0:04

Double

0:04

Elvis.

0:07

Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.

0:18

Britney Spears, her troubling family

0:20

ties, her reign in tabloid-hungry

0:22

culture, and her 13 years as

0:25

a conservatee under her father, Jamie, is

0:27

a story that is so complex that we

0:30

required two episodes to properly

0:32

tell it. If you're just getting hip to

0:34

this now, I suggest you hit pause

0:36

and go back to the previous episode of Disgraceland,

0:39

part one of the Britney Spears saga, where

0:41

we discuss Britney's unstable childhood

0:43

in Louisiana, her father's reckless

0:46

drinking and anger issues, and

0:48

the media-fueled meltdown that placed her

0:50

under his thumb in 2008. In

0:52

this episode,

0:53

we get into the details of that conservatorship,

0:56

an arrangement so strict and so

0:58

unfeeling that it left her without any

1:00

control of her career, loopy

1:03

on lithium, and completely silenced

1:05

for the sake of seeing her sons and boyfriend.

1:09

But even during those 13 years of

1:11

submission and surveillance, Britney

1:13

Spears refused to stop making

1:15

great music. Unlike that

1:18

music I played for you at the top of the show, which

1:20

wasn't great music. That was a preset

1:23

loop from my Mellotron called Neon Nightlife,

1:25

MK1. I

1:28

played you that loop because I can't afford the

1:30

rights to Butter by BTS. And

1:33

why would I play you that specific slice

1:36

of smooth sidestepping cheese, could

1:38

I afford it? Because that

1:41

was the number one song in America on

1:43

June 23, 2021. And

1:46

that was the day Britney Spears was

1:48

finally allowed to address the court about

1:50

her conservatorship after more than

1:52

a dozen years of

1:53

suffering in silence. In

1:56

this episode, lithium, submission,

1:59

breaking the law. the silence and the long-awaited

2:02

emancipation of Britney Spears.

2:05

I'm Jake Brennan,

2:06

and this is Disgraceland.

2:33

Britney Spears knew she would have

2:35

to be fast if she wanted to get away with it.

2:38

She thrust open the door to the local burger joint

2:41

and held it open for her security guard. Not

2:44

one she hired. No, this was

2:46

a stranger. A stranger hired a

2:48

trailer at all times. Hired

2:50

by her father, her conservator. Six

2:54

days into this conservator shtick, and it was

2:56

already old. February

2:59

6th, 2008. Britney flashed

3:01

a smile as she held the door.

3:03

You could call it Southern Charm, but today

3:05

was a strategy. The

3:08

guard entered the restaurant in front of her. Britney

3:10

cautiously followed. The scent of

3:12

grease and sizzling patties hit her nose.

3:15

Her mouth watered. After days in

3:17

the hospital, all this hearty, real

3:20

food made her knees weak. And

3:22

then the presence of the guard looming nearby

3:24

yanked her back to reality. Remember

3:26

what you're here to do. Focus. Oh, yeah,

3:29

right. So Britney spun on her heel. She

3:31

flung the door back open and sprinted

3:33

towards her car in the parking lot. She

3:36

tossed herself into the front seat and threw that fucker

3:38

in reverse, just like a woman caught in a

3:40

paparazzi chase, which of course

3:42

is inevitably what this little incident would turn

3:44

into. She dialed with her thumb

3:46

on her clunky cell phone as she peeled towards

3:49

the highway. Her former business manager,

3:52

Howard Grossman, answered her call for help.

3:54

Meet him at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he said.

3:58

Britney banged a U-turn and stepped up.

3:59

steered straight for the hotel. So did

4:02

a handful of paparazzi who spotted her flying

4:04

solo on the road. She could escape

4:06

from her security, but she couldn't escape

4:08

the onslaught of snapshots. A

4:11

few more paths piled onto the daisy chain behind

4:13

Brittany's black Mercedes Benz, and then another

4:15

few,

4:15

and then it was a dozen.

4:17

By the time she turned onto Sunset Boulevard,

4:20

between 15 and 75 paparazzi

4:22

cars were on the hunt behind her. Brittany

4:25

couldn't give a shit, snap away, publish

4:27

what you want. She had business to tend

4:29

to. Brittany was beyond caring

4:31

about unflattering photos now.

4:35

Inside the Beverly Hills Hotel, she

4:37

and Howard reconnected over an urgent matter

4:39

that could barely discuss earlier that week when

4:41

she was confined to a hospital room at the UCLA

4:44

Medical Center.

4:45

Damn, that 5150 hold. Brittany

4:48

needed a lawyer, a good lawyer, someone

4:50

who would help her navigate a term she didn't even know existed

4:53

roughly a week ago. Brittany didn't

4:55

want to end this new conservatorship. She

4:57

had already accepted the situation.

