All language subtitles for Britney.Vs.Spears.2021.1080p.WEB.H264-PECULATE

Britney! Britney! Britney!

Britney! Britney! Britney!

Britney! Britney! Britney!

Britney! Britney! Britney!

Britney! Britney! Britney!

Britney! Britney! Britney!

When I was 8,
my mom realized I could sing.

I've always wanted to sing.

It's just something
I've always wanted to do.

Five, six, seven, eight, nine...

It's not just luck.
Everybody needs a little bit of luck.

But it's literally an Olympian level

of talent and hard work
that goes into that.

Everything about her
was strong and fearless.

I mean, there was no stopping her.

It all exploded
after Britney became famous.

Suddenly,
she was spiraling out of control,

and it was clear she was having a crisis.

Are you concerned
for your daughter, Mr. Spears?

What began
as temporary control over her life

and her money and her business
became permanent.

They felt they had to do it
to protect Britney.

Britney is no longe r a free person.

She doesn't have basic human rights.

She can't write a check
or have a credit card.

If she doesn't behave,
she loses custody of her kids.

There's other people that've tried
to help. They've paid a heavy price.

She is limited
on how she can voice her wishes.

I just want my life back.
And it's been 13 years and it's enough.

All right, so let's do
our least favorite thing in the world,

which just means
calling random strangers and saying,

"Hey, can you talk to me
about Britney Spears?"

Hi, Kim, my name is Erin Lee Carr,
and I'm a documentary filmmaker.

I'm directing a project about Britney.

Two years ago, I began making
a movi e about Britney Spears

with journalist Jenny Eliscu.

Hey, this is Jenny Eliscu.

I'm not sure if you remember me
from, uh, years ago.

We met when I was working
on a Rolling Stone article about Britney.

The movie was going to be about
her artistry and the media portrayal.

And can someone say wow
to those dance moves?

But the story was also about power
and control.

Full of conspiracy and rumors.

And no one would talk.

Until they did.

I was 10 when Britney came on the scene.

I remember grabbing the CD with a flower
on it that's Baby One More Time

and putting it into my boombox.

You know, my dad would knock on the door.

And he said, "Why are you listening
to this over and over again?"

I was obsessed.

♪ Hit me, baby, one more time ♪

Britney! Britney!

I love her.

At 16 years old, Britney was
a sensation and she was no one-hit wonder.

From 1998 to 2003, her worldwide
record sales totaled over $73 million.

Britney had a work ethic like none other,

but she's never been motivated by money.

She just was doing something she loved.

She was in control
and involved in every process.

I'm open to ideas. If they come up with
something better, then heck, I'll do it.

She was like, "I'm the boss.
I'm gonna do what I want."

You can see,
like, that girl is just on fire.

♪ I'm a slave for you ♪

The best thing about
being famous is knowing that, financially,

I'll be able to support my family,
no matter what.

Britney Spears!

By 2004, she was one of the biggest
selling female artists of her generation.

Hit after hit.

The world couldn't get enough of Britney.

Then, suddenly,
Britney stopped making music.

She fell in love with a backup dancer,
Kevin Federline.

On a transatlantic flight,
Britney proposed to Kevin.

They got married
and quickly had two children.

But two years later, the marriage was over
and Britney had filed for divorce.

It's the biggest news in the country,
ladies and gentlemen.

Britney Spears is leaving K-Fed!

Confetti!

Britney was out on the town,
looking as confident as ever.

Now hopefully,
with her divorce almost finalized,

she would get back to performing for us.

But what seemed like the beginning
of her regaining control...

was really the end.

The very first time
I was assigned Britney,

she was in the middle
of this divorce with Kevin.

I was working for an agency, okay?

They gave me the address.
They said, "Sit outside the house."

"When she comes out, follow her."

My job was to take pictures of her, right?

That period, I was a photographer,
and, you know, I was good at it.

I excelled
and I learned the job real quick.

This is a job for adrenaline junkies
and those with a gambling addiction.

There's nothing sexier
than waking up and they say,

"This is your assignment."

You open it up and don't know who it is.

Male, female,
actor, singer, sports celebrity.

So, as a photographer,

you can get a few hundred thousand dollars
for a picture of Britney.

At the time of the divorce,

Britney was relentlessly chased
by the paparazzi.

At the same time,
she had friendships with some of them.

Beautiful.

One night, the agency calls me

and tells me
the gas station that Britney's at.

I drive down there.

At the gas station,
everyone's taking pictures.

Twenty dollars' worth of gas.

She was having problems
with the gas.

You want me to fill it?

I asked Britney, "Can I help you?"

So I start doing it.

And then, one day a photographer calls me
and says, "Britney's asking for you."

"What do you mean, she's asking for me?"

Then another photographer calls me
who doesn't know the first photographer.

And he's like,
"Hey, bro. Britney's asking for you."

- Where's...? You, come here.
- Back it up.

She felt better if I was present.
She felt safer.

Those are her words, not mine.

Where's Adnan?

He's off.

He's out today.

I'll let him know.

It was a very simple,
very easy relationship, you know?

But between her fans and everybody else,
it was like I was the bad guy.

Oh, my Lord.

Like that Disney story,
you always want the Prince Charming to be

as equally as attractive and equally
as beautiful and equally as charming.

We didn't have that balance.

There was this multimillionaire and me.

And then there was this famous girl,
and then there was me.

There was this white girl,
and there was me.

There were nights where she was up

and I had to stay up with her,
and it's hard.

To stay up for three days, it's hard,

but you have that fear,
it's a very real fear,

that if anything happens to her,

they're just gonna blame you.
It's just so much easier to blame you.

She was taking Adderall.

I'm sure x-amount of millions of people
are taking Adderall.

But these are the things
that become volatile and deadly weapons

when you're going through
a child custody case.

Hi, Adnan, how are you?

Are you okay? Are you guys in love?

What was apparent to me
during this divorce with Kevin

was, you know, she never had one person
she could trust, not one.

Not Mom, not Dad,
not friends, not her sister.

Anybody.

And that's a very scary, dark place to be.

The hearing this afternoon had to do
with a continued interim,

or temporary order,

that was based on Mr. Federline's
original request to modify custody.

Hold on. Hey, hey.
Get back. Get back, sir.

- You guys have got to get back.
- Britney!

We love you, Britney!

By 2007, Britney's divorce
from Kevin was heating up.

What many thought would be a simple case,
guided by a strong prenuptial agreement,

now seemed to be in question.

Ironclad prenup's a little bit like
the Titanic could never sink.

For every ironclad prenup,
there's a group of attorneys out there

that will try to tear it apart.

Mark Vincent Kaplan,
he's the K-Fed lawyer.

