Page 7 - Pop History: Britney Spears Pt. II

Episode Date: July 28, 2020

It's part two, bitch.Join our bimbo summit! Our Patreon supporters get weekly bonus episodes and other goodies. Patreon.com/Page7PodcastKevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Page 7 ad-free.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

ruining it. Every time I try to fly. I feel so small. Guess I need you, baby. Oh my God, that song. Nice. That song has been in my head for weeks and it's worth it. And I'm obsessed and I don't know.

I don't know what to do. What am I going to do after I'm not obsessed with Britney Spears every second of the day? You're going to get obsessed with this 90s hit. Getting jiggy with it. Na, nah, na, na, na, na. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Get into chicken with it. Exit's from the two thousand.

Toxic. All right. You can say what you will about Britney Spears, but toxic is one of the most perfect pop songs I've ever heard. The second you hear the beginning, you're in. Who's talking shit? Who's talking shit on toxic? I just imagine. I understand.

I understand that people are like, ah, Britney Spears is not my thing. And I feel like they're not allowed to say it about, you at least respect. Toxic's amazing. Toxic is amazing. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Tox is amazing. Also, that song, the early morning song, weirdly has been in my head all week as well.

Every time I'm imagining Britney Spears holding a crack pipe in her hand up at seven in the morning. Hey, no. Not having gone to sleep for 48 hours because we definitely know that. She didn't fucking rough out. Hold it. I don't even know what song. But welcome, guys. Welcome, welcome to part two of Britney Spears.

Today we are going to be covering from where we left off, from the end of Justin Timberlake, through 2007, Brittany, which we have gotten in deep to what happened. There, she's just... You know what? We know what my early 20s were like? Let her have her fucking early 20s. Can you imagine every time you made a mistake in your 20s that there were just 100 paparazzi right there for every little choice you make.

They were in my head. I wish. Maybe I would have stopped earlier. This is an era. I obviously have been thinking about this a lot this week. This is a weird era, a weird turning point, a title change in celebrity culture that was very much so marked, in my opinion, by places like TMZ and Perez Hilton that essentially just decided to smirk at and laugh at and shit on.

on every celebrity at every possible human turn. It's like we got through the era of Princess Die, I think really taught us like, oh, the paparazzi are dangerous. Yes. This scary thing monster we've created as a society. And we've moved past that. And then we get to Peres-Hilton,

and you've got like the white cum marks or drool marks on people's lips that they drew on and everything. You know, there was all those like doodles over celebrities' faces to make them look really stupid. And an absolute embracing of, celebrity failure. And I think that was the real change there for the culture of celebrity gossip and things like that was like, yeah, they're just like us and they're fucking worse than us and they're dumb and we're gonna make fun of them.

And it's all a game to us because we don't, it's like this weird cynicism that everybody just decided was completely okay at that point in time. And it's, it's, I'm glad we've grown a lot. We talked about it on page seven about how all this Kanye stuff is happening and how, there's actual voicing vocalizations, even from his wife. Society has changed and we accept. Yes, about mental health. And realizing, oh, these are people who are suffering. These are people who we should feel empathy for,

not just like put up and lambast at every turn. But back when Brittany went through it, she had it, I think, the worst in terms of what celebrity gossip rags and stuff like that really were all about. She didn't barely did anything. It's the looking back at all of the things that made people go fucking insane are just normal things that a person will do. And also, yes, she was having a mental breakdown very publicly, but hasn't. I also believe that, you know, the idea of what Perez Hilton does, not that I completely agree with it,

I think that he has the freedom to say whatever he wants to say, but it's the paparazzi that are at fault when, yes, he's using these things. and making brutal fun of her. And I don't think that's cool, but that is what he has the freedom completely to do. But when you are being followed, 24 fucking 7, that you never, think about how you feel in quarantine just being around the people that you love stuck in a house. 24-7.

Just go away, just go away. And then you're looking at 75 sharks outside of your window and or we see later on where the people that are supposed to protect you, like your security guards, are also being paid off by the papaross. to allow these things that happen to you. The people that are paid to protect you are the ones that are turning against you.

How do you trust anybody? Also, because, yeah, especially in the situation like Brittany where she had, and we'll talk about this a lot, probably, she had no strong figure in her life that ever looked out for her, except for Justin Timberlake. I really truly feel like except for Justin Timberlake.

