It's no secret: the last twenty years of Britney Spears have not been a long, quiet river. It was in 2021 that the singer spoke publicly about the case of guardianship to which she was subject, and which made her father the guarantor and decision-maker of her every move. If she finally won her case with a lifting of the measure in November 2021, the trauma linked to these thirteen years of control remains present. Already in 2016, the singer tried to denounce the situation in an interview, which was ultimately censored. Today, the world is finally discovering the famous extract.
In the passage in question, shared during a republication of iconic moments from the talk show, presenter Jonathan Ross questions the pop princess about the freer spirit of this new record, asking in particular: “Do you have more control over your music than before? Why did you wait until now to do it?” To which the artist responds subtly, by slipping in an allusion to the guardianship measure already in place since 2008, almost five years before it was made public.
“Well, there are a lot of reasons, but I'm not going to elaborate on that.” replies Spears, before spilling the beans: “Since being placed under guardianship, I have the impression that many things are planned for me and that I am often told what I should do. So I told myself that for this [album]I wanted to make it my baby, and I wanted to make it myself. I was very strategic about how I did it. And yes, that’s why it’s so important to me.”
The interview, carried out as part of the promotional campaign for his album Glory in 2016, is also highlighted in the singer's recent memoirs, entitled The woman in me : “I even mentioned conservatorship on a talk show in 2016, but somehow that part of the interview didn't make it to air. How strange!” According to NMEit was Britney Spears' team who intervened to prevent the broadcast of her comments.
