Is she connected to Epstein, Mark Tromo and Gino U.

1247
01:12:25,920 --> 01:12:28,640
Were the experiments done on her for music and brain

1248
01:12:28,720 --> 01:12:31,640
research that left her brain damaged? I don't know, but

1249
01:12:31,720 --> 01:12:35,079
there's a lot of mysterious signs that something did happen.

1250
01:12:35,439 --> 01:12:38,520
In February twenty twenty six, Brittany sold her entire music

1251
01:12:38,560 --> 01:12:42,399
catalog for two hundred million dollars. This move has had

1252
01:12:42,439 --> 01:12:44,880
people talking about her again and begging for her to

1253
01:12:44,920 --> 01:12:48,399
address her fans publicly in person, because again, we have

1254
01:12:48,479 --> 01:12:51,479
not seen her in person since twenty nineteen. Many people

1255
01:12:51,560 --> 01:12:53,800
have called the FBI to check on her, and police

1256
01:12:53,840 --> 01:12:55,600
have showed up out of her door, and nothing has

1257
01:12:55,600 --> 01:12:59,159
come out publicly about where she is. Maybe she is

1258
01:12:59,199 --> 01:13:01,760
perfectly fine and going through like a healing journey. I

1259
01:13:01,760 --> 01:13:03,720
don't know she's totally allowed to do all that, but

1260
01:13:04,439 --> 01:13:08,680
we're concerned about her safety. And she was so excited

1261
01:13:08,720 --> 01:13:11,600
about the Free Brittany movement back in twenty nineteen when

1262
01:13:11,600 --> 01:13:13,479
it started that you think that she would come out

1263
01:13:13,479 --> 01:13:15,680
and be like, I'm guys, I'm good, I'm safe, like

1264
01:13:15,720 --> 01:13:18,960
all good. But if she really was sending us these

1265
01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:22,239
signals through Instagram and all these different posts, then you

1266
01:13:22,279 --> 01:13:25,279
think that she would want to officially tell us that

1267
01:13:25,319 --> 01:13:27,920
she was okay. Just after the research for this episode

1268
01:13:27,960 --> 01:13:30,960
was done, news came out that Brittany had been arrested

1269
01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:34,359
the night before for a DUI. Since then, TMZ and

1270
01:13:34,439 --> 01:13:37,000
many Other sources have claimed that she took police on

1271
01:13:37,079 --> 01:13:40,239
a high speed chase for an hour thought law enforcement,

1272
01:13:40,479 --> 01:13:43,840
and then was found to have smuggled over Adderall from

1273
01:13:43,880 --> 01:13:48,039
Mexico in her car. However, the Ventura County Public Information

1274
01:13:48,159 --> 01:13:51,000
officer debunked all of that and said Brittany was pulled

1275
01:13:51,039 --> 01:13:54,600
over for speeding and erratic lane changes. She was suspected

1276
01:13:54,600 --> 01:13:56,760
to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol and

1277
01:13:56,880 --> 01:13:59,119
was taken to the hospital for a blood draw. No

1278
01:13:59,239 --> 01:14:01,640
drugs were found on her vehicle and the blood tests

1279
01:14:01,880 --> 01:14:05,000
were still pending, but they did find that her blood

1280
01:14:05,000 --> 01:14:07,640
alcohol level was a point zero six. The legal limit

1281
01:14:07,680 --> 01:14:09,600
is point zero eight. May mean the only law that

1282
01:14:09,640 --> 01:14:12,039
she actually broke was driving too fast and changing lanes

1283
01:14:12,079 --> 01:14:14,800
too quickly. Her court date is set for May fourth,

1284
01:14:15,039 --> 01:14:18,560
where she will hopefully get more information, and she was

1285
01:14:18,640 --> 01:14:21,520
arrested around like nine pm. She was booked into jail

1286
01:14:21,720 --> 01:14:24,720
at three am and then released around six am, so

1287
01:14:24,960 --> 01:14:27,119
she didn't even spend like that long of police custody

1288
01:14:27,760 --> 01:14:31,119
all things considered. But maybe during her court hearing in

1289
01:14:31,159 --> 01:14:33,159
May we'll actually get to see her. And these things

1290
01:14:33,159 --> 01:14:35,680
happen all the time, and although I am not excusing

1291
01:14:35,960 --> 01:14:40,000
driving while intoxicated in any situation, no matter who it is.

1292
01:14:40,279 --> 01:14:43,359
I don't see anyone calling for a conservatorship on anyone

1293
01:14:43,399 --> 01:14:46,560
else other than Brittany after having an incident like this.

1294
01:14:47,199 --> 01:14:50,000
The same energy was not given to Justin Timberlake or

1295
01:14:50,039 --> 01:14:53,039
anyone else who has done a lot more than Brittany.

1296
01:14:53,399 --> 01:14:55,920
This leads me to believe that there was a setup.

