Original subtitles

JUDGE: So I'm going to give

the appearance of counsel first.

CROWD: Free Britney now! Free Britney now!

JERYLL: Your Honor, Jeryll Cohen

of Freeman, Freeman, & Smiley,

appearing for‐‐for James P. Spears.

CROWD: Free Britney now! Free Britney now!

VIVIAN: Good afternoon, Your Honor.

Vivian Thoreen of Holland & Knight,

appearing on behalf of James P. Spears.

CROWD: Free Britney now! Free Britney now!

JAMIE: James P. Spears,

conservator for the estate of Britney Jean Spears.

CROWD: Free Britney now! PROTESTER: Shh, shh, shh.

She's calling in, I guess.

PROTESTER: Yeah. She's going to do it. This is it.

PROTESTER: This is it. ‐ I‐I was able to connect.

How about you?

JUDGE: Good afternoon, Ms. Spears.

I believe you are on the telephone?

PROTESTER: She's doing it. PROTESTER: I heard it.

PROTESTER: What's happening here?

PROTESTER: She's doing it.

BRITNEY: Hi, good afternoon. CROWD: Whoo!

PROTESTER: Yeah!

JUDGE: Did any of the counsel have

anything they wanted to say

before we hear from Ms. Spears?

SPEAKER: Your Honor, this is Ms. Wright.

I did want to ask that we please seal the transcript

and clear the courtroom

so we can preserve those medical rights.

I think it's really important then‐‐

BRITNEY: I think they've done a good job

at exploiting my life

in the way that they've done my life,

so I feel like it‐‐it should be an open court hearing,

and they should, um, listen

and, um, hear what I have to say.

[protesters cheering]

‐ Come on, Britney!

BRITNEY: I will be honest with you.

I haven't been back to court in a long time

because I don't think I was heard on any level

when I came to court the last time,

and that's why I'm telling you this again two years later,

after I've lied and told the whole world I'm okay

and I'm happy.

It's a lie.

I'm not happy. I can't sleep.

I'm so angry, it's insane, and I'm depressed.

I cry every day,

and the reason I'm telling you this

is because I don't think

how the State of California can have

all this written in the court documents

from the time I showed up and do absolutely nothing.

It's embarrassing

and demoralizing what I've been through,

and that's the main reason I've never said it openly.

I honestly didn't think anyone would believe me.

I just thought people would make fun of me or laugh at me

and say, "She's lying. She's got everything.

She's Britney Spears." I'm not lying.

I also would like to be able to share my story with the world

and what they did to me,

instead of it being a hush‐hush secret

to benefit all of them.

Ma'am, my dad and anyone involved

in this conservatorship and my management,

who played a huge role in punishing me

when I said, "No, ma'am," they should be in jail.

[crowd cheering]

[serene music]

♪ ♪

‐ [sighs]

Like, I know this is the right thing to do,

and I‐‐I obviously, you know, really want to do it,

but... it's‐‐it's still scary.

I don't know what's gonna happen after this comes out.

♪ ♪

TISH: I've never spoken about what we witnessed.

You know, we signed those NDAs,

and it has been hard to come forward

knowing there are people in her management

that could stop me from making a living,

but this is important.

This is a human life that's been tortured.

♪ ♪

DAN: I think I'm doing the right thing.

I had to muster the courage to speak out

because if not me, then who?

FELICIA: When I read what Britney spoke about

on her own in court,

I was extremely proud of her and the bravery

that it took to take up for herself.

Once Britney started telling her story,

I felt like there were going to be many people

and many memories that would need to be talked about

to put all the puzzle pieces together

and make the truth of the story come out.

REPORTER: Spears, the former "Mickey Mouse Club" star

who launched into the pop culture stratosphere

as a teen had a fall from grace in her mid‐20s

that's become synonymous with her success.

ANNOUNCER: From Kentwood, Louisiana,

here is 10‐year‐old Britney Spears!

REPORTER: Her new CD is titled "Oops!... I Did It Again,"

and she certainly has.

HOST: Britney Spears! HOST: Britney Spears!

‐ Everyone say hi to Britney.

‐ Hi! ‐ Hi, Britney!

REPORTER: She's been out almost every night

with her new party pals,

Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

REPORTER: She began the year

in style in Las Vegas, passing out at a club.

‐ Britney! Britney! ‐ Are you okay, Britney?

‐ My God. No, wait, I can't see, guys.

STAFF: Get off the car! ‐ Stop it! Stop it!

‐ I'm a person, just like you.

COMMENTER: Britney Spears, she's bald.

JAY LENO: Friends say this is the craziest thing Britney

has ever done that didn't involve marriage.

It's unbelievable.

DAVID LETTERMAN: Britney Spears had chapped head.

♪ ♪

[siren wailing]

REPORTER: Thursday, a police motorcade

accompanied the ambulance

taking Britney Spears to UCLA Hospital.

COMMENTER: Clearly she's been suffering some

from some mental issues,

anxiety, perhaps even more. COMMENTER: Yeah.

REPORTER: We hope the best for your daughter, sir!

REPORTER: Friday, Britney's father, Jamie, went to court,

and a Los Angeles judge gave him

and an advisor temporary conservator status.

‐ Y'all, please get out of my way.

[light music]

♪ ♪

‐ So the conservatorship was granted in February 2008

amid concerns around Britney's mental health

and potential substance use.

♪ ♪

Many of the court records are sealed,

so there's a lot that's unknown about the situation,

but people in the conservatorship

long maintained to the public

that it was a smooth‐running operation.

♪ ♪

COMMENTER: And as far as the conservatorship

is concerned, which has been in place,

her father in charge of her affairs, it seems to me,

given all the pressure she faces in her daily life

just being Britney Spears the star,

it seems like exactly the right thing, so she...

‐ Conservatorships are always supposed to be designed

around serving the best interest of the conservatee,

so it's a really interesting question.

What is the best interest of Britney?

[camera shutters snapping]

FAN: We love you, Britney! ‐ Stay off.

Hold on, hold on.

LIZ: When the conservatorship first started,

Jamie had the power to retain security around Britney 24/7.

‐ Watch out, guys. Watch out.

‐ Why do you have to‐‐ You look great, Britney.

‐ Edan Yemini runs Black Box Security,

which was Britney's longtime security company.