He's like this kind of old guard,
bigtime custody lawyer

you might call
in a contentious divorce custody case.

He seemed to love being the spokesperson

for this high-profile divorce
and custody case.

And he definitely has a flair
for making a public statement.

The ultimate attack is,
how are the children doing?

How safe are the children?

The kids become just pawns.

Kevin is concerned that the more time
that the children are with him,

he feels the more insulated
they are from, uh...

risks that would otherwise be
constantly visited upon them.

People that care about the children
will provide information

that is relevant to their best interest.

There's nothing new, no new facts,
there's not an emergency?

All of those things are true.

I'd represented high-profile people
and celebrities before,

but this was an order of magnitude far
different than anything I'd experienced.

And I had to hit the deck running
and learn how to work with the media

so that they weren't working
against my client.

Kevin had been treated pretty unfairly.

They were saying,
"He's an unconcerned parent."

Other people were saying,
"Oh, he's just merely a gold digger."

He was in a position
of not being able to win.

Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

People wanted to sort of speak ill
of him or use him as a joke.

Why'd you think that was?

Well, keep in mind when Kevin
and Britney first got married,

she was America's sweetheart.
And in many respects, she still is.

And they saw Kevin as someone
who in their view, whoever "their" is,

wasn't worthy of having that unique
relationship with America's sweetheart.

They attempted to penalize him for that
as much as they could and they...

The press was brutal.

But as the case progressed,

um, I think she did certain things

that the press found worthy
of a media frenzy.

As the custody case was battled out
in court, the media frenzy only grew.

Everyone seemed to have opinion
about Britney Spears.

The media focused less on her music

and more on the way
that she was living her life.

Britney cycled through legal teams,
and became more and more isolated.

There was a period of estrangement
between Britney and both of her parents

by fall of 2007.

I don't know how long
the estrangements were, where...

Whether there was maybe
sporadic communication,

but some sources I spoke to
talked about Britney

having a fear
that her family would barge in,

I think is how it was put,
and take everything.

I mean, and that's, you know,
that's how-slash-when Sam Lutfi got in.

Who is Sam Lutfi?

Sam Lutfi is the person
frequently blamed by both of her parents

for her public downfall.

There was a lot of controversy
around Sam Lutfi

and what role he played
in this brief period of Britney's life.

First question.
Can you please introduce yourself to us?

- Uh, I'm Sam Lutfi.
- And who are you?

I'm Britney Spears's former manager.

But in court documents
newly discovered from Britney's divorce,

she testified that he was
just her "friend sometimes."

Somebody who helped "get groceries."

In that time period,
he went from being the sometimes friend

to somebody calling the shots.

We met at a bar. We started talking.

She was very funny.

Uh, we had a great conversation.

Um, she had asked me
if I'd seen things that were in the press.

I said, "Of course. Like, who hasn't?"
You know, making light of the situation.

She asked for my phone number.

And then left and I never thought
I was gonna hear from her again.

Then I get a call from her one night
and she tells me,

"I need your help."

Hey, guys. Just be careful.

Just clear this side for a second.

You could see
that the divorce was impacting her a lot.

And my question to her the whole time was,

"I think the best thing would be
to have your family around."

"There's nothing
like having your mom around."

That's how it is in my life,
but I was just projecting that onto that.

Um, and she would just say,

"My relationship is not like
your relationship with your family."

I thought, "What's the issue?"
And so she would...

We would talk about Lynne,

uh, in depth.

So there was numerous issues
that were going on.

And how was
her father Jamie involved?

Not at all.

Was it a short amount of time,
a long amount of time?

Uh, from what I believe, it's been years.

In the eye of the storm
that was 2007,

Britney was still able to record
and produce an entire studio record.

♪ It's Britney, bitch ♪

The album was Blackout
and it sold in the millions.

It is widely considered her best work.

The music and the videos
from Blackout portrayed a pop-y version

of what had become
the story of Britney's real life.

A woman hunted and often on the run.

This would foreshadow
a much darker turn for Britney.

There are paparazzi images
of Britney in 2007

that have been seen millions of times.

These images are often coupled
with headlines like,

"Meltdown" or "Rock Bottom."

Looking back,
you can see she was just a person,

a person who needed help.

Throughout that year, paparazzi continued
to follow Britney aggressively

around Los Angeles.

She's crazy.

Oh, my God.

She drove at high speeds
to avoid them,

sometimes running red lights.

There were concerns
that if these car chases continued,

something terrible could happen.

A lot of people argue

that she was crazy, right?

You know, and I fucking hate that word.

Would you say she was upset,
would you say she was angry,

or would you say she was hurt?

I'd choose all of them
before I'd choose crazy.

In January 2008,
police were called to Britney's residence.

She had locked herself in a room,

refusing to turn over the children
to Federline's bodyguard

at the court appointed time.

Listen up!

Cedar Sinai, this is their property,

including the sidewalk
that you are standing on.

I need to you to move.

At the hospital there was Kevin,
Mark Vincent Kaplan, his lawyer,

and Britney's father.

Britney's parents had been divorced
since 2002.

Britney was so close
with her mother.

When we were on tour,

I mean, she and Lynne talked at least...

Oh, gosh. At the very least,
two or three times a day.

And what about her dad, Jamie?

Okay, I don't wanna talk about her daddy.
I don't wanna talk about Jamie.

Um...

The reason I don't...
I will tell you this just so we'll know.

Jamie wasn't with us very often,
hardly ever.

Um, so it really was me and Lynne.

A few days after Britney
was released from the hospital,

a new figure emerged.

Her name was Louise Taylor.

And she went on The Today Show
as a spokesperson for the Spears family.

What I would like to say is that

I really feel like people
just do not know the Spears family.

What they don't know about Jamie
and Lynne Spears is that every day,

Jamie goes to work as a professional chef,

asking the Lord to give him the strength
to honor the people he works for

in the midst of circumstances,
that Lynne Spears is a mother

that is brokenhearted just because
she's apart from her daughter.

She loves her daughter so much.

And again, asking every day
for God to give her strength

and for her to continue to have hope.

I mean, I'm so disturbed, Meredith,
where we've gotten to be as a people,

the morbidity of us watching
the depravity of people suffering,

than to rally around and be hopeful.

So, really, for, I guess, for me
to be self-indulgent for a moment,

that I would really hope that all those
who seek God for strength in their life

would be interceding for this family
because Jamie Spears,

Lynne Spears, Bryan, and Jamie Lynn Spears

are all amazing people.

From what I'd seen, no one had ever
spoken on behalf of the Spears.

Who is Lou Taylor?

I will not touch that one.

Sorry.

She will chew me up
and spit me out.

The custody suit grew
more contentious

when the judge gave Kevin Federline
full custody of the two boys.

