Britney Spears Opened Up About Her "Degrading" Conservatorship

(Image credit: Getty/Kevin Winter)

published 17 November 2021

The conditions of Britney Spears' conservatorship are incredibly difficult to hear about, so I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for her living under them.

After shedding light on all the freedoms she was denied during hearings in recent months, Spears is now opening up about how life is changing for her now that she's free at last.

"I've been in the conservatorship for thirteen years," she said in a new Instagram video, before taking a pause. With her voice breaking, she continued, "It's a really long time to be in a situation you don't want to be in, so I'm just grateful, honestly, for each day, and being able to have the keys to my car, and being able to be independent, 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."

Spears also shared her gratitude for being able to give a voice to those who have been in similar situations, and for all the fans who helped accelerate her release from the conservatorship. "Hopefully my story will make an impact, and make some changes in the corrupt system," she said. "And the #FreeBritney movement, you guys rock, honestly. My voice was muted and threatened for so long, and I wasn't able to speak up or say anything, 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 ... and because of you, I honestly think you guys saved my life."

In her caption, Spears explained, "I do know how embarrassing is to share the fact I’ve never seen cash or wasn’t able to drive my car …. but honestly 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 !!!!"

The star has been bravely speaking out about what her family put her through in the last few months, and she continues to be an inspiration for all of us with her strength and poise. Here's to hoping the next chapter of her life is full of joy and peace.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.