♪ ♪

I don't think security has gotten much scrutiny.

You may, like, see them in the background of a photo,

hovering around Britney,

but we didn't really understand what they did.

[soft investigative music]

♪ ♪

INTERVIEWER: Okay, so‐‐ ALEX: So I worked

with the security team for Britney for almost 9 years.

I started at Black Box being Edan's assistant.

I did everything from write his emails to

be on all phone conversations in order to take notes for him.

I was the only person at Black Box

that knew everything, really.

Edan was so relieved when he saw the first documentary.

He was so relieved that he wasn't mentioned,

Black Box wasn't mentioned, Tri Star wasn't mentioned.

It was his biggest fear

that security would somehow draw any attention.

INTERVIEWER: So let's start at the beginning.

‐ When I started working at Black Box in 2012, Britney

was the only full‐time client.

REPORTER: Come forward. Come forward.

REPORTER: Move forward, Britney. Go forward.

REPORTER: Just go forward, Britney.

ALEX: When I got the job, I was super excited.

I just turned 21 that year.

Um, it was‐‐it was‐‐honestly,

it felt like an opportunity of a lifetime

because there was potential.

[electronic music]

But I would see her very briefly.

A lot of the times, they would even ask me to leave

if we knew Britney was going to be home.

I didn't know even anything about the conservatorship.

I'd never heard of that, and everything that I would

know about the conservatorship would be from Edan.

♪ ♪

We were told the conservatorship

was there for her own good,

that it was there to protect her from influence,

from her losing money,

that it was a way for her to have custody of her kids.

The same thing was always repeated,

that this is something she wants.

I remember, I asked Edan,

"Why is it that security is with her 24/7?"

And he told me

that security was part of the conservatorship.

REPORTER: Britney Spears:

A California court has named her father her temporary...

REPORTER: Britney's dad, Jamie Spears,

just filed for conservatorship‐‐

REPORTER: Source tells Us Weekly Britney's dad

is now consulting with her medical team.

‐ For the most part, Britney's father, Jamie,

has been the face of the conservatorship

and has been the one getting most of the attention

and scrutiny, but we've learned

that there were a lot more people behind the scenes

who, you know, really had influence over Britney's life.

Her business management, basically accounting,

financials, was handled by a company

called Tri Star Sports & Entertainment,

which is run by a woman named Lou Taylor.

LOU: Well, we thought it was important to hear a voice

for Jamie and Lynne Spears. I mean, here you have Britney

that needs to have some security somewhere

that every single thing she does

and every single person she has a relationship with

doesn't become an opportunity to be exploited.

LIZ: And a Tri Star staffer named Robin Greenhill

was closely involved in the Britney account.

‐ Jamie, Edan, and Robin were basically a part

of every step Britney took.

There was a group chat with Edan,

Robin and Jamie, and security

where they would basically post all movement.

[reporters clamoring]

Even in the sacred place, her home,

every single request was monitored and recorded.

Her intimate relations were closely managed.

REPORTER: How you doing, Britney?

‐ You know, Britney could not have someone

in the privacy of her house

without those three people knowing.

Edan would say, "She's just like a child

"and like any other minor

who needs their parents' consent."

Around the same time is when one of the new agents

that was working her was asking me,

"How is it okay

that we're in charge of her medication?"

You know, I was like, "What do you mean?"

He's like, "Well, we were given prepackaged envelopes.

"We have to hand them to her, and she can't leave.

She has to take it there."

And, you know, every time that was brought up or discussed,

it was like, "This is what security should be doing

"because, you know, this is what the client is asking for,

and this is what the client needs."

INTERVIEWER: Was the client asking for it, or‐‐

‐ The client is Jamie.

You know, when I took a step back

and I looked at everything,

it really reminded me of somebody that was in prison,

and security was put in a position

to be the prison guards, essentially.

[baby crying]

NARRATOR: Each of us begins life

needing the care of others.

Later in our lives, many of us need help

to live the best life possible.

In California, if people are found by a judge

to be unable to care for themselves or their finances,

the court may appoint another person to take responsibility.

This arrangement is called a conservatorship.

LIZ: Conservatorships are not meant

for just anyone with a mental health issue

or a substance use issue.

Otherwise, there would be tens of millions of Americans

under conservatorships.

They're supposed to be a last resort

because they really take a lot of powers away from someone.

The standard in California is that you are unable to feed,

clothe, or shelter yourself,

but Britney starts working almost immediately

after the conservatorship starts.

[gentle music]

REPORTER: A California court has now given her father

limited control over her troubled life.

‐ Here, "From the personal library of Ted Mosby."

That's you!

LIZ: She starts guest starring on TV.

She starts recording a new album.

She starts preparing to embark on this huge blockbuster tour

called the Circus Tour.

♪ ♪

‐ In 2008, I was recruited from Shakira's management team

to come into the Britney world to help right the ship.

This was Britney's first return to public life

after the very tumultuous period in 2007.

[percussive dance music]

The promotional tour for Circus

involved the Black Forest in Germany.

We did the Bambi Awards, the next day to Paris.

‐ Britney Spears!

DAN: That's where we shot Star Academy.

The next day, we moved to London to do X Factor.

‐ Wow, ladies and gentlemen, Britney Spears!

DAN: A couple days off,

flew to New York, Good Morning America.

DAN: Then LA...

‐ Britney, would you like to help the mayor?

DAN: Christmas tree lighting.

‐ Hi. ‐ Hi.

DAN: Uh, Ellen, which was a pretape.

‐ We're just, uh‐‐we're just kind of spreading cheer

around the neighborhood.

BRITNEY: ♪ Boy, don't try to front I, I know ♪

And on five, we'll just turn around and just pose.

Five, six, seven, pose.

♪ Womanizer ♪

DAN: Then about a week off, and we flew to Japan.

‐ Britney Spears [speaking Japanese]

Give her a big hand. Thank you very much!

‐ Thank you very much! ‐ [speaking Japanese]

DAN: It was intense. It was an intense schedule.

It had to have been approved by the court,

so apparently they felt

that she had the capacity to endure that.

[dramatic music]

LIZ: The Circus tour goes on to gross over $100 million

and is one of the biggest tours of 2009,

and the more money Britney brings in,

the more money everyone makes.