4:59

Instead, she just wanted someone other

5:01

than her father to be in charge. Does

5:04

this sound like the idea of someone with dementia-like

5:07

symptoms, as Brittany's father Jamie

5:09

Spears had claimed in his conservatorship

5:11

paperwork only a few days prior?

5:13

This is a mature, respectful request.

5:16

Brittany wasn't asking for the conservatorship

5:18

to end. She just wanted someone else

5:20

to be her metaphorical boss, someone

5:23

she wasn't afraid of. She craved

5:25

a little humanity. She knew at this

5:27

point a different conservator was her last

5:29

chance at a decent life.

5:32

The timeline for her new legal arrangement had been

5:34

hurried along on purpose, and Brittany never

5:36

even got the chance to balk.

5:38

Under normal circumstances, potential

5:40

conservators had five days notice before

5:42

conservatorship begins, allowing

5:44

them time to contest the arrangement or find

5:46

their own lawyer.

5:48

But Brittany hadn't been granted any such time.

5:51

Instead, Jamie Spears, her dad,

5:53

claimed the influence of Brittany's quote-unquote

5:56

life coach, Sam Lutfi, was

5:58

such a threat that he needed

5:59

to take over immediately. Jamie

6:02

didn't just file for the temporary conservatorship

6:05

over Brittany. He took it one step further.

6:08

That same day, Jamie

6:10

requested a restraining order against Sam.

6:12

He didn't want to see that creep within 250 yards

6:15

of Brittany, or her homes, her children, or

6:17

her cars, even her parents' homes.

6:20

Brittany's mother, Lynn, laid out the explanation

6:23

in a lengthy breakdown of Sam's alleged

6:25

sins. She claimed he drugged Brittany,

6:27

cut her home phone lines and disabled her cars,

6:30

disposed of her phone chargers. And

6:32

basically, Sam left the isolated

6:35

and gaslit the hell out of Brittany.

6:37

And Lynn even stated that Sam had a plan to have

6:39

Brittany slip into a sleep-induced coma so

6:42

a doctor could give her drugs to heal

6:44

her brain.

6:45

That's a quote. Heal her brain, for real.

6:48

Sam already had two other strikes against him,

6:50

too.

6:50

Prior to infecting Brittany's life, courts

6:53

granted two other people restraining orders against

6:55

Sam. One was from an ex-neighbor

6:57

in 2004 who Sam harassed

6:59

and threatened.

7:00

And the other came from a former business associate

7:02

who claimed Sam often harassed her with offensive

7:04

faxes and emails, plus 15-30

7:07

telephone calls and hang-ups every day.

7:10

All the claims suggested that Sam was indeed

7:12

a bad, bad man.

7:16

The threat to Brittany's sanity, even to her

7:18

life, led from the pages of Jamie's court

7:21

paperwork. The judge granted

7:23

the restraining order and the conservatorship

7:25

on February 1, 2008, waving

7:27

Brittany's right to a five-day notice. First,

7:30

they threw out her warning, and then they threw out

7:32

Brittany's legal representative, the one she

7:34

chose. Because once someone becomes a

7:36

conservatee, they don't have much choice

7:39

in

7:39

anything, even if you're Brittany Spears. And

7:42

while Brittany completed her stay at the UCLA

7:45

Medical Center earlier that week, Howard

7:47

connected her with an attorney named Adam Streisand,

7:50

as in, Cousin of Barbara. Adam

7:52

spoke with Brittany about her estranged relationship

7:55

with her father and her desire to have Jamie removed

7:57

his conservator of her person and her estate.

8:00

that he heard her plea and he

8:02

understood her, and he agreed to speak to

8:04

the court on her behalf.

8:06

In their conversation, it didn't matter. The court

8:08

didn't care.

8:10

Adam tried to explain he had information demonstrating

8:12

that Jamie wasn't healthy fit as Brittany's conservator,

8:15

and the court turned around and told him they possessed

8:17

special information too, a medical

8:19

report stating that Brittany didn't have the capacity

8:22

to retain counsel and have an attorney-client

8:24

relationship. Instead,

8:26

incredibly, the court appointed a lawyer

8:29

on Brittany's behalf,

8:30

a man named Sam Ingo. Sam

8:32

said that he chatted with Brittany over the weekend

8:35

too. He claimed she didn't understand

8:37

this conservatorship arrangement one bit, and

8:39

then again, maybe that's because his visit with Brittany at

8:42

the hospital was unannounced and only lasted 15 minutes.