And I think that we were just talking about this before, where as someone that has, dealt with my own self-esteem issues like anybody else my entire life and when you think and feel like you are trash and everyone around you is telling you're trash and then you have someone in your life that respects you that treats you like an equal that wants to be good to you

you go out and you destroy it because you want... Because before he starts treating you like trash you want to treat yourself like trash and take yourself out of the situation and I really do feel like that's what happened which would Britney Justin. I feel very sad that I'm going to

his intimate. But you know what I mean? Because I sense it from her and you you don't need a father or a father figure per se in your life, but you need somebody, even though it can be a man or a woman or whatever, that teaches you how to have self-respect, basically. And she didn't have that. Her parents are nightmare people in different ways in my opinion. Very, very different ways. Yeah. I don't know if you guys read it all her mother's book Through the Storm but it made me very angry

and because Lynn Spears is evil in a very different way that Jamie Spence She has evil Absolutely it's she I kind of originally thought she was more like a Dina Lohan

But it really is more of a wishy-washy like reserved southern lady thing where she's just seeing all this terrible shit happening going like Oh well guess the

the Lord's going to figure it out for us. But I did what I could to make sure. No, you fucking did it. No, she didn't. You just keep writing books about how you're a great mother and making more money off of your daughter's fame and not helping her at all. But anyway, we got to jump into 2002

because there is a lot that happens between 2002 and 2007. And this is really the middle part. This is the meat of where we are today. for when we get to next week with hashtag free Brittany. Yeah, once we really get in next week to the whole Free Britney thing, and this is the lead up, this kind of tease it all up, at least gives motive for how she could even end up in that situation at all. And so she goes on the Dream Within a Dream Tour in 2002,

and after that, she announces that she is going to take a whole six-month break from her career. Yet, however, of course, she's back in the studio well before that. She started writing songs with the new album actually during the tour itself. And this is all around the time she appears with Christina Aguilera to perform like a virgin at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2003 during which the two share a kiss with Madonna in this big memorable moment that we all of course. And during a time when we were really sexualizing gay women

to the point where they were just for masturbation. Yes. And now this also furthers the rift between the projected rift between Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears because, and I remember this happening right after Madonna kisses Britney first, which I always thought that she just kissed Britney because it cut immediately to Justin Timberlake

to see his reaction while Madonna was kissing Christina Aguilera. I know. I just saw, when we were watching, I was watching it for this episode. I was like, wait, who is this other woman on stage? Yes, I didn't even realize that she was a part of this. And this was, was, supposed to be this huge publicity thing. And Aguilera was pretty pissed about it. She said it was weird.

And you know why they cut away for it? They cut away to get Justin Timberlake's reaction. It was a cheap shot. And he looked very upset. He did. He looked very upset. And then Christine Aguilera said, I definitely saw the newspaper the next day.

And it was like, oh, well, I guess I got left out of that one. So this continued to further this. And we'll see later on that eventually they do become friends. but it's all this make-believe bullshit that the media, because, again, everything that Britney Spears does is manipulated by her team and by everyone around her to get them the reaction that they crave. Well, I really think this was that moment

whenever they were doing the virgin horror shift where they're like, let's get her dirty. Let's take this virgin and let's watch her fucking become. Also, that doesn't even make her dirty. It's such a ridiculous. 2003 was a shit time. Did you guys, did you happen to see after this performance, of course, she was interviewed a million times? She for some reason was interviewed by Tucker fucking Carlson.

It is so uncomfortable. And actually, I loved her in this era because she was sassy to him. She was rolling her eyes at him and being sarcastic because he was being a dick. Well, and this is what I think this is also really the beginning of court and quote, Britney being out of control because she was starting to voice her own opinions of things. Like, down to the fact that Christina Aguilera wouldn't speak to her during the rehearsals of this kiss. And Christina had said about her, every time I try to start a conversation with her, well, let's just say she seemed nervous the whole time. She seems to be like a lost little girl, someone who desperately needs guidance.

And Britney's response was, a lost girl? I think it's probably the other way around. I can't believe she said that about me. This is just them pitting them against each other. That's everybody else pitting them against each other. Exactly. Now, also around this time, and I couldn't find a ton on this, but maybe Jackie did on the whole fling with Fred Durst.

Ew. Yes. He's the other one too much about it. You know what? As someone that unfortunately has seen Limp Biscuit in concert a couple of times, this is really yucky. And I remember this going on because it's like, why? Fred Durst keeps on you met Britney Spears.

And then he went on Howard Stern and also continued to get in detail about what had happened with their fling. Now, Britney Spears claims that nothing really happened and that it was all coming from Fred Durst and not from her. Because Fred Durst goes on Howard Stern's show and he says he'd eat the corn out of her shit.

Chocolate starfish, y'all. Wow, what a charmer. He claims that they met while we're on new tracks he'd written for her, but that she didn't use them because, as he stated, I'm very diverse. I write in a lot of different styles. It was very dark.

Too mature for her is what he said about it. I'm so toxic. I can't believe it. I know. Sometimes she's way too mature for her, and you better stop. Sometimes you just want to break a window. Go without flow.