According to court records,

Tri Star, the business manager,

was getting 5 percent of Britney's gross income,

and Jamie is making $16,000 a month

plus a percent of Britney's multimillion‐dollar deals,

so if her father, Jamie, as conservator

enters into a deal for her,

is that because it's in Britney's best interest

or because everyone involved stands to make a cut?

‐ Like that. [cheers and applause]

FELICIA: It was a toxic environment.

It really was.

I mean, it made many people feel just yucky.

Yeah. It did. TISH: Yeah.

Well, and I don't think we've realized it,

almost, till now because it was always go‐go‐go.

FELICIA: Yeah. ‐ And so, now,

when you start talking about it,

and your heart starts fluttering, and you get heavy,

you think, "What is this? What is this feeling?"

‐ You will feel lighter after you talk about it,

after you get it out. TISH: Yeah.

I take care of Britney's wardrobe

for her and the concerts.

We're introducing a new number tonight, "Mannequin."

Britney has designed all of the clothes.

I have worked with six or seven other A‐class artists,

and she is always my favorite to work with.

She's the most polite human being,

you know, to work for, but to also be with.

Oh, this, she had a black‐‐ I made a black bodysuit.

FELICIA: Yeah. TISH: And then she wanted

some green military stuff

to add to it,

but then I was told to not let her see it, so...

[gentle music]

♪ ♪

‐ I really do not think that Jamie is the one

that was controlling everything.

Who I dealt with was Robin Greenhill.

[spacey electronic music]

When I first met Robin and she was around and backstage,

I thought she was Britney's assistant.

INTERVIEWER: And did she have a job title?

‐ I don't know. I‐‐I‐‐we‐‐

none of us ever knew Robin's job title.

It was a, "Well, she works for Tri Star,"

and then you go, "Why is she here?

"Why‐‐I mean, that's the business management.

"That's not your tour manager.

That's not your A party road scheduler."

You know, like, there's so many‐‐

and Robin was Robin.

‐ Right now, she's wanting to know when she's going

to start full run‐throughs because she wants

to chronologically go through these things

and get it under her and see what she needs to do.

‐ I had to have Robin's approval

before I spoke with Britney about a question Britney had.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of things would she do?

What would she control?

‐ She‐‐every, like, the little, little things.

Like Britney would say, "Hey, is there any way

we could have sushi for dinner?"

And I would hear Robin say, "You had sushi yesterday.

It's too expensive. You don't need it again."

Maybe there's a lot more behind that,

but I'm only seeing the outside,

but if she pushed back a little bit,

they pushed harder,

and then the yelling got louder.

Then Jamie would come up and say,

"No. You're not having this,"

and then it would escalate to not having the boys.

♪ ♪

‐ But, Jamie, you need to give us the days

that she has the kids and needs to be home.

JAMIE: I'll take care of the kids.

‐ Okay. ‐ And she'll just come in

wherever because I'm going to be the one

to go stay with the kids.

‐ Hey, Jamie. ‐ Can we go say hi to Mama?

‐ What's up, boys? ‐ No, Mama is working.

[dance music playing]

EMCEE: Put your hands in the air!

TISH: We were on the Circus tour.

We had a road case. She gets in the road case.

It has a nice chair, ventilation, some fans in it.

Then crew members push the road case to stage

so that the artist isn't walking through 40,000 people.

So as soon as we arrived at the stage, she is distressed.

She is upset. She's yelling. She's saying,

"It smells like pot! It smells like pot!

"I can't‐‐I can't breathe this! I cannot breathe this!

I'm going to fail a drug test! I won't see my boys!"

♪ ♪

And she bolted. I took off after her.

She was running trying to get back to her dressing room.

INTERVIEWER: Was she crying? ‐ Oh, she was very much crying.

She was crying. She was screaming,

and then I'm crying!

You know, like, I was crying in this moment as well.

I just‐‐I grabbed her and said, "We are not making it.

We have to go back under stage."

The level of how she was scared

really opened my eyes.

We get back under the stage,

and I am asked to leave the quick change,

and they go in there with her.

Whatever happens, she's crying,

and show goes on.

♪ ♪

To have that stress, and she pulls it off?

‐ ♪ There's only two types of people in the world ♪

♪ Ones that entertain and the ones that observe ♪

TISH: It just has to be too much at some point.

[applause]

‐ The roller‐coaster life of Britney Spears in 2008

can be summed up by two Rolling Stone

magazine covers. On February 21st, it was,

"Britney Spears: Inside an American Tragedy,"

and on the latest issue, "Yes She Can!

Britney Returns."

You have interviewed her several times in the past,

but this time a little bit different.

How so?

WRITER: The primary difference was just that it was

a very heavily managed process.

You know, it was largely to do with this conservatorship

that her father has had over her since early this year.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, her dad now has

tremendous control over her.

You weren't allowed to ask specific questions.

[somber music]

ALEX: Britney wanted to get an iPhone.

She saw her assistants have iPhones,

dancers team, Edan even, and she wanted an iPhone,

and that was a big deal.

Everybody was worried,

and then Edan approached me and asked me,

"Is there any monitoring services for an iPhone

that you are aware of?"

And I'm like, "What do you mean?"

He's like, "Well, parental controls.

"You know, is there any way

to put parental controls on an iPhone?"

And that's when Edan explained to me

that Britney's communication is monitored

for her own, you know, security and protection.

I asked Edan about the legality of that, actually.

"Are you allowed to do that?"

And he said, "Yes. The court is aware of this.

Britney's lawyer is aware of this.

This is for her safety. It's for her protection."

And then Robin came up with the idea of,

"Why don't we just take an iPad,

"sign in with an iCloud on there,

"the same iCloud that Britney would use on her phone,

"and that would mirror all activity?

"You would be able to see all messages,

"all FaceTime calls, Notes,

browser history, photographs."

Edan would bring me text messages of conversations

that Britney would have,

and he would ask me to encrypt those messages

and give it to him so he could pass it on to Robin and Jamie.

[uneasy music]

As time went on, they became very comfortable with me.

Um, they‐‐they openly talked about monitoring her.

Their‐‐their reason for the monitoring was,

you know, looking for bad influence,

looking for potential,

you know, illegal activity that might happen,

but they would also monitor conversations with her friends,

with her mom, with her lawyer, Sam Ingham.