Soon thereafter,
Britney would return to the hospital

under another
involuntary psychiatric hold.

Mr. Spears, what's going on?
How's Britney doing?

Can you give us any word,
any news on Britney?

Jamie Spears petitioned
the State of California probate court

for a new legal arrangement.

It was called a conservatorship.

I started working
at Rolling Stone in '99.

Britney was my second-ever cover story.

I didn't give a shit about Britney Spears
or pop music personally.

It's not something
I paid attention to at all.

Then I met her,
and she was just so likable and sweet.

So, in late 2008, when I was assigned
to do another cover story

on Britney for Rolling Stone,

I was excited 'cause I love her
and hadn't seen her in a few years.

And in spite of all of the drama,

I was just picturing it the same way
it always would be,

and, you know, went to L.A.

ready to spend some time
and started to get told by the label

that I'd have to submit
my questions ahead of time.

I said to the publicist,
"But it's me, me and Britney."

And she would say, "Oh, you know,
we know Britney loves you,

but we just...
The conservatorship, we've got to."

I was like,
"What the fuck is a conservatorship?"

A conservatorship is a legal process
for taking somebody's ability

to make their own decisions away from them

and giving them to some third party,
aka their conservator,

or in other states, it's the guardian.

Obviously, any process
to deprive someone of those liberties

and those freedoms would be something

we'd want to impose very rarely,
only as a last resort,

having tried
and exhausted all other alternatives.

Some people have called conservatorship
tantamount to a civil death.

There's conservatorship of the person,

which is allowing someone else
to make your decisions

related to your personal affairs.

They lose the ability to decide
anything related to their healthcare,

so their ability to provide
or withhold informed consent

for treatments, including drugs,
is taken away from them.

And, in many cases, they lose their right

to decide who to visit with
or receive visits from.

They lose their right to communicate
with people of their choosing

over the telephone, over the computer.

For a conservatorship of the estate,

which often goes
with the conservatorship of the person,

they're no longer in charge
of their money,

theoretically, even the $10
they might have in their pocket.

Jamie was made
the sole conservator of the person.

He had to share
the conservatorship of the estate

with a court-appointed attorney
named Andrew Wallet.

You had Jamie who had bankruptcy issues

and financial mismanagement
of his own life,

and they said, "We have Andrew Wallet
here as the co-conservator,

and has a fiduciary interest,"

but in court documents,

he talked about the conservatorship
as being a "hybrid business model."

According to the papers filed
with the court on February 6, 2008,

the conservators have access
to all documents and records

related to Britney's estate.

They can enter and take possession
of her house, kick people out,

they can issue restraining orders,
and employ security guards,

they can use Britney's money
to pay attorneys for matters

involving the estate,
open and operate businesses,

hire people for any position necessary,

and pay them using funds from the estate.

Why was Jamie made the conservator
and not Lynne?

Jamie is intimidating,
and people who have known him

and met him and worked with him,

and even had positive experiences
with him,

will still tell you
that he is very intimidating

and when he's angry,
you don't want to mess with him.

They were really in a moment

where they felt they needed
to keep away certain people,

and he was like the bouncer.
He could keep people out.

Here we've got...

Larry Rudolph,
Britney's longtime manager.

He started in 1996 as her attorney
and then grew into her manager.

But, uh, in April of 2007,
Britney fired him.

Larry was the main person
that Jamie Spears brought back

to get things running,
and he's been her manager ever since.

And he often will say
that he's not involved

with the conservatorship
or that he doesn't know what goes on,

that he only knows
what goes on with Britney's work.

Louise Taylor, aka Lou,
led business decisions at times

over the course of the conservatorship.

Louise Taylor's husband, Rob Taylor,

is the pastor
of a church called Calvary Chapel.

Lou Taylor started appearing
around 2008,

before the conservatorship.

And we know this because
there is paparazzi footage of her

with Britney's father, Jamie.

And then she somehow managed
to become Britney's business manager.

She is a Christian, so they trusted her
a lot more because of that.

Lou Taylor,
through her attorney Charles Harder,

sent me a pre-emptive legal letter

regarding any mention of Lou Taylor
or her company, Tri Star, in this film.

The letter was extensive.

When I got this notice, I was alarmed.

But receiving a letter
from Lou Taylor or her attorney

was not unusual
for people involved in the story.

While Lou's involvement
with Britney wasn't clear,

what was apparent was
that Jamie and Lou were very close.

Some sleuthing of Instagram
showed Lou and her husband

with Jamie on the day
of his baptism at the Jordan River.

This is paperwork
relating to Britney's condition

at the start of the conservatorship.

It's... It's kind of a standard form

where you indicate
what the person's impairment is

that requires a conservatorship.

Specifically, this is interesting to us

because it's orders
related to dementia placement.

You don't usually see dementia mentioned
with, you know, with a young person.

This is one of the most important filings
in the entire conservatorship

because when someone is being made
a conservatee,

they're entitled to five days' heads-up,

so that if they want to contest it,
or find a lawyer, et cetera,

they have time to do that.

The only reason given
for depriving Britney of five days' notice

is that Sam Lutfi is dangerous
and needs to be kept away.

Don't push! Don't push.

Get off! Off! Off!

It was total crisis mode with Sam,

and that is something that I don't believe
has really been portrayed correctly,

is the level of crisis

at the moment
that the conservatorship began.

Are you going to get out?

Oh, my God,
please get the out of the way!

Now I'm scared you're gonna drive off
without me.

Now get out of the passenger seat,
get out of the car.

Get out, get out, get out. Thank you.

They felt they had to do it
to protect Britney from Sam.

We're sort of alluding to what happened,

that something dangerous
was happening with Sam.

What do you think was going to happen?

He was crushing drugs
and putting them in her food

- and bragging about it to...
- And you 100% believe that?

Yeah.

Drive my car,
that's what I got to do.

You have a hundred blood tests
and drug tests.

The entire time I was with her,
she passed every single one of them,

which is why the police never came
to my door.

No one called the police.

To be char...
Accused of allegations that serious,

that you're drugging the world's
biggest star, you call the police.

You call the FBI. You don't call TMZ.

- I was the perfect scapegoat.
- Why?

I was new. They didn't know who I was.

I was just an expendable guy.

Like, all right,
if that's what you need to get this done

and waive a five-day notice,
and explain a five-day notice,

it means that she would have been notified
that this was gonna happen,

and she would've had
the right to contest to it.

She would have obviously contested it.
They knew that, everyone knew that.

And so they had to do everything
to prevent that from happening.

Sam would later sue Lynne Spears,
Britney's mom,

for defamation based on her account
of his involvement.

Britney went with one
of her dad's appointed security guards...

out to get a hamburger.