8:46

The

8:46

court rejected Adam's request and rejected

8:48

him as Brittany's lawyer. Then they

8:50

ejected him from the courtroom. Adam

8:53

Streisand never saw that medical

8:55

report. If

8:58

anything, the meeting had the opposite effect

9:00

on Brittany's feet. The judge extended

9:02

the temporary conservatorship for an additional

9:04

week through February 14th, pending

9:06

another hearing. Brittany's

9:08

life and her $40 million estate

9:10

remained in Jamie's control for the indefinite future.

9:13

She was trapped,

9:14

caged in plain sight, 100%

9:16

on display like a sideshow

9:18

freak. When

9:21

Brittany didn't do sideshows, she took

9:23

center stage. She played the role

9:25

of the ringleader. Jamie

9:28

might have the power to approve who she worked with, but

9:30

Brittany still called the shots as a lyricist, a

9:32

singer, and a creator. The world

9:35

still wanted a spectacle, and Brittany would give

9:37

them a spectacle, alright? As

9:39

the tedium of life under the conservatorship

9:41

wore away at her spirit in 2008, Brittany colored her

9:44

world with dashes of dazzling yellows, blues,

9:47

and reds. She moved her remaining musical

9:49

freedom

9:49

into the big top ballooning inside her head. Brittany

9:52

Spears was about to bring the circus

9:54

to town. Circus,

9:57

her sixth studio album, dropped in

9:59

late November.

9:59

November 2008 and raked in more

10:02

than half a million US album sales in one

10:04

week. Her eye-popping pop bazaar

10:06

went platinum in just two months, and

10:08

the hype around the record was so huge that the lead

10:11

single, Womanizer, shot from number 96 to

10:13

number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in just

10:15

one week. And maybe Britney was a hot

10:18

mess at times, but she was still Britney.

10:21

She tipped her top hat to the absurdity of her long

10:23

list of scandals with a dirty little ditty called

10:25

If You Seek Amy. The single casually

10:28

explained how all the boys and girls

10:29

in the club were begging to If You Seek Amy.

10:32

A grammatical nightmare if you read it literally.

10:35

A parental nightmare if you read between the lines

10:37

and heard Britney spelling, Fuck me on

10:39

the radio. And when such vulgar

10:41

verses went to number 19 on the Billboard

10:44

Hot 100 and remained on the chart

10:46

for 20 weeks, it was Britney who

10:48

had the lusty last laugh. She

10:51

transformed tabloid gossip into

10:53

a veritable goldmine. The

10:55

success of Circus eventually carried

10:57

Britney from country to country on a world tour,

10:59

proving not even Jamie could suppress

11:02

her pop prowess. But suppressing

11:04

Britney's superstardom was never what Jamie wanted.

11:07

Jamie wanted Britney to gain all the success

11:09

in the world.

11:10

And he wanted his cut of it.

11:28

Britney

11:31

Spears pressed her palms to either side

11:33

of the road case and hung on for dear life.

11:36

The case tilted, fumbled over

11:38

bumps and probably cables taped

11:40

to the floor. The vibration made

11:42

her stage heels click together. There's

11:44

no place like home she muttered to herself

11:47

in the darkness. Sometimes

11:49

Britney reached for the top of the box. Other

11:52

times she gripped the chair her crew provided

11:54

for her. But today she blindly

11:57

held her balance with her arms held out like

11:59

she was ready to go.

11:59

to flap her wings and rocket out

12:02

of the case.

12:04

In 2009, Britney Spears remained

12:07

in high demand. Such high demand

12:09

that a large road case was required to safely

12:11

escort her from backstage to beneath the

12:13

stage inside arenas during her circus

12:16

tour.

12:17

Before every show, Britney climbed

12:19

into the case and perched atop the small

12:21

chair inside, held that pose

12:23

for however long it took

12:25

to wheel her into the belly of the venue. Limber

12:27

dancer that she was, Britney could

12:30

stay in the cramped position for a while. As

12:32

staff whisked her away, the fans

12:34

that were wired into the road case provided

12:37

some much needed

12:38

ventilation. Every

12:40

night, 40,000 audience members

12:42

never suspected a thing.

12:45

Britney practiced this awkward act for months

12:47

in a row. She wasn't claustrophobic.

12:50

She knew that showbiz meant frequent discomfort

12:52

for the sake of a few seconds of magic on stage,

12:55

but tonight was different. Tonight,

12:58

fear seized every nerve in Britney's body.

13:01

The air that filtered into the case smelled pungent,

13:04

earthy, trashy even, like a skunk

13:06

that spooked in the backyard and sprayed the family

13:09

dog, just like pot.