If there's anybody that should be off‐limits,

it should be Britney's lawyer,

and, you know, I still felt that,

"I'm not understanding something,

so just do your job, and maybe one day you'll understand."

[soft music]

♪ ♪

‐ Some days she would have a phone,

and other days she would not have a phone,

uh, and it would be a fight between her and her dad

that I would hear outside the dressing room

and inside the dressing room.

"I want my phone back. I need‐‐

can I have my phone back?"

And he'd say, "No, you got it taken away."

JAMIE: Give me that phone.

I'll hold that damn phone for you.

BRITNEY: No, Daddy! ‐ [sighs]

‐ Her phone, her own phone

and her own private conversations

were used so often to control her.

I know for a fact that Jamie would confront Britney and say,

"Hey, why did you text this person?"

Just because you're in control doesn't give you the right

to treat people like property. It didn't feel

like she was being treated like a human being.

BRITNEY: 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,

like, if that wasn't there,

I'd feel so liberated and feel like myself.

[desolate music]

♪ ♪

I'm angry.

INTERVIEWER: You're angry?

‐ I'm very angry.

INTERVIEWER: You don't seem very angry.

‐ I'm horribly angry.

INTERVIEWER: Horribly angry?

CREW MEMBER: As she smiles saying it.

INTERVIEWER: As you have a huge grin on your face.

‐ No, I'm smiling right now

because I think it's funny that y'all are laughing.

♪ ♪

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.

They're not really listening to what I'm telling them.

It's, like, it's bad.

♪ ♪

‐ The first rule of the conservatorship was,

you don't talk about the conservatorship.

It was just a hard and fast rule

that we don't talk about it.

We don't ask questions. We don't voice opinions

about it internally or outside of the organization.

She was kept very, very isolated.

Her manager, when I first came on, said,

"Be careful, don't get too close.

People have a way of disappearing."

At the time, I assumed that the concern is

that someone would come in

and bring her drugs or other contraband,

but I think if you were actually concerned

with someone's mental health,

you don't take their friends away from them,

and if their friends are going away,

you at least give them a chance to say goodbye.

‐ Hi, my name is Felicia,

and I'm Britney's personal assistant,

and my main role in this whole big production

is, I keep her safe, comfortable and happy.

[pizzicato music]

I went into my job with Britney in my 30s.

I knew who I was. I knew what I was about,

and I didn't want to do anything more than assist her,

and it was the Circus tour that I came back for,

and I went back into my regular mode of assistant.

Then it slowly became

where I wasn't allowed to be by her side

and wasn't allowed to have a conversation

without having other people present, which was very odd.

On one leg of the Circus tour, Britney's dad calls,

and he said, "Hey, Fefe,

you need to come to a urgent meeting."

The meeting was to tell me

that I was not to go on the European tour.

"Britney said she doesn't want you there.

She said she never wanted you on this tour."

Like, "Okay," and he said, "She said if she ever sees you,

she won't go on stage."

And I said, "You know what? I'm going on tour.

My rooms are booked. I just won't see her."

And he's like, "Well, you make sure of that."

Maybe she was mad at me,

but I knew I needed to be there.

If nothing else, I needed to be there

so she'd know I was there and that I believed in her,

and that the concerts were amazing,

and that what she was doing was amazing,

so at the last show,

the very last show of that European run,

as I go to leave the office,

she comes in with security in the far door,

and it's almost like the very air

was sucked out of the hall

because everybody knew I wasn't supposed to be there.

And so the door opened. I turned around.

I made eye contact with her. She took a full running leap

and ran all the way down the hall and leapt onto me,

and she went, "Fe!"

and wrapped her little legs and her arms around,

"Where have you been?"

And it was at that point that I thought,

"No, wait a minute.

Were they trying to turn the two of us against each other?"

♪ ♪

I don't know what parameters they were working

under or with, but I certainly realized now

that I being part of the support system

was not welcome,

and I feel like at some point,

the reason that I was moved away

from being part of the support system is that I simply said,

"If I see something with my eyes, I will tell it,"

and if I had seen something or if Brit had said

or reached out in any way and said, "Fe, I'm scared,"

like she has vocally said since,

I wouldn't have allowed that.

So the further they could push me back,

the smaller the support system got.

I will never forget one of the statements

that Robin made to me.

She goes, "Well, you just don't know who she is anymore."

Maybe I didn't know the person

that they were trying to make her be,

but I knew the person that she was,

and I knew the heart.

Your heart stays the same no matter what.

So my heart and her heart are very old friends.

REPORTER: It was an all‐ Britney Spears bonanza

on Glee.

‐ ♪ Hey Britney We can dance all night long ♪

‐ You're really hot. ‐ You're sweet.

‐ And your breath smells really good.

‐ So does yours.

And you know why? Because this is a fantasy.

‐ Wow.

REPORTER: And get this: we learned today

that Britney's appearance on the show

brought in the highest ratings ever for Glee.

LIZ: Britney is working a lot during the conservatorship.

‐ Simon, she has more talent in her pinkie

than you do in your‐‐ all of your contestants.

REPORTER: Spears still making 58 million a year.

REPORTER: 58 million? What? How?

REPORTER: Over 100 million in album sales worldwide,

the highest‐selling line of celebrity fragrances

on the market, including a new one

called Fantasy Twist.

‐ ♪ Yeah ♪

REPORTER: Pop superstar is in talks

to headline her own Las Vegas show.

REPORTER: They're raking in around $310,000 per show.

They deposit close to $1 million

in Brit's bank account every week.

‐ Britney makes a lot of money under the conservatorship.

[crowd cheering]

She has the Vegas residency

which is one of the most successful shows of all time.

REPORTER: Britney Spears is the queen of Sin City.

The pop star currently a headliner

at Planet Hollywood‐‐ LIZ: Also around that time,

Jamie is approved to receive 1.5 percent of revenues

tied to performances and merchandise

from Britney's blockbuster Vegas show.

REPORTER: Planet Hollywood not only gave her a raise

but increased the number of shows

she'll be performing from 96 to 140.

[delicate music]

‐ The understanding was that Britney had an allowance.

She saw a pair of shoes walking through the mall,

coming into the gig,

and she spotted them and was like,

"Hey, can, um, somebody go get them for me?"