As I am told,
they both entered the restaurant,

and Britney sort of did an about-face,

jumped into the car
that he had brought her in and took off.

Uh, she called me
and said that she needed help.

I met her and a friend of hers
at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

- Adnan Ghalib?
- Correct.

We called Adam.

He was a part of a firm
that I had a relationship with.

We were chased probably by,
I don't know, 50, 75 vehicles.

It is so mean.

We met in my office,
which was crazy,

'cause we had helicopters
swirling over the building.

There must have been a hundred paparazzi.

I sent down my secretary,

who brought a guy from the mailroom

who's like 6'6" and 250 pounds,

to help Britney get up
from the garage to my office.

Yes.

- I'm Adam's secretary.
- We gotta go.

Just follow me.

My secretary, Dolores Gameros,

who's like 5'4",
was elbowing everybody out of the way

and getting her through the crowd

and got her up to the office,
which was just an unbelievable sight.

But you can imagine what it is like
for anyone to have to go through that.

Don't kick me!

I can't tell you about what we talked
about, right? Because that's privileged.

But I can tell you what I told the court.

So we walk into court and I said,

"Your Honor, she doesn't want
her father to be the conservator."

"She wants an independent
to be the conservator."

She clearly understood
the concept of a conservatorship.

She understood what was going to happen.

She could make some decisions about it,
and let me say,

I'm not gonna say that in every case,
every conservatorship case,

it's inappropriate to have
a family member as the conservator.

That would be going too far.

But I will say that I generally prefer
to see an independent professional

as the conservator.

And the reason is that family
relationships are always complex.

When I told the judge what Britney wanted,

the judge looked at me and said,

"Mr. Streisand, I have a report
that says she does not have the capacity

to retain counsel
and have an attorney-client relationship."

"So I'm sorry, Mr. Streisand,

but you're not gonna be able
to represent her

and I need to ask you
to the leave the courtroom." And I did.

Can you give us a heads-up
on what happened here today?

No, I'm sorry.

- I've talked to the press.
- How's Britney?

There's no law that says that conservatees

have the right
to the attorney of their choice.

It's a hole in the system, for sure,

that allows the courts
to impose their own ideas

of what is the best representation
for the conservatee.

They have what's called
this volunteer panel of lawyers,

which basically means
that the lawyers volunteer.

Doesn't mean they're working for free.
Far from it.

But they volunteer
to get appointed by the court

to represent people like Britney,

people who are conservatees
or proposed conservatees.

I can't tell you what happened
in court after I left.

I don't know whether Sam Ingham,

who was appointed as her lawyer,
argued the way that I argued,

that the conservator
shouldn't be Britney's father.

I've got my suspicions.

I sure hope Sam Ingham
fought hard against, uh, against it,

but I never heard that he did.

We have very particular
standards for conservatorship.

You have to be unable to meet your needs

for food, clothing, health, and shelter.

So let me put it this way,

I've represented
dozens of conservatees in court,

not one of them has ever had a job.

Somebody called me from People
and they said,

"We're gonna write a story
in regards to her father

wanting conservatorship of Britney."

They basically, you know,
explained it in one sentence.

"He will be Britney Spears."
That's all they said.

I said, "What do you mean?
Britney Spears is still here."

"Nope. She no longer has rights
or say over anything."

"He does."

I'm like,
"Well, why would that be the case?"

"She's functioning."

I watched her write the Blackout album
on a Starbucks napkin

on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

I watched her sit there
and put the moves together.

And we're talking about, you know,

what colors to use
and, you know, the scenery,

and the change of scenery,
and the backdrop and costumes.

She did all that, and you're telling me

that her father's gonna get
a conservatorship?

It didn't make sense to me.

I'm from In Touch magazine.

Let me give you a fucking clue,
I don't talk to no-fucking-body.

Why don't you talk to us?

'Cause I never have to talk
to anybody, you dumb fuck.

The source said,

"This is a confidential report
only a select few have access."

"Most doctors and other professionals

have not been publicly connected
to the case

and would like to remain that way."

"The report was produced by a doctor
that resigned from the case in 2013."

Look at this sentence right here.
Read it out loud.

"Britney Spears lacks capacity
to retain and direct counsel."

"Britney Spears lacks the capacity
to understand or manage

her own financial affairs
without being subject to undue influence."

What's wild is, at the same time
this report was written,

Britney was back to work.

She was on the set
of How I Met Your Mother.

Sir, please don't yell at me,
because when people yell at me,

I have a tendency to start crying.

The episode was out within two
months of the conservatorship starting.

When they're rude to you,
hang up the phone.

Yet we have paperwork
that says she had dementia.

How is someone who is that ill
well enough to go to work?

"Caution should also be exercised

so as not to accelerate her return to work

faster than her emotional recovery allows,

lest she have a relapse that would undo
the progress she has made thus far."

The medical team said
that Britney lacked capacity,

but who was the original doctor
that made that decision?

In looking at the publicly available
court documents,

there was only one name
listed in the initial evaluation,

a Dr. J. Edward Spar.

I needed to confirm that he was the doctor

that conducted the medical evaluation
that kept the conservatorship in place.

We're ready for slate.

And what the justification was.

Dr. James, uh...

- Spar.
- Spar.

Take one, mark.

Thank you.

Dr. Spar, tell me about your work.

I am a retired, uh, geriatric psychiatrist

and still do the occasional consultation
for attorneys,

including, you know,
contested conservatorships sometimes.

Had you heard of
Britney Spears' music before you met her?

You know, uh, I'm not a fan.
I don't listen to music of that ilk.

But, yeah, I know who she is.

- Wait, before I met her?
- Yeah.

Oh, wait, I'm not going to acknowledge
that I've ever met her.

Do you specialize in dementia?

Well, I'm a geriatric psychiatrist,

so that's one of the things
that geriatric psychiatrists

spend a lot of time and energy on, yeah.

Is that why you were brought in
to evaluate Britney Spears?

I'm not going to verify that I was ever
brought in to evaluate Britney Spears.

So here is a court document

that said, uh,
"According to Dr. Spar's declaration."

Okay. Again, show me
my signed declaration.

If you show me a public document
with my signature on it,

I will verify my signature.

Other than that, I'm not gonna talk about

whether anybody ever retained me
to see anybody, not just Britney Spears.

These are confidential evaluations.

But you think, for the most part,

that conservatorships are, um,
mostly to help people?

The ones where I have been involved,

the person who's filing
for the conservatorship

believes that they are acting
in the interests

of their proposed conservatee.

They're trying to protect them
from something.

Usually,
most of the cases I've been involved in,

what they're trying to protect them from

is a predatory individual
after that person's money.

I get a phone call from her father.

And he's like,
"I need you to come home right now."

I said, "We'll come home
when we come home."