13:12

The walls of

13:14

the road case closed in on her and her

13:16

hands went clammy. Britney exhaled

13:18

and clamped her mouth shut, pinched her nose

13:21

between her fingers for as long as she could. She

13:23

frantically tried to walk fresh air inside

13:25

of her free hand. The case sank

13:28

deeper into the stage as Britney's lungs

13:30

pleaded for oxygen. The

13:32

case hit a row of cables and shuddered, and

13:34

Britney gasped with big old inhale of fresh

13:37

air. Shit. Finally,

13:40

the case halted. Britney's stylist opened

13:42

the door and Britney flew out like a bat

13:44

out of hell. It smells like pot,

13:46

it smells like pot. Britney repeated herself

13:48

for emphasis. The stage crew

13:50

blinked at her. Of course it smelled like pot.

13:52

It was a concert venue. And who said pot

13:55

anyways? It was grass, weed, marijuana.

13:57

Fans snuck joints inside every night and

13:59

held.

13:59

catching a secondhand high was part of most traditional

14:02

concert experiences. Brittany

14:05

paced in a panicked circle. Her mind

14:07

and heart jittered in unison while she contemplated

14:09

the consequences. She couldn't breathe

14:11

in pot smoke, she'd fail her drug test, and they

14:14

wouldn't let her see her voice. Her

14:16

fearful voice cracked as the tears started

14:18

spilling, and the smell was down here

14:20

too. It wasn't safe, she wasn't safe. Brittany's

14:23

face crumpled in despair, and then, she

14:26

bolted. She

14:28

tumbled into the innards of the stage,

14:29

skidded around corners in her stage heels,

14:32

raced towards the sober safety of her dressing

14:34

room, and her stylist followed in hot pursuit.

14:37

When she caught up to Brittany, she spun her around

14:39

and got serious. There are 40,000 people

14:42

out there waiting for you, she explained, chanting

14:45

her name, ready to trip away when

14:47

she cracked her prop whip, to see her prance,

14:50

to see her strut around that stage.

14:52

The show had to go on. Brittany

14:56

didn't care about the adoration of those 40,000 people,

14:59

she cared about two boys, Sean and

15:01

Jayden, her sons. And if Brittany

15:03

failed a drug test from so much as

15:05

eating a poppy seed muffin or inhaling secondhand

15:08

smoke,

15:08

her time with her boys would be reduced from

15:11

limited to zero. Then

15:13

again, if Brittany didn't quote-unquote behave herself

15:16

and act like a gracious little conservatee,

15:18

then that caused trouble for her custody

15:20

arrangement too.

15:22

The public had already forgotten about her conservatorship,

15:25

let alone what that word even meant.

15:27

That was last year's news. But

15:28

in Brittany's world, the conservatorship was

15:31

nearly all she could think about.

15:33

It ruled her mind because it ruled her life for

15:35

good. As of October 2008, the

15:38

conservatorship of her person and her estate

15:40

were illegally permanent. Permanent

15:43

control, permanent paranoia, a

15:45

permanent nightmare. Brittany

15:49

wasn't the ringleader of this circus after all.

15:51

She let out a shaky sigh and surrendered.

15:54

Members of a row crew escorted Brittany back

15:56

to her designated spot under the stage. Then

15:59

they dismissed her

15:59

wardrobe assistant. She had seen

16:02

too much. She always saw too much.

16:05

Like the way Brittany bickered like a teenager with her father

16:07

Jamie over how often she could use her cell

16:09

phone. How she couldn't have sushi for dinner

16:11

two nets in a row because it was deemed too expensive.

16:14

How she was denied new shoes at the mall for the

16:16

same reason. For the record, they were a pair of

16:19

Skechers. As Brittany's

16:21

permanent conservator, Jamie now exercised

16:23

more power than ever. The power to

16:25

cancel all her credit cards, to pursue

16:28

new professional opportunities for Brittany as

16:30

long as Brittany's medical team approved. Brittany,

16:33

on the other hand, didn't have the right to approve

16:35

Jack. If her medical team located

16:37

considered the contract signed. Brittany

16:40

never bought Jamie that boat, but she did

16:42

buy him a new car under lease with

16:44

her money. Against her will, of course,

16:47

because Brittany no longer had any direct access

16:49

to her finances. If

16:51

Brittany desired anything and had to be approved

16:53

first, clothes, food, anything,

16:56

everything. She so much as wanted $100 to

16:58

purchase new books for her sons.

16:59

She had a call and asked for it. It

17:02

could be days before she heard back with an answer. Days

17:05

for a mere $100 for books.

17:09

For all this taxing work, Jamie,

17:11

Brittany's dad had Brittany cut him

17:15

a $16,000 paycheck every month straight

17:17

from Brittany's bank account.

17:19

He named his own price, of course, and

17:21

in return, he limited Brittany's allowance of

17:23

her own money to $8,000 a

17:26

month, half of what he paid himself.

17:29

If anything was causing the Spears estate to dwindle,

17:31

it was Jamie's pricey payday is not California

17:34

rolls two nights in a row.