And, of course, my ears perk up when you hear, "Shoes."

I'm thinking, "Oh, this might be me,"

and I said, "Well, I'll go grab them for her.

Just tell me which ones they were," and they said,

"No, she doesn't have any money to be spending on Skechers."

INTERVIEWER: Wait, she wanted Skechers?

‐ And she wanted some Skechers.

There was a Skechers, a Skechers store.

She spotted them, and they were cute.

And I told Britney, "Hey, I'm‐‐

"I'm putting these through wardrobe expense, and we'll‐‐

"we'll say that they didn't work for stage.

Take them home."

And, um, that's what we did.

♪ ♪

[warbling electronic music]

LIZ: In 2014, there's a closed‐door court hearing

in Britney's conservatorship case with the judge

and the lawyers involved, and we obtained a transcript

of what actually was said behind closed doors.

A quirk of the conservatorship system is that Britney

is paying not only for her own lawyer,

she's paying for her conservator's lawyers.

Britney, for the entire 13 years

of the conservatorship,

had a court‐appointed lawyer,

who she didn't choose, named Sam Ingham.

♪ ♪

[reading quote]

The judge says...

Britney's lawyer says...

The judge said that she would consider

ending the conservatorship

if Britney established a healthy relationship

with a therapist

and returned 1 year's worth of clean drug tests,

but the judge would not guarantee it.

Britney's lawyer also raised the possibility of Britney

removing Jamie as her conservator.

Jamie Spears had serious alcohol issues

when Britney was growing up,

and he even enters rehab a few years

before becoming her conservator.

In this court transcript in 2014,

Britney's lawyer says

that Britney thinks he's still drinking.

Lawyers representing the conservatorship responded

that Jamie had been taking

regularly scheduled alcohol tests,

but Britney wanted a random test.

The judge replied...

Britney's lawyer told the court that she anticipates

that, as it has been done before,

the court will simply sweep it under the carpet

and ignore any negative inferences

with regard to Jamie,

and then there's sort of an aside from the judge,

where she says,

"One more question, related and sort of related:

how are her sales in Las Vegas?"

♪ ♪

[soft music]

♪ ♪

ANNOUNCER: Britney offers a special VIP meet and greet

for $2,500 after‐‐

TISH: We would have meet and greets.

Meet and greets can be very difficult.

They just are.

She might be really upset at the moment

or just got her phone taken away,

and then she needs to go to a meet and greet

and be super happy and joyful

because these are people that love and adore her,

and she loves and adores them.

REPORTER: The news today is, it'll cost you 2,500 big ones

for a meet and greet in Vegas with Brit.

It comes complete with front‐row seats

and backstage access‐‐ ‐ I witnessed management

telling her if she did not do the meet and greets,

that it would be a huge loss of money.

"Will you agree to 20 people?" "Yes."

"Okay, we're gonna do 20 people."

20 people turns into 30 people.

20 people turns into 40 sometimes.

♪ ♪

Whenever she'd bring up something

that was disturbing her, she'd always be dismissed,

always be dismissed like, "Why are you even asking?

"Because you don't even have control over your life.

"So you don't need to ask these questions

because it's none of your business."

So she gave in. She had to.

She had to.

There's no, like, "Well, why didn't she just tell them no?"

There isn't a no.

♪ ♪

Here's a note that Britney wrote me, and I kept.

She gave it to me in her dressing room.

Um, "Just a little message to let you know

"I appreciate all your kind words

"and patience with me behind the stage.

"You truly are an angel,

"and just knowing in the back of my mind

"that there are genuine people like you in this cruel world,

"it helps me to sleep better at night.

Sending my love."

So that's pretty‐‐ pretty deep for me

and knowing that she wrote it for me.

There were definitely times that I felt trapped there,

because I‐‐I'm damned if I do, and I'm damned if I don't.

Like, she's‐‐

She's going to be

the person that this affects,

that it's going to hurt her more

if I'm not there, and there's so‐‐

there's so many of us that were in the background

that did see the truth.

This isn't‐‐ this isn't a he said,

she said, or what we might‐‐

these are things that we‐‐ we saw with our own eyes

and heard with our own ears.

Uh, it's hard on me to know

that I could be a person to help,

but maybe that's what I'm doing now.

‐ Iggy, when Britney was promoting "Pretty Girls,"

she said she came to your house for salad.

‐ Yeah, nothing is, you know, nothing weird.

ANDY COHEN: Nothing weird?

[soft music]

♪ ♪

‐ They came and, like, checked my place to make sure I, like,

wasn't trying to, like, stash anything weird

and, like, give it to her or something.

‐ Britney had advance people come scope out the place?

‐ Yeah, yeah. ANDY: Wow.

‐ Yeah, to make sure I wasn't, like, a bad influence or‐‐

‐ Wow! ‐ I was like,

"I promise I'm not gonna do anything bad."

ANDY: Right. ‐ "I just want to have lunch."

ANDY: Right, right. IGGY: Uh, yeah.

ALEX: Working in Black Box, I saw so much.

I'm not a law expert, so I can't speak to legality

of everything, but ethically, it was just one big mess.

Edan had a audio recording device

put into Britney's bedroom.

[electronic music]

♪ ♪

Edan and one of the agents working with him

came into my office

and handed me the audio recording device

and a USB drive and asked me to wipe it.

I had them tell me what was on it.

They seemed very nervous

and said that it was extremely sensitive,

that nobody can ever know about this,

and that's why I need to delete everything on it

so there's no record of it.

That raised so many red flags with me,

and I did not want to be complicit

in whatever they were involved in.

So I kept a copy because I don't want to delete evidence.

And I don't think it's a coincidence

that it was done days

before she was due to meet with a court investigator.

[uneasy music]

♪ ♪

‐ "Interview with the conservatee,

"Britney Jean Spears. On September 7th, 2016,

"an announced visit was made to Britney's residence,

"where she was interviewed in person

and in a private setting." So in September 2016...

[upbeat music]

Right after Britney releases her ninth studio album

and in the midst of her very successful Las Vegas show...

‐ How you doing, Vegas?

‐ A court investigator comes to Britney's house

to conduct a periodic review for the judge.

♪ ♪

The investigator wrote in her report...