And he said,
"No, you need to bring her home now."

"I'm the conservator of her estate."

You know, he was always so extreme.
You know?

Let me explain to you
how fucking devastating it was

for me to pull up at the gates

and there's her father standing there,

four of the security, and two officers.

And they're standing there,
and she freaks out.

"What are they doing here?
Why are they here?"

"Why is my father at my house? Who are
these people? Why are the cops here?"

And she looks at me.

I'm supposed to be the one
that protects her.

And I'm trying to calm her down. I cannot.

I'm trying to explain to her,
"He is your conservator."

"Without his permission,
because he is you, I've kidnapped you."

"And it's that real."

She just looks. She doesn't talk anymore.
She's completely silent.

You know, they escort her into the house.

That's when the realization was,

"Okay, I don't think
things are gonna be the same."

As 2008 continued,
Britney had reportedly negotiated

50-50 custody of her kids.

The amount of time she spent with them

was subject to the approval
of her dad and conservator, Jamie.

Britney seemed to be recovering
from the events

that led to her hospitalization.

It was deemed by Britney, Inc.
that it was time to work,

and work she did.

It started with recording a new album,

and then the idea
of a tell-all documentary was proposed.

This MTV Film would be called
For the Record.

This was a new time
in Britney's professional life,

and it meant those that worked with her
would be carefully selected

by the conservatorship.

It was interesting going through
a lot of this with other creatives

and people who were sort of
from the outside.

I remember at one point talking amongst us

and realizing that, like,
there wasn't a single person

that was involved with that project

that didn't come out
feeling affected emotionally.

Like, not a single person.

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

and all that kind of stuff,

like, if that wasn't there, I'd feel
so liberated and feel like myself.

It's like... It's bad.

I'm sad.

The best thing for her is
what she's doing right now.

Let's give her...
She's in her element. She's in her world.

And, uh, keeping her busy.
You know, like me, I like to go fishing.

She likes to sing and dance.
She likes to work.

Are they gonna bring
something here or something?

- I have no idea what's going on.
- Yes, you do, brat.

- Does everybody know what we're doing?
- Yep.

- Except me.
- Except you.

Is that my car?

I was there that day,
and I remember,

like with almost everything, there were
these two polar opposite feelings.

Like, it was so nice for her
to get to drive her car

with the top down
and just feel free for a minute.

But on the other hand, I'm thinking,
like, what is going on with this girl

that we have to arrange...

Thirty people have
to arrange this whole thing

to let her drive her car
to feel free for 30 minutes?

Like, in what context?

Like... Like, how is that
how she gets to feel free?

The whole thing is fucked up. I'm sorry.

Britney and I had become close.

I could shoot her in a way that not
all the other camera people could.

Um, and so then we just developed
this sort of close-knit friendship.

There were times she'd ask me for help,

whether it was questions
about legal issues

or, you know,
stuff about conservatorships.

Um, and I would usually try
and deflect these things

because if I didn't have an answer,

I didn't want to give her
any wrong information.

Um, but I know that there were times
that she did want to speak out

and address things
and wasn't really able to.

This People article came out.

I think they had interviewed Kevin
and obviously talked about Britney.

And there was stuff
she didn't really agree with.

And it's like she wanted to respond to it.

And so, yeah, she wrote this letter
and she gave it to me

and she was like,
"Can you read this on TV?"

"What happened to Britney was a year ago
and people need to get with the times."

"And as for Kevin
saying Britney divorced him,

she was forced to by her lawyers
because she went to visit him in New York,

and he wouldn't see her and the children."

"And her lawyer said if she doesn't
divorce him, he's gonna do it himself."

"So, Kevin trying to play
the innocent victim is hardly irrelevant."

"He left her and the babies."

"Her going on the mend,
partying two years ago,

has nothing to do with the situation now."

"She's a different person, and most
of their fighting was done back then

because of his problem waking and baking
to marijuana at 5:00 in the morning."

"No one talks about these things
because no one knows the truth."

"She was lied to and set up."

"Her children were taken away
and she did spin out of control,

which any mother would
in those circumstances."

"This year, Britney's been silenced to
speak out about anything that's going on."

"The people controlling her life
have made $3 million this year."

"She would love for new eyes
to see her situation,

but if she brings it up,
she's constantly threatened

that the conservators
will take her kids away."

"So how long does this go on for?"

"As long as the people are getting paid
and she has no rights,

it could go on for a while,
but it doesn't make it right at all."

"Britney's given her brother
a $2 million apartment,

her mother an estate in Louisiana,

and her father
the best job in show business."

"She's a very giving person and would love
to get the respect she deserves."

It was an emotional response
to the article coming out,

and it is like her first response.

For me not to read it all on TV
right away was also saying,

why don't you just take a couple days
and cool down from this?

And then a couple days later,
maybe we can revisit it.

Things like this would happen often,
not necessarily like this letter,

but like trying to use my phone
to call people.

Those are the things you had
to look out for and steer her away from.

And then, a couple days later,
I got a phone call from the lawyers.

The letter had some, you know,
some information that would be really bad

if it came out or something like that.

And so, all of a sudden, the letter turned
into a much bigger thing.

And then, you know, I just brought it in
and showed it to them, and that was that.

But you had enough foresight
to copy the letter?

I wouldn't call it foresight.

I think that when she gave it to me,
we took a picture of it

because I didn't want
to actually carry the letter.

And what was that experience like for you?

I mean, again, like,
I always just felt bad for her.

I felt bad that, like,
this was her reality and her world,

where she gave me a letter,
and then, all of a sudden,

this huge fire alarm goes off.

It's crazy. All she wanted to do
was respond to an article.

How much longer did you work
with Britney after that?

It was pretty shortly after that
that I stopped working with her.

I think at that point it was obvious that
we were close and pretty good friends.

Um...

I mean, this was coming after I was
her date for her brother's wedding.

And, you know, we had developed,
you know, I think just like a good trust.

And maybe we were too close at that point.

And so, yeah,
shortly after that, I got removed.

I actually... I don't think
I've spoken to her since.

And Britney had met a bunch of my friends.

You know? She had, you know,
like sort of come into my life.

And, you know, it was just sad to think
that she was gonna be alone again.

In January of 2009,
I went to L.A. for the winter,

and I had made contact with Sam Lutfi.

He'd been a good background source
for the Rolling Stone cover story,

and we had kept in touch
even after it came out.

Then he told me about the fact
that he and Adnan had been trying

to come up with a plan
to help her find a different lawyer.

She still, in January of 2009,

still wanted a different lawyer
if she could get one.

This was a full year
of the conservatorship

supposedly having saved her life.

