Britney Spears fans shouldn’t expect to see the singer sitting down for a big interview about her conservatorship anytime soon. In a 22-minute voice memo posted Sunday night, Spears explained that she’s had offers to do so – including one from Oprah – but that she’d rather just speak openly without being paid to do so.
The voice note was live online only briefly before being made private by Spears. But quick fans were able to rip recordings and have since posted them online. In the lengthy audio, Spears went into detail about how she felt during her conservatorship, particularly when it came to the actions of her family, and how they encouraged the situation.
The pop singer prefaced her recollection of those years by saying that she hasn’t talked about it much because she’s “always been scared of the judgement, and definitely the embarrassment of just, of the whole thing, period.” The singer added that she’s also been worried about the possible “skepticism” of people who heard her point of view. But now, she’s feeling like it’s time to speak out more.
“I do think I’m in a place now where I’m a little bit more confident that I can be willing to share openly, my thoughts and what I’ve been through, because I haven’t really had that outlet to share completely openly for so long,” she said. “Just, scared of judgements, of thoughts, of people and what they think and what they may say. And I think it’s crucial for my heart and my head to be able to speak openly about it, as anyone else would.”
Spears added that she’s “had tons of opportunities” to sit down for interviews on her conservatorship, but that it feels “like it’s kind of silly” to do so for money.
“I have offers to interview with Oprah and so many people, lots and lots of money, but it’s insane,” she said. “I don’t want any of it. For me, it’s beyond a sit-down, proper interview.”
The singer also defended some of her actions that seemingly led to the conservatorship, including times where she ran from paparazzi, resulting in them chasing her around. (Spears was often accosted by paparazzi in public, so it’s difficult to know which particular instance she was referring to, but there is documented footage from 2007 of her leading paparazzi on a chase through a series of stores.)
“Literally the extent of my ‘madness’ was playing chase with paparazzi, which is still to this day one of the most fun things I ever did about being famous,” she said. “I don’t know what was so harmful about that.”
You can listen to the full 22-minute voice memo here.
