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IN HER OWN WORDS: How Britney Spears fought for her freedom from an 'abusive' conservatorship and won

By Kim Renfro , Anthony Del Col ,and Josh Adams
Britney Spears: In Her Own Words
Josh Adams
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Using quotes from Britney Spears' explosive June 2021 testimony, we reveal the contrast between her public-facing life overseen by her father and the harrowing private experiences she dealt with behind closed doors.

January 3, 2008: Britney Spears' life changes forever when an ambulance is called. She's taken out of her home on a gurney.
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A meeting with Jamie Spear's attorney shortly after. Following the 5150, a conservatortship is established. Jamie reportedly loudly insists at this meeting "I Am Britney Spears." We begin Spears' testimony: "The people who did this to me should not get away, and be able to walk away so easily."
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Following the establishment of the conservatorship, Britney's life becomes under the control of her father. She tells an interviewer, ": If I wasn’t under the restraints that I’m under right now with all the lawyers and doctors and people analyzing me every day, I’d feel so liberated and so like myself. When I tell them the way I feel, it’s like they hear me but they’re really not listening. They’re hearing what they want to hear. It’s like… it’s bad. I’m sad." Soon after, the conservatorship is made permanent.
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"It makes no sense whatsoever for the state of California to sit back and literally watch me with their own two eyes, make a living for so many people and pay so many people, trucks and buses on tour on the road with me, and be told I'm not good enough. But I'm great at what I do." Britney was an active performer, and was as popular as ever. "What state allows people to own another person's money and account and threaten them and saying, "You can't spend your money unless you do what we want you to do.?""
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Britney needed a break. The rehersals, the choreography, the practice, it was exhausting. "I'd been doing Vegas for four years and I needed a break in between.But no, I was told this is the timeline and this is how it's going to go. When I said no to one dance move into rehearsals, it was as if I planted a huge bomb somewhere. " They were nice to me, they said if I don't want to do the new Vegas show, I don't have to because I was getting really nervous. I remember telling my assistant, I feel weird if I say no. I feel like they're gonna come back and be mean to me or punish me or something. Three days later, after I said no to Vegas, my therapist sat me down in a room. Said he had a million phone calls about how I was not cooperating in rehearsals, and I haven't been taking my medication. All this was false.
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Britney takes a psychological exam. "I got a phone call from my dad after I did the psych test with this lady, basically saying I'd failed the test." Her father tells her, "I'm sorry, Britney, you have to listen to your doctors. They're planning to send you to a small home in Beverly Hills to do a small rehab program that we're going to make up for you." Britney later testified " I cried on the phone for an hour and he loved every minute of it."
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Britney has developed a relationship with Sam Asghari. She testified, "I was told right now in the conservatorship, I'm not able to get married or have a baby. I wanted to take my IUD out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won't let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don't want me to have any more children."
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June 23, 2021. Britney is testifying in the courthouse as fans amass outside to support her. She testifies, " That's why I'm telling you this again two years later, after I've lied and told the whole world: "I'm OK and I'm happy.” I've been in denial. I've been in shock. I am traumatized. You know, “fake it till you make it.” But now I'm telling you the truth, okay? I'm not happy. I can't sleep. I'm so angry it's insane. And I'm depressed. I cry every day. I just want my life back. And it's been 13 years. And it's enough. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive." The judge tells her, Oh, Ms. Spears, you’re quite welcome. I know it took a lot of courage for you to say everything you had to say today."
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On July 14, 2021, Britney is allowed to choose her own lawyer in the conservatorship battle. On August 12, her father agrees to step down as conservator. Jamie Spears is later suspended by a judge from her conservatorship, and eventually, finally, Britney is freed from the legal arrangement.
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Kim Renfro
Kim was an entertainment correspondent for Insider. She was best known as Insider's resident "Game of Thrones" analyst, and authored "The Unofficial Guide to Game of Thrones." Kim moderated panels for the annual Con of Thrones fan convention and made guest appearances on podcasts including "Night's Cast," "Bald Move," and "Game of Owns." She co-hosts the "House of the Dragon" unofficial recap podcast "A Cast of Kings."Kim covered other sci-fi and fantasy series, including "Stranger Things," "Dark," "Westworld," "The OA," and more. Kim graduated from Hunter College with a degree in cultural anthropology.
Anthony Del Col
Anthony Del Col
Anthony Del Col is the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of numerous digital comic stories for Insider, including the award-winning I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp, Britney Spears: In Her Own Words and Totally Under Control: The Trump Adminstration and Covid. He's a bestselling writer of comics and podcasts and has penned stories for Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Audible and Wondery.
Josh Adams
Josh Adams
Josh Adams is a cartoonist and art director who has produced works for Netflix, NBC, CBS, DirecTV, Syfy, Random House, Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, WWE, and more. In 2022, Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting for his work on Insider's I Escaped A Chinese Internment Camp documenting the plight of Uyghurs in China. 
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