American pop star Britney Spears has revealed new details about her father's 13-year conservatorship, sharing that she was forced to meet fans against her will.
In an Instagram post featuring photos and videos of herself in black lingerie and stiletto heels, Spears detailed the emotional toll the legal arrangement took on her. She said her father, Jamie Spears, mandated that she interact with large groups of people despite it causing severe physical distress.
Spears said that during these mandatory fan meetings, she felt like a machine and a robot. The singer said that encountering more than ten fans at a time would trigger tremors and asthma attacks, but her father would force her to interact with around 70 people simultaneously.
Because of these experiences, she added that she decided to stop performing entirely after the conservatorship ended.
Spears is one of the most successful pop artists of all time, having risen to global fame in the late 1990s. However, her career and personal life were placed under the strict control of a court-ordered conservatorship in 2008 following a series of highly publicised personal struggles. The legal arrangement granted Jamie Spears sweeping authority over his daughter's life, career decisions, medical care and multimillion-dollar estate.
The conservatorship was finally terminated by a judge in late 2021. The dissolution followed a lengthy legal battle and the global Free Britney movement, a massive campaign championed by her fans who questioned the necessity and ethics of the arrangement. Since the end of the conservatorship, Spears has frequently used her Instagram account to speak directly to the public and share her experiences.
Rehab centre stay
The singer previously addressed the strict control she was under in her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me. The autobiography became a major international bestseller and offered her own account of her rise to fame and the extent of the supervision she experienced over the 13-year period.
In the book, the pop star noted that her father forced her to spend roughly four months in a rehabilitation centre in 2018 under the threat of court action.
During that period, Spears said she was subject to severe restrictions on her daily life and basic personal freedoms. She said she was not permitted to go outside, drive a car, take a bath alone, or even close the door to her own room. She was also required to give blood on a weekly basis as part of the regimen imposed upon her.