"She said people are making a ton of money off of her,

"and she said she is smart and knows what is going on.

"The court investigator was told

"that Britney had an allowance,

"and that her credit card was held by her security team

"or assistant and used at their discretion.

"She said she cannot drive alone.

"She cannot befriend people, especially men,

unless they are approved by her father."

‐ There was an obsession with the men in Britney's life.

They would have to sign contracts.

They would have to sign NDAs.

‐ "Then they are followed by private investigators

to make sure their behaviors are acceptable to her father."

‐ I heard that your dad kind of set you up

with your current boyfriend. Is that true?

‐ No. It's not true.

‐ The reports of your dad doing a background check on David.

Is that not true?

‐ That is true. ‐ That is true?

‐ Yeah. ‐ That's crazy!

‐ Yeah! HOST: Does that embarrass you?

‐ My dad's a little crazy like that. He's‐‐

HOST: Does he‐‐does he own a gun?

‐ Um, he does own a gun. ‐ Okay, note to self there.

‐ "She said she feels her father is obsessed with her

"in the sense he wants to control everything about her.

"'Any mistakes resulted in very harsh consequences,'

"Britney said, and that the conservatorship

"'comes with a lot of fear.'

"Britney told the court investigator

"she is not happy being conserved,

"and she said she wants it terminated as soon as possible,

"and she wants direction from the court

on what she would need to do." The report concludes...

"It appears the conservators have done an excellent job

of protecting Britney,

and it is apparent they have made commendable efforts

"to help her reach the positive places in her life

"she has to this date.

"It appears effort should be made to provide Britney

a pathway to independence

and the eventual termination of the conservatorship.

"In the interim, it is important for all entities

"associated with the conservatorship to do

"all possible to prevent the conservatorship

from giving Britney feelings of subjugation."

‐ I heard that after the show‐‐

which‐‐I believe you're doing 96 shows?

‐ Yes. MARIO LOPEZ: After this run,

I should say. 96 shows in 2 years

is just amazing, a lot of work.

That obviously, you'd want to take a long break,

but you might even possibly retire.

Is that true?

[soft music]

♪ ♪

‐ I might. Who knows?

I may have two more kids and‐‐

‐ Really? BRITNEY: I don't know. Yeah.

I said, "How you feeling?" [crowd cheers]

[upbeat electronic music]

♪ ♪

TISH: We're in Las Vegas, doing the Piece of Me show,

and they were publicly saying,

"Come get your last tickets of the Piece of Me.

We're done. We're done. We're done."

‐ I think it was, like, 119 degrees today outside.

I literally almost fainted, dear God.

TISH: We were all exhausted. ‐ Thank you.

‐ You know, when you're running a marathon,

and you're getting to the end, you're ready to relax.

You're ready to take a break.

‐ Thank you.

TISH: The crew and everyone thought,

"Okay, we're done with this."

Then... they tossed

a 3‐week continuation of the Piece of Me on the road.

[cheers and applause]

‐ It's going to be really, really hot up here.

I'm warning you.

I'm about to pass out, and I'm sick.

So I have actually 102 fever right now.

♪ ♪

‐ And we were going to go to Europe.

♪ ♪

This is a large tour.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

After that, we had heard that there was bidding wars in Vegas

for a new residency for Britney.

So now the Piece of Me is finishing,

and she is going straight into promotions

for Domination already. There was no break.

BRITNEY: When I came off that tour,

a new show in Las Vegas was supposed to take place.

I started rehearsing early, but it was hard

because I'd been doing Vegas for 4 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."

Five, six, seven, eight.

I take everything I do very seriously.

There's tons of video with me at rehearsals.

I wasn't good. I was great.

♪ ♪

I was really, really hard on myself,

and it was too much. I couldn't take it anymore.

EMCEE: Ladies and gentlemen, the new queen of Vegas.

BRITNEY: I remember telling my assistant, "You know what?

"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."

REPORTER: Britney canceled her

highly anticipated Vegas show, Domination.

REPORTER: Her show, Britney: Domination, was supposed

to begin February 13th at the Park Theater.

BRITNEY: Three days later, after I said no to Vegas,

my therapist sat me down in a room

and said he had a million phone calls

about how I was not cooperating under house rules

and I haven't been taking my medication.

All this was a false‐‐

He immediately, the next day, put me on lithium.

I got a phone call from my dad saying,

"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."

I cried on the phone for an hour,

and he loved every minute of it.

The control he had over someone as powerful as me,

as he loved the control to hurt his own daughter.

100,000%, he loved it.

I packed my bags and went to that place‐‐

‐ It was January of 2019.

Edan, you know, reached out to me

and asked if the iPad was still in the safe.

I said, "Of course, you know, where else would it be?"

I was out of town at that time,

and then I come back in February from my vacation,

and Britney is gone.

REPORTER: Britney Spears

checked into a mental health clinic

last week, according to to TMZ.

REPORTER: Their source saying Britney

just needed to focus on herself

as she cares for her father, Jamie,

after his life‐threatening colon rupture‐‐

‐ So it really seems as if this facility stay in 2019

is a really big turning point in the conservatorship

for almost everyone involved.

‐ She did not want to be there.

I heard this from multiple people,

including Robin and Jamie themselves

when they would talk on the phone to Edan.

I overheard multiple conversations

where they knew Britney didn't want to be there.

BRITNEY: I had no privacy door for my room.

They all lived in the house with me,

the nurses, the 24/7 security.

I never had a say in my schedule.

They always told me I had to do this.

And, ma'am, I will tell you, sitting in a chair

10 hours a day, 7 days a week, it ain't fun,

and especially when you can't walk out the front door.

LIZ: Under California conservatorship,

a conservator is not allowed to force a conservatee

into a mental health treatment facility against their will.

It's really murky who sent Britney to the facility,

why she was sent there.

There's a lot of finger‐pointing

going on among conservators

and different people involved, saying, you know,

"They sent her here." "No, they did,"

and, you know, they even claim that Britney, herself,

signed papers saying that she wanted to go in.

We obtained text messages that Britney had been sending

when she was in the facility in early spring 2019,

where she says, "I am here involuntarily.

I feel as if I cannot leave."

She texts a friend, "My lawyer doesn't even work for me.

Security is at the door 24/7."