They had been talking to different lawyers

who thought that if they could get her
to sign this document

saying why she wanted a new lawyer
and why she wanted the specific lawyer

that that would be something
that would just have to happen then

and there would be no way to refute it.

At that time, Sam and Adnan
were persona non grata.

They had been completely forbidden
from having access to Britney.

And within days of me arriving in L.A.,

Sam started talking about trying
to get her to sign this thing

and trying to find someone
who might get her to sign.

I can't say there was a specific moment
that convinced me to do it.

Of course, I was concerned about being
a participant in the story

I was trying to cover objectively.

But, at that point, I had known
Britney Spears for a decade almost,

so I cared about her in a human way that
there was no denying it at that point,

that I could be more useful
as a Good Samaritan almost

than another journalist trying
to cover the story.

Anything to say
about the conservatorship today?

Sam explained to me
that I would need to go to the Montage

and she would be waiting for me.

And she would know
to come meet me in the bathroom.

I just walked in thinking,
"Pretend I'm a guest."

I took the elevator up and I walked out
and I saw Edon, her security guard,

up there and maybe one other,
like, security-looking dude.

She was just in the pool by herself.
Just leaning on the edge of the pool.

Um, and I kind of gave her
a little side-eye and saw her see me,

and then went into this small bathroom.

I went into the stall, closed the door,
and got the papers and the pen ready,

and saw her tattoo
on her foot or ankle or whatever it is,

and opened the door and I showed her
the spots where she needed to sign.

And she signed and looked at me
and said, "Thank you."

And I said...

I said, "I'll see you again. Go."

Yeah, she definitely seemed scared.
It was hard to tell 'cause I was scared.

But she was appreciative, which was,
like, such classic kind of her vibe to be,

in that moment to be scared
but to also be grateful, you know?

I thought the documents were
gonna be delivered right away.

I was told there would be
an ex parte hearing to address this,

but then days passed

and Britney was supposed
to go on a trip somewhere with her dad.

And we thought that when he sees
that she signed it,

he'll know that things are gonna change.

I couldn't believe it when I found out,
about a week later,

that it was all over and that, similar to
what had happened with Adam Streisand,

that it had been ruled

that she lacked
the capacity to choose a lawyer

and that they had cast enough doubt
on to whether that was her signature.

I never heard anything of it again.

No one ever talked about it again,

and still no one really talks
about the fact

that there was another attempt
to get a lawyer

that somehow didn't work out.

But someone else knew
about the incident at the Montage.

Seven days after Britney signed the papers
saying she wanted new representation,

the court-appointed lawyer
for the conservatorship, Sam Ingham,

stated that Britney told him
she'd met with a reporter

from Rolling Stone to sign documents
about acquiring new counsel.

He went on to say,
"Britney does not wish to do that,"

and asked him to do whatever is necessary
to "squash the document."

She further stated that she was,

"Fully satisfied
with my representation of her."

That same day, the attorney she had tried
to hire, John Anderson, withdrew, stating,

"I can say no more; will do no more."
And, "That is the end for me."

It was another time that Britney had tried
to seek her own representation

and it failed.

It's the conservatee's attorney
is the one person in this system

who is tasked with making
the conservatee's best case

for whatever the conservatee wants.

I've seen so many instances
where those attorneys

are not representing
what their clients want.

Keep in mind that the only way
that Sam Ingham gets paid

is he has to file a petition
with the court,

and then the conservator have
the right to object

to him getting paid
or the fees he's asking for.

Obviously, there is
a natural tendency to say,

"Well, I certainly don't want
to be pissing off the people

who are gonna have the ability
to object to me getting paid."

What is your reaction to knowing
that a court-appointed attorney

is making over 3 million dollars,
like as... In this position?

My reaction is that he's on a gravy train
and he'll ride it all the way to the end.

Are you concerned
for Britney's mental health?

By early 2009,

Jamie Spears asked that the temporary
conservatorship of his daughter

be made permanent.

And there was a range
of new specific powers and privileges

that would be given
to the conservatorship,

spanning from using funds from the estate
to pay for a car for Jamie...

to giving him more complete control
over Britney's personal finances.

Perhaps most importantly, though,
the permanent conservatorship

would allow Jamie to pursue professional
opportunities available to Britney

once they're approved by her medical team.

Britney was preparing for a huge tour,

whatever concerns
the conservatorship's medical team had

about her health and overworking
seemed to be forgotten.

First off, ticket sales
are going phenomenally well.

Sales have generated about 40 million.

Second, there seems
to be an opportunity to add two shows

at the end of the U.S. leg
on very attractive financial terms.

So this is before the Circus tour.

They don't even know yet
if she's gonna be, like, okay to tour,

- but they're adding more dates.
- Right.

They went from temporary conservatorship
to permanent conservatorship,

and Circus was that year.

So us noting that there was
financial incentives for Larry, for Jamie,

for the lawyers to get her working,
A, but get her working more.

The Circus tour was performed
over the course of nine months

and totaled 70 shows spanning the world.

I've had people tell me
that there were conversations explicitly

about how quickly she could come back.

They probably felt like it was important

to show her looking healthy and okay
as quickly as possible

to prove that what they decided to do
was the right decision.

Britney!

Britney!

There's nothing relaxing
about being on a tour.

Flying all over the world,

being in different countries
every few days.

Are you sick
of your dad being conservator?

I can only imagine how stressful
and challenging that might be for her.

Was she in the right mental state
to put all that time and energy

into doing a whole...? Revamping her
entire career and doing this comeback?

It's like, that's hard.

We've had, on background, conversations
with people who were on the tour.

They said it was a mess.
They said it was bad for Britney's health.

The conservatorship stated
that they had successfully added

financial growth
and stability to Britney's life.

"Her main focus,
almost to the point of obsession,

was getting more time with her children."

"Her second preoccupation was
whether the conservatorship would end

and whether her father Jamie Spears would
be more lenient with her privileges."

Oh, man. She gets an allowance,
she's got "privileges,"

and her daddy is in charge.

That's the patriarchy.

In 2009,
Britney had a new boyfriend.

It was her agent, Jason Trawick.

You need to go over there.

If you don't go over, we're gonna leave.
Y'all ain't gonna get no pictures.

By the fall of 2011,

he was featured
in Britney's music video "Criminal."

Jason, newly buff,
played her outlaw boyfriend.

- You okay?
- Yeah.

Wait.

Now I'm okay.

Jason was, like, a very smart,
very sweet, very caring...

Like, he was one of the guys
that I would confide in,

and we would talk
about all that was happening.

We both had an objective point of view

because, at the time, neither of us
were dating her or engaged to her

or anything like that.

♪ 'Cause mama I'm in love
With a criminal ♪

♪ And this type of love isn't rational ♪

To see the role that he transitioned into,

I mean, again, it's like,
I never would've seen that coming.