17:36

But the circus tour kept the cash flow

17:38

consistent.

17:39

After Jamie milked Brittany's stamina for 70 tour

17:42

dates worldwide, she returned home to

17:44

California for some much needed R&R,

17:47

which would be easy since Brittany was allowed to

17:49

do little more than sing, dance, and earn

17:51

revenue. No more days

17:53

of Sam Luffey inviting paparazzi inside

17:55

of the house. If anyone visited her

17:58

home, Jamie knew about it. If

18:00

Brittany wanted to take a spin around the gated community

18:02

on a golf cart with her boyfriend, Jamie

18:04

knew about that too. Even leaving

18:07

the neighborhood for a quick bite to eat required a phone

18:09

call for permission. It could be minutes

18:11

until Brittany got a call back, it could be hours,

18:14

and if you were craving that hamburger right now,

18:16

well, tough shit, you probably couldn't afford

18:18

it anyways, right?

18:20

Brittany was used to life under a microscope, on

18:22

the street at least, not in her own house.

18:25

Her reality had flipped inside out. Before

18:27

the conservatorship, her home was the only place where

18:30

she could safely slip under the radar. Now,

18:32

Brittany never left Jamie's radar. He

18:35

hired a security team that made sure of it.

18:38

Brittany knew that when security showed up every day

18:40

with pills and an envelope, she had to take

18:42

them immediately right then and there with

18:44

the guard watching.

18:46

Same routine every day. What

18:48

she didn't know was that the same guards could view her

18:50

texts, photos, and phone call history.

18:53

All they had to do was log into an iPad with

18:55

the same iCloud name and password as

18:57

Brittany's phone and boom, they had a replica

18:59

of her digital life in real time.

19:02

She didn't know they were ordered to encrypt certain text

19:04

messages and pass them along to Jamie in secret

19:06

either. The grossest

19:08

surveillance sin of them all came when the

19:11

security team hit a recording device

19:13

and used it to capture more than 180 hours

19:15

of audio without her knowledge in

19:18

her bedroom.

19:19

Not all that different from someone asking if you're

19:22

a virgin or if your breasts are real, is

19:24

it? When Brittany

19:26

was a child and things got rough at home, at least she could

19:29

run to her aunt's trailer. Now she

19:31

couldn't even leave the house without her father knowing precisely

19:33

where she was headed with extensive means

19:35

of keeping tabs on her.

19:38

Circus had enticed the masses

19:40

once again and so had Femme Fatale,

19:43

her 2011 album that produced Hold

19:45

It Against Me, Brittany's fourth career number

19:47

one single on the Hot 100. That

19:50

also marked a momentous occasion in her career.

19:52

Brittany now had number one singles in three

19:55

different decades. Her fame

19:57

was on a rebound. Ricocheting offered

19:59

tab blood rock bottom era of 2006 to 2008. But

20:03

Brittany now dwelled in a different rock bottom.

20:06

And this one didn't allow her any room to mess up.

20:09

So much as inhaler with weed by accident.

20:11

Painfully ironic, considering your dad Jamie's

20:14

liquor laden past. But

20:16

Brittany endured it, begrudgingly. Strictly

20:19

as a mother who loved her sons. She

20:21

knew they were the only thing still worth fighting

20:23

for. But she also knew that

20:25

given the choice between living like this and her

20:27

life inside her special road case,

20:29

she'd pick the road case. We'll

20:36

be right back after this word, word,

20:38

word. Brittany

20:43

Spears couldn't believe what she was hearing.

20:46

From her spot on her therapist plush sofa,

20:48

it sounded like a dream. Like

20:51

nothing was real. Because nothing

20:53

Dr. Benson was saying was real.

20:56

It was all lies. Rotten bullshit

20:58

piped in from wildly unreliable

21:01

sources who loved to stack the

21:03

odds against her.

21:04

Dr. Benson gobbled it up. He

21:07

received quite a few calls in the past few days.

21:09

He explained, agitated ones. Calls

21:12

from folks claiming that Brittany wasn't taking her medication.

21:15

That she wasn't cooperating to everyone's level of satisfaction

21:18

during dance rehearsals. Bullshit.

21:20

She cooperated just fine. She led

21:22

those rehearsals for fuck's sake. She led all 16

21:25

dancers actually.

21:27

The dance studio was the one room in her life where

21:29

she could lead. Brittany knew

21:31

what this was really about. This was

21:33

about Las Vegas. About saying no

21:35

to a second residency.

21:37

Because somehow 248 shows at the Axis Theater just

21:41

hadn't been enough for Jamie Spears. Brittany's

21:44

fame piece of me review deposited $310,000

21:48

in the bank and for each concert. Almost

21:50

a million dollars a week for five years

21:53

straight.