He talks about her breasts. He swore on his son's baby blue eyes that they hooked up, Which is truly disgusting. Who is his son with? He has a son from that era? I guess he's got a son from this era. And that sun now has no eyes. Because he swore on it.

That's bizarre because that means that son is an adult now. I don't even know who. I don't know. I mean, I'm sure that he'll rear his head at some point. I'm just so glad that the Durst dynasty continue on. But also in 2009, he was still talking about it in interviews. He said it just became a fiasco of madness. But I always stay true to my.

my heart and true to everything I did in my intentions. And I am in no way a liar. I guess at that time it was taboo for a guy like me to be associated with a gal like her. What does that mean? Shut the fuck up. What does that mean? A guy like you that's a monster, a horrible gross weinerhead? I guess. But this is also maybe, maybe it's for the best that Britney Spears joined Kabbalah because the relationship that she formed with Madonna during the 2003 VMA performance, this continued. on. So they wrote the song because they had worked on me against the music on In the Zone, right? And then Brittany and Madonna became friends after the performance. And she even said, Madonna calls her own shots. I can do that. But Madonna doesn't need to be told what to do.

Brittany does. This is what her manager said at the time. But Brittany continued on and saying, maybe she was my husband in another life. So Madonna comes in as someone that can take care of herself. A strong figure. She's a strong figure. She's a strong. woman. Yeah. And so Madonna uses that to get her to come a part of her religion, Kabbalah. It's just every person that comes in, she's, and then Britney's ears goes, oh, you can help me. Will you show me how to be strong? And then she goes, sure, sure, sure. And gives her this, this, this mystic religion to follow that we all know that Madonna was obsessed with and that she even gave her for her wedding. to K-Fed, she gave her like $12,000 worth of ancient scripture of Kabbalah.

Jesus. She said it was a 12th century book on Kabbalah. And because Kabbalah goes way back, way, way, way, way, way, way, way back. But that's not the Kabbalah that we're talking about here. Because the original Kabbalah was only for ultra-religious Jewish men over 40 to be able to study. Where's that book now, do you think? You know what? I bet. Well, she did say this because it's Britney Spears. She said, I read the Kabbalah books and I meditate on them, but they're all in Hebrew. I don't understand everything. But it's kind of okay that you don't. Because she's perfect and I love her. And you know what? She's very open about the fact that she can't read them. And that's okay. And eventually she does leave Kabala after she has her second son. She openly says, I no longer study Kabbalah. My baby is my religion.

That's scary. That's a scary thing to say. But yeah, it's like cute, scary. Yeah, it's cute, scary. What's amazing is, you know, and I know we haven't really fully gotten into the turmoil that is you know, going to be going on her life. But she puts out some of her best work around this time, which is what's crazy. In The Zone is a great album. In This Zone is great. And Toxic is made, I think probably her best song at the end of the day, especially like her best like pop. Well, it's the only one that she won a Grammy for, which is, I still think, pretty ridiculous. Ever?

Yes. Well, at this point. Oh, okay, okay. So she's got a little bit more control over this album than before, and she's writing and co-producing most of the material. She collaborates with folks like Absolute Shidhead R. Kelly, as well as P. Diddy, Moby, and The Matrix. Could you imagine having the fucking testicles or the fucking pussy lips to actually feel like you could make. make everyone around you call you the matrix. The Matrix?

I wish. Is it Mobe also a dick? Is he the one who did the weird Natalie Portman thing or I'm my confusing? That is him. Okay. Yes. Great. As a matter of fact.

Cool. She's just around lots of good, cool, fun people. Always forever. You don't know Natalie there put there to protect her from herself. Right. She's not like, you can have a woman out there making her own money, making her own music, and making her own decisions. Not with those.

No. Not with those ebs. The song Every Time is written early on. This is a response to Cry Me a River. I love every time. It's also been stuck in my head all week, Jackie, unfortunately. While I think about her tragic, tragic fall, it's the perfect soundtrack for that. The first song recorded was Touch of My Hand, a song about masturbation.

Bad Girls Club. The entire album, according to Britt Britt, which contains these lyrics. Very sad. I'm not ashamed of the things that. I dream. I find myself flirting with the edge of obscene. Into the unknown, I will be bold. I'm going places I can be out of control. And I don't want to explain tonight all the things I've tried to hide. I shut myself out from the world so I can draw the blinds and I'll teach myself to fly. I mean, I feel that way every time I come to. I get it. Flying. But I think there's little seeds here of where she's at. Of course. She just wants to be in places where she's out of control. And of course, that means like, enjoying an orgasm, but I think that also means like she's had so much. Her life has been on such intense rails that I think she just needed to get outside of herself.

