For the first time since her 13-year conservatorship came to an end on November 12, Britney Spears is speaking out.
Spears celebrated her freedom on Instagram on Monday, writing “What an amazing weekend… I felt like I was on cloud 9 the whole time!!!” She added, “I actually got my first glass of champagne at the most beautiful restaurant I’ve ever seen last night … I mean after 13 years … I think I’ve waited long ENOUGH!!!!”
The post went on:
“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: owning an ATM card, seeing cash for the first time, being able to buy candles,” Spears said. “It’s the little things for us women, but it makes a huge difference. And I’m grateful for that.”
The singer’s guardianship stemmed from erratic behavior beginning in 2007, when she famously shaved her head and attacked a photographer with an umbrella. In 2008, after a standoff with police where she allegedly refused to surrender her sons to her ex-husband Kevin Federline, a court established a temporary conservatorship, controlled by her father, Jamie Spears. The arrangement gave him control over her estimated $60 million estate and empowered him to make personal decisions for her.
The 39-year-old first revealed the extent of her father’s control at a hearing on June 23, when she told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny that she was “depressed” and “cries every day” because her father refused to let her marry her long-time boyfriend Sam Ashgari and forced her to stay on birth control:
I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby. I have an I[U]D 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.”
After Penny granted Spears a request to choose her own attorney to represent her, her new lawyer aggressively moved to have Jamie Spears suspended as conservator of the estate. The lawyer also accused him of maintaining the arrangement for financial gain, something Jamie Spears disputes.
His attorney Vivian Thoreen told ABC in March, “I understand that every story wants to have a villain, but people have it so wrong here. This is a story about a fiercely loyal, loving, and dedicated father who rescued his daughter from a life-threatening situation. People were harming her and they were exploiting her.”
In an Instagram video posted Tuesday, Spears continued to show her gratitude to the fans who promoted the #FreeBritney movement.
“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,” she said. “It’s the little things for us women, but it makes a huge difference. And I’m grateful for that.”