21:53

$137.7 million in box office sales total. Jamie

21:58

took home 1.5% of that. fortune,

22:00

along with a cut of Britney's merchandise sales.

22:03

That's $2.1 million if you're counting, in

22:05

addition to his monthly salary of $16,000.

22:08

Crunch some numbers, and over those five years, Jamie

22:11

Spears raked in more than $3 million,

22:14

skimmed off the top of Britney's payday, of course.

22:17

But Jamie wanted more. His entire

22:19

team wanted more. And they had the legal weaponry

22:22

to ensure it.

22:23

Britney's co-conserve, Andrew Wallett,

22:25

again, once the guy's real name, submitted

22:27

a document praising Britney's lucrative career

22:29

under the conservatorship and called their arrangement

22:32

a quote-unquote hybrid business model.

22:34

In that same paperwork, he also happened

22:36

to sneak in a request for a raise. Convenient.

22:39

Conservatorships were supposed to work for

22:41

the conservatee for the vulnerable party, but

22:44

these days, it seemed like Britney was

22:46

working for Jamie.

22:48

And because Jamie could agree to business opportunities

22:50

on Britney's behalf, he kept that sweet,

22:53

sweet cash coming in, regardless

22:55

of what Britney had to say. Not that she

22:57

ever got the chance to say it. No one asked

23:00

her

23:00

if she needed to rehearse or perform on her

23:02

birthday. Too bad. If she had a fever

23:05

of 102 directly before her performance.

23:07

Too bad. And if she was forced to perform

23:09

at a mini tour directly after 248 shows and she was

23:11

tired, well,

23:14

tough darts, Pop-Tart. You're on it, eh?

23:19

They called it the Pissamy tour, a

23:21

hastily branded extension of Britney's residency.

23:24

The tour was set to jet from the US to

23:26

Europe over 30 dates, bringing some Vegas

23:28

vavavoon to the fat wallets who couldn't make

23:31

it to Nevada. Legally, Britney

23:33

couldn't even shoot the dates down. Her

23:35

current management contract blocked in her performance

23:38

obligations. If Britney were to back

23:40

out, her own management team could sue her. So

23:43

she took the Pissamy residency on the road and

23:45

performed until there were no more pieces of herself

23:47

left to give away.

23:48

The tour ended on October

23:51

21st, 2018. The second

23:53

Las Vegas residency was announced October 12th,

23:56

nine days earlier. They literally

23:58

announced it before Britney could

23:59

up her first set of shows. Zero

24:02

room for rest

24:03

in between residencies, or family

24:05

time, or hell, time to grow her family.

24:08

By 2019, Britney was eager to

24:10

bring more children into the Spears household, but

24:12

Jamie refused to let her see a doctor who could

24:15

remove her IUD. Jamie's

24:17

control went that deep. It

24:19

spread to the most intimate parts of her body.

24:22

The only thing drowning out the maternal tick-tick

24:24

boom in her mind was the rhythm of her razor-sharp

24:27

dance moves. Britney's

24:29

body was long past the brink of exhaustion.

24:32

She needed a breather, a fucking break,

24:35

to get out of the zone for a while before her limb

24:37

straight up fell

24:38

off her body. But Vegas

24:40

was heating up again. Lady Gaga

24:43

relocated her ludicrous pop to the strip.

24:45

Bruno Mars's suave singing brought in the big

24:47

bucks with his residency over at the Park Theater.

24:50

Calvin Harris and the Chainsmokers DJed

24:52

through evenings of debauchery under million-dollar contracts

24:55

with nightclubs. But Las Vegas

24:57

residencies weren't just a sad cash grab

24:59

for has-beens who were too old to tour anymore.

25:02

No longer a gig where old stars

25:04

rot alongside the outdated hotels,

25:06

paint peeling from their facade

25:08

of old grandeur, once the gleaming highlights

25:10

of American pop culture,

25:12

and now unkempt and underwhelming. No,

25:15

Las Vegas was new again, and

25:17

the desert was hot. So

25:20

Britney's presence there had to stay hot, too.

25:23

New as a persecced residency rocked the pop

25:25

community. Flashing new billboards graced

25:27

the sleeves of the strip, another concept

25:30

came into focus. Britney Domination.

25:33

Maybe the name was the final straw. Domination.

25:36

More like, dominated. Britney

25:39

was sick of the submission. Britney

25:41

said no to the name, to the residency,

25:43

to the endless work without adequate rest. She

25:46

said no to all of it. One little

25:48

word, two little letters. One

25:50

massive source of trouble.

25:54

Someone or something had acquired

25:56

that trouble. Britney's therapist

25:59

chose lithium.

