Britney Spears says the conservatorship she was under for 13 years was “demoralizing and degrading” but she is determined not to be a victim.
“I’m just grateful, honestly, for each day,” the pop star said in a video posted on social media, “and being able to have the keys to my car, and being able to be independent and feel like a woman and owning an ATM card, seeing cash for the first time, being able to buy candles.
“It’s the little things for us women but it makes a huge difference and I’m grateful for that. It’s nice, it’s really nice.”
At a hearing last Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, judge Brenda Penny ruled that the conservatorship will be terminated and the pop superstar can begin making her own medical, financial and personal decisions. Spears spent 5,034 days under the court-ordered conservatorship, following a mental health crisis.
Even as fans around the world pleaded for her freedom, she did not formally seek to terminate the conservatorship until Sept. 22, 2021.
Spears said 13 years is “a really long time to be in a situation you don’t want to be in” but she insisted “I’m not here to be a victim.”
She explained: “I lived with victims my whole life as a child. That’s why I got out of my house and I worked for 20 years and worked my ass off. I’m here to be an advocate for people with real disabilities and illnesses.
“I’m a very strong woman, so I can only imagine what the system has done to those people. Hopefully, my little story – my story – will make an impact and make some changes in the corrupt system.”
Spears hinted that she may tell her story to Oprah Winfrey, who recently did prime time specials with Adele and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
“I might as well do a hint of my thoughts on the gram before I go and set things square on @Oprah,” she captioned the video, before taking direct aim at her family. “It still blows my mind every day I wake up how my family and the conservatorship were able to do what they did to me … it was demoralizing and degrading !!!! I’m not even mentioning all the bad things they did to me which they should all be in jail for … yes including my church going mother !!!! I’m used to keeping peace for the family and keeping my mouth shut … but not this time … I have NOT FORGOTTEN and I hope they can look up tonight and know EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN !!!!”
Britney Spears: iHeartRadio.ca Music News Coverage
In her video message, Spears thanked the #FreeBritney movement. “My voice was muted and threatened for so long and I wasn’t able to speak up or say anything,” she said, “and because of you guys and the awareness of kind of knowing what was going on and delivering that news to the public for so long, you gave awareness to all of them.
“Because of you, I honestly think you guys saved my life, in a way. 100 per cent.”
Spears ended her message with: “Let’s move forward.”
Earlier, the singer – who got engaged to Sam Asghari in September – said in an Instagram post: “I'm thinking about having another baby !!!”
In June, when Spears begged to end the conservatorship, she said: “I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby. I have an [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."