Bet you know what that means.

Britney!

So this is from a doctor
with the conservatorship to Sam Ingham.

"I had an interview
and assessment session with Jason."

"I found him to be forthcoming and open,
though fearful that whatever he said

might be held against him
or place him at odds with others

with whom he might need
to get along in the future."

"He appears to be genuinely
in love with Britney."

"His philosophy is Britney will have
to learn to live without a conservator."

"He feels that the present arrangement
is too constrictive."

"Jason states inconveniences
Britney has to go through

under the conservatorship."

"For example, they wanted to drive
within a gated community on a golf cart,

but have to ask permission each time."

"If they want to go out
to a hamburger joint,

they have to call for permission and wait
20 minutes or more for an answer."

"If Britney needs a few hundred dollars
to buy books for her kids,

she has to ask
and wait a few days for an answer."

This was right after Britney finished
the huge, giant tour.

That was Femme Fatale.

What the fuck?

Look at the next page.

"Toward the end of the tour,

significant tensions arose between
Jamie Spears,

Britney's father and conservator,
and Britney."

Right, and then look at this.

"Britney began to complain
about Jamie's drinking."

"She is especially adamant
that Jamie be punished."

"This seems to be a lightning rod
for all of her complaints

about the conservatorship itself."

"In a simple way, she feels that
if she is drug tested, so should he be."

"If she were to suffer a great penalty,
like losing her kids,

if she tested positive,

he should suffer an equally
great penalty for his drinking."

And this is again, the most sort of,
some of the most damning stuff.

"Britney wants to come off
the conservatorship."

"At times, she seems to understand
the benefits of the conservatorship."

"She indicates she would go along
with the conservatorship of the estate,

but mostly she wants to end
the conservatorship of the person."

The conservatorship has maintained
Britney has never once asked for it

to be terminated
and that if it was that bad,

she would tell people about it.

But we have here in evidence that
she wanted out of the conservatorship,

that she was vocalizing that need,
and that it was ignored.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

Really?

In December 2011,
Britney and Jason became engaged.

Four months later, she requested
Jason be added as her conservator.

But instead of Jason replacing Jamie,

the court ruled
in what could be considered a compromise.

Jason Trawick and Jamie
are made co-conservators

versus Jamie being removed.

Which just feels so weird.

At the time,
I thought that it was interesting

that Jamie would give over
even that small amount of control

to someone theoretically new
or a non-family member.

With her father and fiancé
as co-conservators of her person,

Britney inked a reported $15 million deal
to judge X Factor.

Behind the scenes,
confidential reports given to us

showed that the conservatorship
was in chaos.

The medical team thought that X Factor
put undue pressure on Britney,

whereas her management said
that withdrawing would be just as bad

as a publicly observed meltdown.

Under intense pressure
from Britney's management,

the medical team cautiously
approved Britney's participation,

but said there would be strict guidelines
for their approval to stay in place,

which included that Jason Trawick's
presence was, quote, "mandatory."

And then the big bombshell is
that we have direct evidence

that her medication,
the medication that she liked to take,

was increased if she worked.

There's different dosages on,

quote-unquote,
"non-work days and work days."

Look at the next page.

"On the one hand,
Jamie and the team

valued the benefits of stimulants
for Britney's performance."

"This had been the case for her tours
and for her participation on X Factor."

"By the same token, Jamie wanted
B ritney not to take stimulants."

"This contradiction
has not been resolved."

From the public's perspective,

Britney's performance
on The X Factor was a success.

Less than a year later, though,
Britney and Jason would break up,

making Jamie the sole conservator
of the person once again.

"On the subject
of X Factor itself,

there is estimated to be a 50-50 chance
they will invite her to return,

but at this time
it appears that she would decline."

"Instead, her current plan is
to create a Las Vegas-style revue

to perform at a Las Vegas hotel
over three- or four-day weekend dates

once or twice a month."

What does it say right after that?

"I believe this is
an appropriate career move

from the perspective
of her psychiatric condition."

It's so hot.

Okay, so...

being single for a year...

Yeah!

...has been very, very, very profound.

And I feel like
all men should suck my toe.

Britney's Vegas residency
started in 2013,

and it was called Piece of Me.

The show would span five years
and culminate in a world tour.

Very little is known about
Britney's life during this time period.

The conservatorship kept
her inner circle very small.

Candid Britney interviews were rare.

Unguarded public moments
only seemed to happen

when she was talking to her audience.

Honestly, without the music,
just the mic, it kind of feels illegal.

Like it's quiet right now, and it...

It feels kind of illegal doing this
with this mic in my hand now.

It feels so weird.

Okay, so the press and the media,
my whole life, it's really crazy,

'cause one minute they tear you down
and they're really horrible,

and the next minute,
you're on top of the world you know?

But I just want to make sure

I keep handing you motherfuckers
something to talk about, okay?

What was it like going
to the Vegas show?

When she found out I was there,
she wanted to see me backstage.

And it was like we both just immediately
just embraced and just cried,

just sat there and cried and locked arms.

We hadn't seen each other in years,
hadn't spoken.

And when I saw her,
it's like something in her eyes,

it was like the old Britney,
I guess you can say.

It was as if we were right back
to where we were many, many years before.

I think that's why
we both broke down and cried.

And her bodyguard
walked me back to my seat,

and he said to me,
I remember this, he said, um...

He goes, "I don't know
what you just did to her

and what your relationship was like,
but can you come back more?"

"In the nine years I've worked for her,
I've never seen her smile like that."

There aren't a lot of people in her life
that are from those days.

It's myself, Felicia
and a couple other people.

I got called back to do Circus Tour,
Femme Fatale,

and then the four years in Vegas.

I had much less contact with her.

But I made sure, every show,
she knew I was there.

And then did she continue
to love performing?

I mean, it's such an intense schedule.

What was her relationship like
with performing?

Britney loved performing.

Hands down,
still to this second, loves performing.

Um...

I think that's probably as much
as I can say about that.

Sorry.

I don't want to fight with them.
It's not worth it to me.

I'm sorry.

The one thing we know for sure
is that Britney worked almost nonstop

and made other people a lot of money.

All right, everyone. We are
here to welcome the new queen of Vegas!

In January 2019, Britney announced
a new Vegas residency.

It would be called Domination.

Ladies and gentlemen, Britney Spears!

When she walked dow n the red carpet,

it felt like she was almost
about to say something.

But then she didn't.

Three months later, via Instagram,

Britney would cancel the show,
citing family health concerns.

And the world was watching.

That was a huge moment when
the fan community began to suspect

that something weird was going on in 2019.

There was even, like, missing posters
being shared around social media.

Kind of as a joke, but also like
we literally haven't seen her

in, like, weeks, if not months.