‐ They were monitoring everything,

conversations with her friends, with her mom.

She reached out to an attorney asking if he can sneak in.

‐ And this new lawyer is saying,

"Okay, can I come meet you?" And Britney says,

"I don't think they're going to let you come in

"and meet me if they know that you're a lawyer.

I don't think they're gonna let me hire a new lawyer,"

and she suggests that this lawyer pretend to be a plumber

and, you know, hide the fact that they were a lawyer.

And Britney acknowledges in the text

that she's stuck in this catch‐22.

She says, "How am I supposed to know whether I want to hire you

if I'm not even able to meet with you first?"

And Jamie and security had monitored all of this.

It seems as if one of the rationales, perhaps,

for trying to have such close oversight of Britney

is trying to protect her from bad influence,

but that's not what I'm seeing in these text messages.

It seems as if she's trying to get help.

‐ They openly talked about everything that was going on,

and I still felt that I'm not understanding something,

that I don't know the full story,

that there's so much more to it,

um, and it was easy to detach yourself emotionally

from‐‐from everything that was going on.

And I think this is when I snapped back into reality.

‐ ♪ Got a clue what you're doing ♪

REPORTER: Fans of Britney Spears are worried

about her well‐being following bombshell claims

that she is being held against her will

in a mental health facility.

‐ What do we want? CROWD: Free Britney.

‐ When do we want it? CROWD: Now.

LIZ: So in spring 2019,

the Free Britney movement really starts to catch on.

‐ We're here not as fans of Britney Spears the pop star.

We're here to advocate, I mean, truly for human rights.

REPORTER: Social media is erupting

in Britney Spears hysteria,

launching a Free Britney movement.

‐ Hashtag‐‐ ‐ Free Britney.

CROWD: End conservatorship abuse.

PROTESTER: We think that, you know,

the conservatorship she's been under seems unjust.

‐ Do you believe Britney Spears is being held against her will?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

‐ Edan initially was very worried

about the Free Britney movement

because it was something out of their control.

It was something that was shaping on its own.

‐ She was out and about yesterday on Easter Sunday.

That is her with her boyfriend, Sam,

at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills.

REPORTER: Hi, Britney, how you feeling?

How you feeling, Britney? How's your dad doing?

ALEX: It was orchestrated

that she would come out of the hotel

to show the public that,

"You have nothing to worry about.

"Look, Britney is walking around.

She's with her boyfriend."

HOST: These photos are a big deal

because, obviously, here she is out and about.

Clearly, she's not a prisoner at this facility.

HOST: She's not.

REPORTER: Britney Spears back home with her family tonight

after checking out of a mental health facility.

‐ When she was released from the facility,

security was asked to prepare a iPhone for her

that would only be allowed to make phone calls,

no text messaging, no Internet access.

CROWD: Hey, hey, ho, ho.

The conservatorship has got to go.

ALEX: The Free Britney movement

was heavily investigated in its early days.

Undercover investigators were placed within the crowds

to talk to fans, to ID them, to document who they were.

It was all under the umbrella of,

"This is for Britney's protection."

REPORTER: Britney Spears' father Jamie

speaking out against the viral campaign,

"All these conspiracy theorists

"don't know anything.

"It's up to the court of California

to decide what's best for my daughter."

[crowd chanting]

♪ ♪

PROTESTER: End conservatorship.

CROWD: End conservatorship abuse.

‐ Free Britney!

LIZ: In a court filing, Britney's lawyer said,

"Britney herself is vehemently opposed to this effort

"by her father to keep her legal struggle

"hidden away in the closet as a family secret.

"In this case, it is not an exaggeration

to say that the whole world is watching."

PROTESTER: What do we want? CROWD: Free Britney!

PROTESTER: When do we want it? CROWD: Now!

‐ Hey, guys, it's Megan.

The judge has not made any decisions yet,

but we did want to give you a quick update‐‐

Britney has told Ingham on multiple occasions

that she's scared of her father and that she refuses to work

until he is no longer in control of her career.

♪ ♪

VIVIAN: Britney's assets were clearly being mismanaged,

and she was being taken advantage of financially

by some of those around her.

‐ How did Jamie turn Britney's finances around

so dramatically?

‐ He has collaborated with her. He‐‐

When she is up for performing, she has performed.

When she wants to record an album,

she can record an album,

and when she wants to live her life the way she wants,

like a normal person,

he has collaborated with her to do that, as well.

♪ ♪

‐ Britney knows that her daddy loves her,

and she knows that she can call on him anytime.

CROWD: Free Britney now!

Free Britney now!

Free Britney now! Free Britney now!

Free Britney now!

REPORTER: She's calling in, I guess.

PROTESTER: Yeah?

JUDGE: Good afternoon, Ms. Spears.

I believe you're on the telephone.

BRITNEY: Hi, good afternoon.

[crowd cheering]

JUDGE: I'm happy to hear from you, Ms. Spears,

so feel free to address me at this point.

BRITNEY: I have this written down.

I have a lot to say, so bear with me.

‐ Oh, God. BRITNEY: Ma'am, I didn't know

I could petition the conservatorship

to end it. I'm sorry for my ignorance,

but I honestly didn't know that.

‐ It was the complete opposite of what, you know,

we've always been told working there.

It was that she didn't want to be in the conservatorship,

and that she felt like she was abused.

BRITNEY: I want to be able to get married

and have a baby.

I have a IUD inside of myself right now

so I don't get pregnant. I wanted to take the 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 children, any more children.

Um, so, basically, this conservatorship‐‐

ALEX: I heard Britney's testimony,

and I think that was the final indicator

that I wanted to come forward with what I know.

[tranquil electronic music]

I think these emails I saved, because of how scary they were,

and you don't get a lot of this in writing ever.

Edan forwarded me an email thread

in which Sam Ingham emailed Edan and the legal team.

And so the response to that is, "Sam, Jamie confirms...

And so when this email came across my desk,

I was‐‐I was very confused.

♪ ♪

I know that this is the right thing.

I know that this is what I should do,

but I don't know what's gonna happen after this comes out.

When I was leaving Black Box, my filter went away, you know?

I was very open about,

"I disagree how you run the business.

I disagree how you are ethically."

He's like, "Well, we should really talk about that."