25:59

Then things in Brittany's world

26:02

slowed to a

26:03

halt. Her

26:07

legs hurt like hell. She

26:09

stretched them from the discomfort of the foreign

26:11

bed she was tucked into.

26:13

She couldn't dance anymore, not here.

26:16

They wouldn't let her. For Brittany, they

26:18

once met her father and the legal team behind

26:20

the conservatorship.

26:22

But in recent weeks, they had swelled to

26:24

include even more people, specifically

26:26

the nurses at the mental health facility where

26:28

she was currently living. But

26:30

despite their constant presence, no

26:32

one at the facility could adequately explain why

26:34

she was here. Brittany

26:36

traced the events again in her mind. She said

26:38

no to the residency. And the doctor

26:40

put her on lithium and ripped her from the comfort of her regular

26:43

medications. She devolved into

26:45

a sleepy, slurring mess. She

26:47

apparently failed a mental health test that she didn't

26:49

even understand. And now she was here,

26:52

in a small facility in Beverly Hills. For rehab.

26:55

Rehab for what exactly? She was squeaky

26:58

clean in every way. And she looked drunk

27:00

all the time. It was only because they were popping

27:02

her full of lithium every day that kept her in a

27:04

stupor. And the only benefit of the

27:06

lithium loopiness was that it took the edge off her

27:09

extreme lack of privacy. Nurses

27:11

watched Brittany just like the paparazzi used

27:13

to. Except they were by her side at her new

27:15

home 24 hours a day. They watched

27:18

her change, buck naked every morning. They

27:20

peered at her from the hallways, right through the empty

27:22

door frame to Brittany's room where a door should

27:24

have been. Stretching her limbs

27:26

in a rehearsal studio is obviously

27:29

off the table.

27:30

Brittany couldn't dance, but she could sure work.

27:33

Long days, 8am to 6pm,

27:36

every day. No weekends off. Brittany

27:38

didn't even know how that was illegal. She

27:40

might not have been performing anymore, but her body

27:42

slumped into a new kind of exhaustion. Her

27:45

joints ached from sitting through meetings 10

27:48

hours a day, 7 days a week. Her

27:50

schedule was new, but her dad Jamie in the rehab

27:52

facility dangled the same damn carrot in

27:54

front of her. Misbehave, and you'll

27:56

be missing your children. And your hunky boyfriend,

27:59

too.

27:59

So Brittany obeyed. This American

28:02

dream since she was 17 now lived a 9-5 nightmare.

28:09

And for this grand luxury of working 10 hour

28:11

days, 7 days a week, Brittany

28:13

paid $60,000 every month. $60,000 to

28:18

be in a rehabilitation program when

28:20

there was nothing to rehabilitate except perhaps

28:22

her perceived disobedience.

28:25

As one final blow to Brittany's freedom,

28:27

Brittany didn't even have a phone. That's

28:30

where Jamie Spears and the rest of

28:32

the unnecessary team messed up. Because

28:35

if Brittany didn't have her phone, she couldn't post

28:37

to social media. Her Instagram

28:39

and Twitter accounts went radio silent

28:41

for months. Fans

28:44

noticed. They talked. Posted.

28:47

Stirred up new conversations about the conservatorship.

28:50

Re-learned what the hell a conservatorship was.

28:53

They learned a little empathy too. Something that

28:55

was lacking in the ravenous tabloid culture

28:57

of 2007 and 2008. The

29:00

news exploded. Wait, this

29:02

conservatorship was still a thing? Fans

29:04

retweeted every article. They theorized,

29:07

started podcasts, made YouTube videos. They

29:10

made a hashtag too. Free

29:12

Brittany. And then they

29:14

started a movement.

29:25

The private investigator

29:28

was lucky the chant was so

29:30

simple.

29:35

What

29:39

do we want? Free Brittany. When

29:41

do we want it? Now. The

29:44

PI yelled along with the small circus

29:46

of fans gathered on the street. She

29:48

marched in step with the real protesters

29:50

who carried signs that read, Brittany

29:52

is not your slave and free Brittany, bitch.

29:56

The mole might not have had a pithy slogan to parade

29:58

around, but she had the fangirl. looked down

30:00

to a science, pink sunglasses,

30:02

an old circus tour t-shirt, and fishnets

30:05

layered under short shorts.

30:07

She wasn't there to spread awareness. She

30:09

was there to collect information and chatted

30:12

up with the fans, hear what they were saying, which

30:14

aspects of the conservative ship they were bringing

30:16

up. I'd dee them. Which was easy

30:18

if you swapped a few Instagram and Twitter follows.

30:22

She played the role of advocate for hours, but

30:25

when the megaphone finally went silent, the

30:27

PI went home and fed all the information

30:29

directly to Britney Spears' dad, Jamie.

