Britney Spears called 911 to report conservatorship abuse one night prior to presenting her testimony in court, according to a New Yorker exposé published on Saturday by Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino.
“Members of Spears’s team began texting one another frantically,” Farrow and Tolentino wrote, in describing the events that followed. “They were worried about what Spears might say the next day, and they discussed how to prepare in the event that she went rogue.”
A source close to the Ventura County, CA-based pop star confirmed word of her 911 call to the investigative journalists. Law enforcement officials in the County also verified that it happened. But while emergency calls are typically made accessible to the public, the County has sealed that of Spears, citing an ongoing investigation.
The 39-year-old pop star was was first placed in a comprehensive conservatorship in 2008, following a series of public incidents and hospitalizations. On June 23, she phoned in to a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, to speak publicly about the conservatorship for the first time, expressing her desire for it to be terminated.
“It is my wish and dream for all of this to end. I want my life back,” Spears told Judge Brenda Penny. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive … I want to end the conservatorship without being evaluated. I want to petition to end the conservatorship.”
The report from Farrow and Tolentino comes on the heels of a number of major developments in Spears’ conservatorship battle. On July 1, wealth management firm Bessemer Trust petitioned to withdraw as her co-conservator. The day prior, Judge Brenda Penny denied her request to have her father, Jamie Spears, removed from his position as her co-conservator.
