Free Britney campaigner now says it was WRONG to finish Spears’ conservatorship because it emerges singer ‘fired her sober coaches’ shortly earlier than DUI arrest
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A former Free Britney campaigner has said she now believes it was the wrong idea to end Spears’ conservatorship – five years after the singer was freed from the controversial arrangement.
On November 12, 2021, Britney celebrated ‘the best day ever’ as a judge ruled that her father Jamie would no longer have control of her finances, career and personal liberties – a move he insisted was to protect her wellbeing, yet she claimed was ‘abusive.’
Yet since then, the singer has been embroiled in a series of scandals, with fans voicing concerns over her erratic behaviour.
The latest incident occurred on on Wednesday, when Britney was arrested for DUI [driving under the influence].
Britney, 44, was taken into custody by the California Highway Patrol after driving erratically in a harrowing hour-long chase and allegedly ‘showed signs of impairment’.
It has since been claimed that shortly before the DUI arrest, Britney had fired her ‘sober coaches’, following a report in 2024 that she had gone sober after suffering a panic attack while drinking.
Now, one of the advocates who was a prominent force in the #FreeBritney movement, has shared her regret at helping to bring the conservatorship to an end, confessing she ‘wasn’t surprised but was concerned’ to learn of Britney’s DUI arrest.
A former Free Britney campaigner has said she now believes it was the wrong idea to end Spears’ conservatorship afer the singer’s DUI arrest this week which followed on from a series of erratic social media posts, including dancing with knives
Speaking to TMZ, Jessica – who is known for her online presence under the handle realiteatv3 – explained: ‘At first, I was very supportive of the #FreeBritney movement.
‘I thought she deserved her autonomy and freedom just like anyone else. And then when it ended, we started to see things that made me think, “Ok, maybe this isn’t as black and white as I thought it was.”
‘There’s a reason why this conservatorship was put in place. Just with her life… dancing with knives on social media… it made me think that something is not right here.’
Jessica went on to claim that a conservatorship was what Britney ‘needed’ but that her father shouldn’t be allowed to take control again, suggesting an independent party should be overseeing it.
She confessed that she felt partly responsible for Britney being released from her conservatorship, noting that she believes roughly 50 percent of the #FreeBritney team also regretted the campaign.
Yet it’s hardly surprising that the #FreeBritney campaign gained such momentum, noting the singer compared being under conservatorship to being a ‘sex trafficking victim’, revealed that she was made to work against her will, forced into taking birth control and had no control over seeing her sons or friends.
Having heard Britney’s emotive testimony it was hard not to sympathise, after all who would want to think of the princess of pop locked away in an ivory tower with no autonomy?
Yet hindsight is a wonderful thing, and following on from the fateful ruling, it looks like cutting Britney off from her only support system was misguided.
Britney did at points have support by her side – hiring sobriety coaches and security guards to keep her safe.
However, sources told told TMZ that Britney fired a team shortly after signing a deal selling her rights to her music.
Daily Mail has contacted Britney’s representatives for comment.
The #FreeBritney advocate claimed that roughly 50 percent of the team also regretted the campaign they staged to end the singer’s conservatorship (pictured: Free Britney campaigners in 2021)
So where did it all go wrong for Britney?
Having regained control of her social media in 2021, eyebrows were raised when Britney immediately began stripping off for nude selfies and filming herself dancing with a vacant expression.
Her sons Sean Preston, 20, and Jayden James, 19, were said to be ’embarrassed’ by her behaviour and in a tell-all interview alongside their father they soon declared that despite a conservatorship no longer dictating when they could see her, they were were in no rush to meet up.
Jayden admitted ‘it will take a lot of time and effort’ to repair their relationship, explaining: ‘I just want her to get better mentally. When she gets better I really want to see her again.’
Britney responded in fiery fashion that day with a freewheeling Instagram tirade in which she goaded Jayden to ‘learn to pick up a book and read one before you resort to even thinking about my intellect sweetheart !!!’
It was clear tensions were frayed between the trio when her sons did not attend her wedding to Sam Asghari, 32, earlier in the year.
That union had also raised eyebrows among her inner circle.
Sam began dating Britney in October 2016 after he was cast as her love interest in the music video for Slumber Party. In October 2021, amid her legal battle to end her conservatorship, they announced their engagement.
Five months after Britney’s conservatorship came to an end – in which she had been made to wear an IUD contraceptive device – Britney announced she was pregnant with the couple’s first child.
She shared the news in April 2022 but a month later she wrote on Instagram that she had sadly lost the ‘miracle baby’ which they both longed for. She said that they would keep on trying for a child.
Two months later, the couple were married at her home in Thousand Oaks.
At the wedding itself there were signs that this wasn’t a conventional union.
The first dance, traditionally a bride and groom only affair, was instead Britney plus Madonna and Selena Gomez dancing to the bride’s hit Toxic.
It seemed to set the scene for marital life, with the couple splitting just a year later and citing ‘irreconcilable differences’.