1297
01:14:56,359 --> 01:14:59,399
Lynn Spears was seen arriving in Los Angeles the day

1298
01:14:59,399 --> 01:15:01,800
after Britney's music was sold, and there have not been

1299
01:15:01,840 --> 01:15:05,079
reports that she left. Was she being set up by

1300
01:15:05,159 --> 01:15:07,760
Lynn or someone else in her close circle? It was

1301
01:15:07,800 --> 01:15:11,159
also mentioned that just a couple weeks ago she fired

1302
01:15:11,199 --> 01:15:14,640
her entire sobriety coaching team. Did she find out someone

1303
01:15:14,720 --> 01:15:18,520
was snooping on her? Maybe? Britney's manager Kate Hudson made

1304
01:15:18,640 --> 01:15:22,359
this statement after her arrest, quote, this was an unfortunate

1305
01:15:22,399 --> 01:15:26,680
incident that is completely inexcusable. Brittany is going to take

1306
01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:29,640
the right steps and comply with the lot, and hopefully

1307
01:15:29,680 --> 01:15:33,239
this can be the first step in long overdue change

1308
01:15:33,479 --> 01:15:36,319
that needs to occur in Britney's life. Hopefully she can

1309
01:15:36,319 --> 01:15:38,720
get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.

1310
01:15:38,920 --> 01:15:40,960
Her boys are going to be spending time with her.

1311
01:15:41,119 --> 01:15:43,159
Her loved ones are going to come up with an

1312
01:15:43,199 --> 01:15:47,000
overdue needed plan to set her up for success for

1313
01:15:47,079 --> 01:15:50,079
well being. In quote, I don't know who he's calling

1314
01:15:50,119 --> 01:15:53,279
her loved ones because it seems like everybody in her

1315
01:15:53,319 --> 01:15:56,119
close circle doesn't actually care about her. But hopefully it

1316
01:15:56,199 --> 01:15:59,159
is not the same people that took advantage of her

1317
01:16:00,079 --> 01:16:03,279
her conservatorship. I also cannot leave this stone unturned either.

1318
01:16:03,680 --> 01:16:06,319
Just the day before Brittany was arrested, she had a

1319
01:16:06,439 --> 01:16:09,520
major win with a restraining order filed against a man

1320
01:16:09,600 --> 01:16:13,279
who had been stalking her for reported thirteen years since

1321
01:16:13,319 --> 01:16:16,640
twenty thirteen. So there's that number thirteen again. The man

1322
01:16:17,079 --> 01:16:21,279
was only identified as Donald. The individual has been engaging

1323
01:16:21,319 --> 01:16:25,199
in disturbing online harassment and was arrested for trespassing after

1324
01:16:25,239 --> 01:16:28,520
showing up at her southern California home in twenty twenty five.

1325
01:16:28,680 --> 01:16:31,079
This one is tough because there was a point where

1326
01:16:31,239 --> 01:16:34,800
there weren't people believing the conspiracy theories about her, but

1327
01:16:34,880 --> 01:16:38,359
the ones who did actually saved her life, and she

1328
01:16:38,520 --> 01:16:40,840
has said that if it weren't for her fans, she

1329
01:16:40,880 --> 01:16:43,720
wouldn't have been freed. So do we leave it alone

1330
01:16:43,760 --> 01:16:46,239
and wish her well. Do we keep looking into her

1331
01:16:46,359 --> 01:16:49,359
and demand proof of life, wellness and freedom? I think,

1332
01:16:49,439 --> 01:16:52,720
I mean probably. I think there will be a lot

1333
01:16:52,760 --> 01:16:54,399
more coming out about her in the next few months.

1334
01:16:54,399 --> 01:16:57,960
We will hopefully see Brittany doing well. As always, this

1335
01:16:58,039 --> 01:17:00,640
episode has left me with more question questions then when

1336
01:17:00,640 --> 01:17:03,319
I started with. I think there is something going on,

1337
01:17:03,520 --> 01:17:06,439
even if she's just being used to distract us from

1338
01:17:06,439 --> 01:17:09,640
other news. We need to remember that Brittany is a

1339
01:17:09,680 --> 01:17:14,119
real human and deserves dignity and respect just like everybody else,

1340
01:17:14,279 --> 01:17:17,880
but especially after everything she has gone through, she deserves

1341
01:17:17,880 --> 01:17:19,720
a little bit of grace. Let me know what you

1342
01:17:19,800 --> 01:17:22,399
think about all of this. Do you think that Brittany

1343
01:17:22,520 --> 01:17:24,720
is even still alive? Do you think it's ai? Do

1344
01:17:24,760 --> 01:17:27,760
you think that she's been replaced by somebody? And of

1345
01:17:27,800 --> 01:17:30,439
course until next week, my friends, stay skeptical and I

1346
01:17:30,439 --> 01:17:33,239
will see you all then. Hey friends. The rabbit Hole

1347
01:17:33,319 --> 01:17:36,039
is an independent podcast written, hosted, and produced by me

1348
01:17:36,199 --> 01:17:39,000
Danny Mercy. Special thanks to Lindsay for research and writing.

1349
01:17:39,159 --> 01:17:41,039
If you love the podcast, please leave us a five

1350
01:17:41,079 --> 01:17:43,640
star rating and review wherever you're listening. Follow us on

1351
01:17:43,680 --> 01:17:46,680
social media at rabbit dot Hole podcast and Visit our

1352
01:17:46,720 --> 01:17:49,640
website at stayskeptical dot com for everything else.