He calls me into his office, and, you know,

he takes the gun in his holster with his clip out

and puts it on the table and starts with,

"So you don't like the way I run my business?"

I mean, it's not a threat, but it's a threat.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

CROWD: Let Britney choose!

Let Britney choose! Let Britney choose!

Let Britney choose!

[crowd cheers]

PROTESTER: Are they getting updates?

What, what? What? What?

‐ She gets her own lawyer! She gets her own lawyer!

She gets her own lawyer! She's now free to choose

her own lawyer!

PROTESTER: Britney gets to choose her own lawyer!

[crowd cheers]

‐ Matthew Rosengart,

a high‐powered Hollywood attorney now representing her.

LIZ: It seems like a small victory,

but it was a really big victory

because for the entire 13 years of the conservatorship,

she had a court‐appointed lawyer who she didn't choose.

‐ One thing that everybody has lost sight of

in all of the controversy,

all of the litigation, and all of the drama is,

what is in the best interest of Britney Spears?

My firm and I are going to be taking a top‐to‐bottom look

at what's happened here over the past decade.

‐ Yes! Everyone did that!

LIZ: Britney's new lawyer

almost immediately files to remove Jamie.

‐ Since the cat is out of the bag,

literally out of the bag,

and you guys know my situation, I do want to let you guys know,

things are way better than what I ever anticipated.

[discordant music]

♪ ♪

HOST: There is an enormous development

in the Britney Spears conservatorship case.

Jamie Spears, we found out, has agreed to step down.

This is a monumental move.

‐ But that's not actually what the court filing said.

The court filing said, "Jamie has done nothing wrong.

"The public does not know Britney's addiction

"and mental health issues, and if they did,

they would praise Jamie for the job he has done."

It said, "He is willing to step down

when the time is right,"

and appeared to be setting some conditions for that.

REPORTER: Jamie says the finances

still need to be worked out, among other things.

REPORTER: Court documents reveal

that Spears is currently worth $60 million.

‐ I'm gonna be in Vegas for two more years!

REPORTER: That may sound like a lot at first,

but it's not when compared to others in the industry.

‐ The pop star and her new attorney

say her father is trying to get a $2‐million payout

before stepping down as her conservator.

REPORTER: Matthew Rosengart insisting

she will not be, quote...

REPORTER: The former federal prosecutor

also adding in a statement...

HOST: They're going to take his deposition,

and he's going to have to sit there,

and he's going to go through all of the things,

you know, involving the business manager

and salaries and things like that.

REPORTER: We begin tonight with breaking news.

After 13 years, the conservatorship

of singer Britney Spears may be about to end.

Jamie Spears, her father and conservator of her estate,

filed a petition to end the conservatorship.

‐ I feel like we're all like, "Whoa, there's new news

and a twist and turn every single day."

REPORTER: It is stunning.

All of the things he said in this document

that he filed with the court are very, very different,

in fact, opposite from what he had been saying all along.

REPORTER: So the big question: what's next?

REPORTER: Does this mean that she will

soon not have to do what her father says?

REPORTER: How could this kind of, like, go off the rails?

REPORTER: Only time will tell, right?

LIZ: A lot of big questions remain.

Will Jamie be removed?

Will the conservatorship be terminated entirely,

and will there ever be a full examination

of the last 13 years?

‐ That's the one thing that I don't know still to this day.

Is the court aware of any of this shit?

Like, how‐‐how they've been monitoring her?

Do they actually know about that?

Like, I'm super curious, and Edan telling me

that Sam Ingham knew that Jamie and Robin

were reading all her text messages, is that true?

And if they did know about this, how was that allowed?

‐ Britney's case has raised a lot of questions and scrutiny

on the conservatorship system at large.

It really makes you wonder. If all of this can happen

to one of the most famous people on this planet,

what does that mean for the many people

under conservatorships who are very vulnerable?

♪ ♪

BRITNEY: I'm not sure how you make your decisions, ma'am,

but this is the only chance for me

to talk to for you a while. I need your help,

so if you can just kind of let me know

where your head is.

I'm scared of people.

I don't trust people with what I've been through.

‐ I think the thing that stands out to me most from Brit

speaking out in court is that she was frightened.

That's the thing that I want to say bothers me the most

because these are people that are supposed to protect her.

How many times has she said this before,

and why has nothing changed?

I think she simply wants to be heard,

but, my goodness,

how many times does she have to say it?

How loud does she have to scream it?

BRITNEY: I wish I could stay with you on the phone forever

because when I get off the phone with you,

I hear all these nos, "No, no, no,"

and, then all of a sudden, I feel ganged up on,

and I feel bullied,

and I feel left out and alone,

and I'm tired of feeling alone.

And now, we can sit here all day and say,

"Oh, conservatorships are here to help people,"

but, ma'am, there's a thousand conservatorships

that are abusive as well.

FELICIA: You know, I don't have any way

of getting in touch with her at this point.

All the numbers that I have are now changed.

‐ I cannot call her up.

I know she memorizes numbers,

so as an end‐of‐tour gift,

I bought her a Tiffany's necklace

'cause I know that she likes Tiffany's,

and I had my number engraved on it in case she needed me.

INTERVIEWER: If you were talking to her right now,

what would you say to her?

‐ Well, yeah, if we actually got to see each other

and see Britney again is that, you have a lot of support,

a lot of good support behind you,

and we will be here for you.

INTERVIEWER: If you could talk to Britney,

what would you want to her to know?

Like, if she's watching this, what would you say?

‐ Okay.

And, Brit, first off, I would make you giggle,

and second off, I want you to remember

all the funny things and all the fun times.

I want you to remember how strong you are,

how talented you are, how silly you are,

how goofy you are,

and that that heart of yours is gigantic and that how‐‐

I mean, my goodness, I told you every day how much I loved you.

If I had one penny for every fan

that's just reached out to me

to send their love to you, boy, would I be a rich woman.

Hang in there. Your voice is coming back.

You are louder and prouder and more powerful

than I've seen you in a really long time,

and I love you,

and I will support you no matter what.

And I wasn't going to cry

because you know I don't like to cry.

It makes my nose big and red. I love you.

BRITNEY: I deserve to have a life.

I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does,

and that's all I wanted to say to you,

and thank you so much for letting me speak to you today.

Thank you.

[soft music]

♪ ♪