"I Know Now It Was Premeditated": How Britney Spears’ Family Orchestrated Her Public Mental Breakdowns To Gain Conservatorship

Britney Spears’ conservatorship started when she was 26 years old. And even though she was already a grown woman, her father still reprimanded her. Isolation was one of the forms of punishment he used against her. No one in her family treated her with respect, instead, they demoralized her. Now, Spears is sharing her story with the world to mend the wounds caused by her own parents. In Britney Spears’ emotional voice memo, she details the events leading up to her conservatorship and the agonizing 13 years she spent under it. 

It Was Her Parents All Along

Spears recalls the time she faked a British accent at the doctor's office. “Three days later, there was a swat team in my home. Three helicopters. And I remember my mom’s best friend and my two girlfriends — we had a sleepover the night before — they held me down on a gurney. And, again, none of it made sense.” Spears was incredibly confused. She couldn’t understand why there was a SWAT team or why she was suddenly on a gurney. No one was telling her anything.

Things got even more puzzling when her mom told her that people were coming over to speak to her and that they should probably head to a hotel. “I didn’t believe her,” the singer says. Four hours later, a crowd of 200 people appeared at the Spears’ residence, videotaping Britney Spears as she was forcefully carried into an ambulance.

They held me down on a gurney.

“I know now it was premeditated,” she says. “A woman introduced the idea to my dad, and my mom actually helped him follow through and made it all happen. It was all basically set up. There was no drugs in my system, no alcohol – nothing – it was pure abuse.” It seems Britney Spears’ parents orchestrated the event to use as an arsenal for Britney’s conservatorship, which they achieved just a month after the incident.

Britney Spears proceeds to talk about her dad’s need for control and how he dominated every aspect of her life. “I remember the first day he said, ‘I’m Britney Spears and I’m calling the shots!’” And indeed, he did call the shots. Even though the forced hospitalization was incredibly traumatic for Britney, she was forced to start working on her album just two weeks after the incident. They made her go on tour to perform for years. To her parents, Britney wasn't a human — she was a machine. “All I do remember is I had to do what I was told. I was told I was fat every day, I had to go to the gym.” 

I was told I was fat every day.

By the time she was in her 30s, Spears still couldn’t do anything without her dad’s supervision. Her parents monitored her heavily, including her whereabouts, meals, and activities. They continued to treat her like an object, and even her friends didn’t acknowledge her when they would visit her Vegas shows. “They treated me like nothing,” she said. 

Spears managed to get back on her feet when she started to gain more confidence in herself. “I think with confidence comes enlightenment, which makes you think better. And that’s the last thing they wanted me to do, is to actually be better, 'cause who would be in control then?” Spears mustered the courage to stand up for herself. “I got on my knees every day and I prayed. I held on, like a needle and thread, to some sort of existence because they had made me feel like nothing for so long. I knew in the deepest, deepest part of my core, I knew I’d done nothing wrong and I didn’t deserve the way I’d been treated.”

Since 2021, Britney Spears has been out of her conservatorship. Her new-found freedom of expression can be seen through her sensual selfies and expressive writings on Twitter.

Closing Thoughts 

Britney Spears has received criticism since the early 2000s, and we owe her an apology. She was the one who was wrongly abused. Her actions were a cry for help, and I'm glad people are listening to her story and seeing her in a new light. 

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