And cut to April 2019,

we find out that Britney was placed into
a mental health facility against her will.

That's what is believed, and she was being
given medication she did not wanna take.

I know that there are a lot of voices

I've heard from many different quarters

that Britney is being held as a prisoner,
in effect, against her will.

And when I've been asked
do I think that's accurate,

I think you have to say to yourself

it's not as if Los Angeles is
some type of fascist gulag,

where, in order to get a message
to the outside world,

you have to write it down
on a piece of birch bark and in code,

then throw it over an electrified fence
to an unsuspecting gardener.

If she wanted to get a message out
as far as being held against her will,

I can't even imagine
the numbers of ways she can do that.

Eventually, Britney resurfaced
via an Instagram video.

Hi, guys. Just checking in with all of you
who are concerned. All is well.

My family has been going through
a lot of stress and anxiety lately,

so I just needed time to deal.
Don't worry, I'll be back very soon.

The video only increased
public speculation.

What was going on
inside the conservatorship,

and why was she in one
if she was, quote, "okay"?

We know that in summer of 2019,

after there was already beginning to be
some chaos in the conservatorship

for the first time in more than a decade,
that there was an incident

where a confrontation occurred
between Jamie and one of Britney's sons.

And Kevin Federline, you know,
his father and Britney's ex,

had a restraining order filed
against Jamie,

such that he's not allowed
to be in the presence of the children

for a specified period of years.

What's been in public record
is there was an altercation,

a door was broken down,
one of her sons was shaken.

Um, the restraining order was based
on an unauthorized...

Uh, let's just say
it had to do with conduct

that put the children
in fear of their safety.

How did a door get broken?

Um...

I think a door was slammed in some regard,

and, uh, it caused the door to come off
the hinge or something in that regard.

At the end of 2019,

Lou Taylor resurfaced in court documents.

She had e-mailed Jamie,
saying her company, Tri Star,

had lost $400,000 in billing in 2019

for work as Britney's business manager.

She requested a minimum of $500,000.

Yet it was a time
when Britney wasn't working.

When Jamie was sent a bill
the month later,

he paid the funds the next day.

This is what Jamie Spears, in July 2020,

said of Britney Spears,

of the conservatorship
and the need for it.

Why don't we do here?

"James P. Spears respectfully submits
this status update

to provide information in advance of
and regarding some of the topics

that were addressed at the last hearing."

"The conservatee, Britney, has refused
to engage in any business activities,

including making a non-performing
appearance at a local pop-up store

dedicated to the conservatee,
where minimal effort was required,

resulting in the estate being required
to refund the advance it had received

in the amount of $1 million."

"The conservatee's lack
of cooperation

in her own financial well-being

and preservation of her continued stature
as an iconic artist

has deteriorated rather than improved."

"As a result
of the conservatee's trajectory,

Mr. Spears has been working
to establish a model

where Ms. Spear's
current lifestyle can be preserved

and her needs met
based solely on passive income."

"Given the state of the economy

and this enormous cost
of maintaining her lifestyle,

this is a tall order."

Her lifestyle,
which includes all these legal bills.

All of these interviews
and all of these hours talking to her

and describing her
and criticizing her and limiting her,

and none of this led to anything.

It just all stayed the same.

They could go into court a million times,
keep doing hearing after hearing,

filing after filing,
and analysis after analysis,

and never change anything,
and she's still in this situation.

- How do you get out?
- I just...

You don't get out until you scream.

If you were able to speak to her,
what would you tell her?

What would you say?

I feel like,
maybe I'd apologize.

I feel like I didn't, you know, do enough,

and maybe I would just... let her know

that I felt bad about
not being able to help more.

I don't understand how the legal system
has let this go on for so long.

Maybe it's like the first one of its kind
and they don't know how to handle it,

but it seems like it's an epic fail
of the legal system

that this has gone on for so long

and that there's been no resolution even.

It just seems like it keeps getting worse.

It feels like something's gonna happen.
Definitely, something's gonna happen.

- What do we want?
- Free Britney!

- When do we want it?
- Now!

- What do we want?
- Free Britney!

- When do we want it?
- Now!

So you're in?

It's not playing anything.

It's 4:30.

This is us trying
to get into the court hearing.

Free Britney now!

Today will be the first time
she will speak.

At stake is control
of the 39-year-old singer's career

and $60 million fortune.

Going through introductions-
slash-formalities, Britney says, quote,

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

I don't think I was heard on any level
when I came to court the last time.

I brought four sheets of paper in my hand
and wrote in length

what I had been through
the last four months before I came there.

The people who did that to me
should not be able to walk away so easily.

I'll recap.

I was on tour.
My management said if I don't do this,

I will have to find an attorney,
and by contract,

my own management could sue me
if I didn't follow through with the tour.

It was very threatening and scary,

and with the conservatorship,
I couldn't even get my own attorney.

So, out of fear,
I went ahead and I did the tour.

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

'cause I'd been doing Vegas for four years
and I needed a break in between.

But, no, I was told, "This is the timeline
and this is how it's gonna go."

I was basically directing
most of the show.

I taught my dancers
my new choreography myself.

I wasn't good. I was great.

They said, if I don't want to do
the new Vegas show, I don't have to.

It was like lifting,
literally, 200 pounds off of me.

He immediately, the next day,
put me on lithium out of nowhere.

He took me off my normal meds
I'd been on for five years.

And lithium is a very, very strong
and completely different medication

compared to what I was used to.

Not only did my family not do
a goddamn thing,

my dad was all for it.

He loved every minute of it.

The control he had over someone
as powerful as me...

100,000% he loved it.

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 happy,

it's a lie.

I thought maybe I said that enough,
maybe I might become happy

because I've been in denial,
I've been in shock.

I am traumatized.

But now I'm telling you the truth.

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

I'm so angry, it's insane.
And I'm depressed. I cry every day.

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.

Ma'am, my dad and anyone involved
in this conservatorship should be in jail.

The last time I spoke to you,
it made me feel like I was dead,

like I didn't matter.

I'm telling you this again,
so maybe you can understand the depth

and the degree and the damage
that they did to me back then.

It's embarrassing and demoralizing
what I've been through,

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

And I didn't want to say it openly

'cause I honestly didn't think
anyone would believe me.

I just want my life back.
It's been 13 years and it's enough.

It makes no sense whatsoever
for the state of California to sit back

and literally watch me make a living
for so many people

and be told I'm not good enough.

But I'm great at what I do.

Britney, Britney, Britney!

I feel ganged up on, and I feel bullied,

and I feel left out and alone.

And I'm tired of feeling alone.

I deserve to have the same rights
as anybody does

by having a child,
a family, any of those things.

That's all I wanted to say to you,

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