Britney, thankfully, had taken on Octavia’s advice and signed a pre-nup, yet is said to be paying around $10,000 per month for him to live in a high-rise apartment in Los Angeles. Their divorce is yet to be finalised.
Britney wed model and dancer Sam Asghari in 2022 but the couple divorced two years later. She was also said to be pregnant with his child but had lost the baby (pictured in 2018)
While she found herself facing heartbreak and loss, Britney’s newfound conservatorship freedom did allow her to revive her much-loved music career.
She teamed up with Elton John to release Hold Me Closer – her first song in six years – and a remix of Elton’s classic Tiny Dancer.
Fans went wild for the track, sending it straight to No. 1 in 35 countries, while Elton expressed its hopes that the success would ‘restore Britney’s confidence’, noting she’d been left ‘broken’ by her conservatorship.
However the eccentric dancing videos, pointed digs at family members and nude selfies continued, ultimately prompting the police to perform a welfare check on the singer.
Later that year, Britney was able to have her say as she released The Woman in Me, an explosive memoir about her life in the spotlight and her troubles hidden in the shadows.
It included accounts of the conservatorship that for years granted her father control of much of her life and her revelation that she had an abortion while dating Justin Timberlake more than 20 years ago.
She shared a statement on Instagram in which she explained that she had no intentions to ‘offend anyone’ in regards to her memoir, adding she has ‘moved on and it’s a beautiful clean slate from here !!!’
A bidding war was then said to have erupted between major studio over the rights to adapt the memoir into a film, TV series or documentary.
Having aired her thoughts in the memoir, Britney stayed mainly out of the spotlight in the beginning of 2024.
She hit headlines again in April when it emerged she had settled the lingering issues in the court conservatorship controlled by her father.
Several elements had remained and dragged on in court, including final payments to the attorneys who helped operate the conservatorship.
Britney’s attorney Mathew Rosengart had also sought a public reckoning over what he said was financial malfeasance by Jamie and allegations of excessive surveillance of Briney.
All of that was then dispensed with in the settlement whose terms were not disclosed in a series of filings, one of which said Jamie had been ‘fully and finally discharged as Former Conservator of the Estate.’
Britney’s lawyer said in a statement: ‘Although the conservatorship was terminated in November, 2021, her wish for freedom is now truly complete.
‘As she desired, her freedom now includes that she will no longer need to attend or be involved with court or entangled with legal proceedings in this matter.
‘It has been our honor and privilege to represent, protect, and defend Britney Spears.’
Britney is pictured with her father Jamie, brother Bryan and mother Lynne in 2006
However, the following month, fears were raised for Britney after she was pictured barefoot and topless, clutching a blanket to protect her modesty, outside a 5-star Los Angeles hotel.
The Chateau Marmont incident came shortly after the finalization of her third divorce, from model Sam, who she’d described just months before in her memoir as ‘a gift from God’.
Britney had quickly rebounded to a new lover, a housekeeper and convicted felon – Paul Richard Soliz – who was with her at the Chateau Marmont, where fellow guests described how the singer was screaming ‘out of control’ before cops were called.
The singer then retreated from the public eye again and by November it was claimed she had sworn off ‘toxic’ men and gone sober, making her new focus rebuilding her relationship with her sons.
Yet last month she raised eyebrows again when it was reported she had inked a sweeping $200 million deal with publishing powerhouse Primary Wave, a staggering figure that immediately set tongues wagging.
Insiders told the Daily Mail the move was driven in part by her ‘heavy spending,’ while others suggested it may signal a sobering reality: that her chart-topping music career could already be in the rearview mirror.
While a growing number of celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon have cashed in by selling their back catalogue, the move was said to have alarmed her family.
On Wednesday, Britney’s loved ones were undoubtedly concerned when she was arrested for a DUI.
According to CHP, Spears was arrested on ‘suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs.’
However, they said that chemical tests to further determine any substances that she may have been using are still pending.
Britney’s representatives released a statement in response to the arrest to Daily Mail which read: ‘This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable.
‘Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life.
‘Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.
‘Her boys are going to be spending time with her. Her loved ones are going to come up with an overdue needed plan to set her up for success for well being.’
Britney was initially entered into the conservatorship on February 1, 2008 after she refused to relinquish custody of her sons to ex Kevin Federline and she was committed to the psych ward (pictured January 2008 at a hearing regarding visitation rights for her sons)
Britney was initially entered into her conservatorship on February 1, 2008, with Judge Reva Goetz placing her father Jamie and attorney Andrew M. Wallet, as conservators.
This happened when she refused to relinquish custody of her sons to ex Kevin Federline and she was committed to the psych ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold.
She continued to work and release albums throughout her time in the conservatorship, though she entered a psychiatric ward again in 2019 due to stress from her father Jamie’s near-fatal colon rupture.
The #FreeBritney campaign began to gain momentum in 2020 and the following year The New York Times’ Emmy-nominated television documentary Framing Britney Spears only snowballed the public outcry at her conservatorship.
