From Strained Family Ties to Secret Documents: Key Takeaways From New Documentary on Britney Spears

The "Toxic" star has been under a conservatorship controlled by her father Jamie Spears for 13 years now and is now battling to take back her life and finances.

Britney Spears doesn’t seem to be too impressed by recent media interest in her conservatorship and what led to it.

On Monday, in a now-deleted Instagram post, she slammed “the last documentary” – apparently referring to the New York Times’ "Controlling Britney Spears" film released on Friday – for feeding viewers with misleading facts about her life.

The singer kept schtum about more claims made in a new film by Erin Lee Carr and journalist Jenny Eliscu – "Britney vs. Spears" – which has just premiered on Netflix. Here are some key points highlighted in the doc:

Strained Relationship With Dad

Britney’s dad Jamie announced in August that he was planning to step down as her conservator “when the time is right,” admitting that he hadn’t been in close contact with his daughter for a long time. According to the moviemakers, who cite some unreleased documents, the relationship between Britney and her dad took a nosedive towards the end of her legendary "Femme Fatale Tour" that ended in December 2011.

“Britney began to complain about Jamie’s drinking,” filmmaker Carr claims. “She is especially adamant that Jamie be punished. This seems to be a lightning rod for all her complaints about the conservatorship itself.”

Confidential Documents Revealed

The Netflix documentary claims that an anonymous source approached the filmmakers in the autumn of 2020 to reveal "thousands of confidential documents and emails from most parties involved with the conservatorship."

One of the documents apparently handed over by the source was a medical report from 5 March 2008 – the year when the conservatorship began – describing Britney as lacking “the capacity to retain and direct counsel,” as well as “to understand or manage her financial affairs without being subject to undue influence."

"It's been 13 years and it's enough."

Britney vs Spears premieres Sept 28 pic.twitter.com/y2CCV4Jnh7

— Netflix (@netflix) September 22, 2021

Dr. James Edward Spar, the physician who initially made the decision about Britney’s state, declines to acknowledge that he evaluated the singer due to confidentiality issues.

Love Affair With Paparazzo and Start of Conservatorship

Photographer Adnan Ghalib recalled in the documentary how he formed a romantic relationship with “famous girl” Spears and recounted the exact moment when her dad Jamie was named as her conservator in 2008, shortly after the star’s famous head-shaving incident and hospitalisation. Ghalib said he was out with his girlfriend when he got a call from her father:

“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,’” Ghalib recalled.

The photographer said he then took Britney home to see security guards and police officers standing outside the house:

“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. I’m trying to calm her down, and I cannot,” he recalled.

“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 to the house. That’s when the realisation was, ‘OK, I don’t think things are going to be the same anymore.'”

Pay-offs After Missed Appearance

Moreover, the documentary claims that in July 2020, Jamie Spears submitted a claim saying that Britney had refused to take part in “any business activities” – including appearing at a Los Angeles pop-up store dedicated to her work. This prompted her estate to return $1 million it had a received in advance for her failed appearance.

Britney publicly said in July 2021 that she will not appear on stage as long as he father is in control – something her lawyers indicated to the court as early as November 2020.

Netflix’s "Britney vs Spears" documentary follows The New York Times previous "Framing Britney Spears" movie and CNN’s "Toxic: Britney Spears’ Battle for Freedom." Some critics have slammed the new film as “irresponsible” and a "waste of everyone’s time."