30:32

Jamie claimed the secret research was conducted

30:34

for Britney's own protection against these so-called

30:37

conspiracy theorists. It was,

30:39

of course, for his own protection instead.

30:42

What did these people want, anyways? As

30:44

far as Jamie was concerned, fans had

30:46

won their battle.

30:47

Jamie stepped down as the conservatorship of

30:49

Britney's person in 2019.

30:52

Problem solved. Except

30:54

he remained a conservator of her estate.

30:57

Problem not solved. The conspiracy theorists

30:59

Jamie bitched about weren't onto a conspiracy

31:01

at all. They just cobbled together the truth in

31:04

detail.

31:05

And Britney's silence on social media in 2019 was their tip-off.

31:09

Just over a year later, a petition to release

31:11

Britney from the conservatorship had netted over 134,000 signatures.

31:16

The media was throwing around the word crazy

31:18

and Britney Spears in the same sentence again.

31:21

But unlike 2008,

31:22

it wasn't that Britney was crazy. It was

31:24

that Britney had been locked in a troubling situation

31:27

for more than a decade now.

31:29

And that was bona fide batshit

31:31

crazy.

31:34

Jamie

31:34

resorted to costly damage control and

31:36

hired lawyers to advocate for the conservatorship

31:39

to news channels through on-air interviews. They

31:41

casually told newscasters about the supposedly

31:44

great help the conservatorship offered

31:46

Britney. The combined costs of all

31:48

those lawyers' good faith was $530,000. They

31:52

sent the bill to Britney, of course. She

31:54

literally forked over half a million dollars for

31:56

attorneys to work

31:57

against her best interests.

31:59

Jamie even arranged a special natural

32:02

photo opportunity for the paparazzi. He

32:04

made Brittany leave a public building without security

32:07

alongside her boyfriend to show just how free

32:09

and normal her life was. Jamie

32:12

could quell the news, and he could quell the courts,

32:15

but for once, what he couldn't control was

32:17

his daughter's own voice. Because

32:20

in 2021, the court granted her permission to

32:22

speak at the next hearing. That's

32:25

right.

32:26

Up until this point,

32:27

Brittany Spears herself was never a part of

32:30

any of these conversations.

32:31

An attorney had a request that she be able to

32:34

speak.

32:36

June 23rd, 2021, Brittany dialed in to

32:40

make the phone call that would change her life.

32:44

Everyone in the courtroom held their breath. No

32:46

papers rustled, no pens clicked. The

32:49

news outlets swarming outside and patiently

32:51

pressed their earpieces waiting for the scoop.

32:54

Fans gathered around phones, waiting for their Twitter

32:56

update. For once, the world paused

32:58

their pop playlist and listened to what Brittany had

33:00

to say about her wellbeing. A courtesy

33:03

offered over a decade too late, but better

33:05

late than never. Brittany

33:07

found her written speech, and

33:09

then she spilled it all. The

33:11

lithium, the lack of privacy, the

33:14

IUD stuck inside her, the 10-hour

33:16

work days, the carrot dangling in front

33:18

of her children and her maternal will to do

33:21

anything to see them, used to manipulate

33:23

her into submission. Every detail

33:25

sounded another alarm, raised another red

33:28

flag about her arrangement.

33:30

But what shocked the court the most was

33:32

Brittany's polished presentation. She

33:35

was lucid, just as lucid as she had

33:37

been in 2008, 13 years ago

33:39

when she politely requested a different conservator

33:41

from her father. On an afternoon

33:44

when Brittany had every right to scream and shout,

33:46

she calmly stated her case. This

33:48

was a person who was capable of speaking for

33:51

herself, of understanding just what she was

33:53

being subject

33:53

to.

33:55

Within a month of the hearing, the court finally

33:57

permitted Brittany to choose her own lawyer. Matthew

34:00

Rosengard, Hollywood's litigator of

34:02

choice for celebrities and major corporations.

34:06

Matthew came to court with guns blazing.

34:08

He brought a petition to remove Jamie from the conservatorship.

34:11

He brought documented proof that Britney's medical team

34:14

supported the removal of Jamie. The

34:16

most, or least, surprising of all,

34:18

he brought paperwork accusing Jamie of

34:20

extortion, claiming Jamie straight up

34:23

asked Britney for an additional $2 million

34:25

for him to leave the conservatorship.

34:29

It was over.

34:29

Jamie raised his white flag and

34:32

packed the last of his monthly $16,000 paychecks

34:35

into his suitcase. On

34:37

September 29, 2021, a judge suspended Jamie from

34:41

the conservatorship.

34:42

Two months later, they suspended the conservatorship

34:45

entirely.

34:46

On November 12, 2021, the

34:49

court stated that after 13 years,

34:51

the conservatorship was no longer required.

34:55

Funny phrasing.