And also absolute isolation. I shut myself out from the world so I can draw the blinds and teach myself the fly because no one else is helping her do that. And she is so isolated. And she is just trying to block the world out while at the same time be able to just be free. And it's these two things that are like combating with each other. I think the song's very prophetic. and are very telling in those ways.

Either way, Toxic was later claimed by Spears to be your favorite song of her career was originally offered to Kylie Minogue, Miss Step, Kylie, who also just put out a new album I'm putting out a new album

really soon as the time of this recording. But still, man, toxic is such a banger. This album, though, does not, and I think that's more telling of just heard being a little, she's starting to become out of vogue at this point, but it does not, is not as commercially successful

as her previous album. honestly don't get it is an amazing looking album well this is the only this i didn't give a shit about the first album i thought it had a bigger audience but i guess not because kids are probably the huge huge audience right and this is a more mature work i mean in a bunch of different ways but i also wonder too that and not to put the conspiracy angle on this but i do wonder of her trying to start to write more of her own music and include that kind of of stuff and have a little bit more autonomy is not possibly the reason why this album was not

pushed as hard. And we will also see that with the lost album that will come the following year after all of these other choices she makes. They are choices. A reason why is there a reason why the album was quote unquote lost? Is it because they couldn't control her? And so then thusly, she is then punished.

Well, and also not to get two conspiracy theory I know it's hard not to though. It's really hard fucking got to. On the last, on that lost album, there was a song entitled, My Father is the one who murdered JFK. It is, and it spells it out. It actually, the whole, the booklet came with a. He was on the grassy knoll.

I saw the bullets hole. I remember the song. He would have been a baby. That would have been so cute. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's baby murderer. So, either way, let's get into these marriages, shall we? Because this is what things start to get really fucking dark. Specy spicy.

Britney goes, what? I'm sorry, I'm just singing about Speece spicy because we're entering into the Bimbo Summit era, which I think is such a great way to describe girls being girls. Bimbo Summit. Bimbo Summit! My daddy is the one who killed JFK. He was there on the knoll. And he used his gun to go go go.

Make it sexier I'm a sexy baby And my daddy killed the president Oops I would definitely do lines of blow cane Dance all night long to that song Well we're about to do some lines of blow cane With Britney's let's get into it

Brittany goes home to Kent Wood for Christmas in 2003 She stays in a small house on her parents' property That she bought With old friends Including a guy named Jason Alexander who was an old childhood crush and a junior in college. Very different person, yes. Different guy, not the guy from Seinfeld.

But not nearly as funny or angry, unless he does a bunch of coke in Vegas, which they're about to do. So one morning, she gets into a fight with her mother, apparently, and gets all of her friends to go with her to Vegas. And according to Alexander, there was cocaine at night, ecstasy in the early morning, and Xanax just to get to sleep. I get it. And at 3.30 a.m. on January 3rd, I love this. little detail, by the way, after watching Texas chainsaw massacre, hopped up to the gills on cocaine, the two lovebirds took a lime green limousine to the Little White Wedding Chapel and paid $40 for a wedding. You can see the pictures.

Can I just throw this out there that it really has always been on my bucket list to do too many drugs and to wake up the next morning married? I think it's because of between Britney Spears and friends that made me always kind of want to do that, even though it's an expensive mistake. You know, she's just living her dream, but also she really just wants to make almost any decision for herself, regardless of how bad it is. I'm just imagining the last scene of Texas Chainsla Massacre

and imagining how from that scene. Horny, horny, horny you get. I, we have to join in communion. I believe in love. So the next day they call home to give the fantastic news to Lynn, and Lynn flips the fuck out, flies to Vegas, gets the couple separated, working with the team of lawyers to do so. And she cites in the court that Brittany, quote, lacked understanding of her actions.

And they send Alexander home. He ends up dropping out of school because he can't handle the heat that is now upon him by the press. He has his own little meltdown. Of course, so it's probably pretty cruel to him. And all these interviews where he had to open them, be like, I didn't make any money. I didn't do this for money. And he actually had said, she just. just came out and asked me after the, like, she literally grew up together.

Like, her mother ran the daycare center in their town and she, like, took care of the kid. Yeah. And as a kid. When asked what did he learn from the marriage, he said, don't be a nice guy, he said with a laugh. Nice guys finish last. Look out for yourself. And if you're going to really get involved into a relationship with a celebrity and you're just an average Joe, make sure you're thinking business. What does that mean?

I think it means maybe he should have signed a pre-up or something so that he could have gotten some money out of it. Yeah. Oh, so he's a dick. That's like silly, cute. That's, oh, that's cute. That just means, yeah, make it a business. Wow.

I love, love business. So that whole fiasco happens. I think that was one of the first, like, what's going on? You know, for everybody, I think. Maybe there's issues here. She embarks on the Onyx Hotel Tour, not too long. after the incident but hurt her left knee while shooting a video for the song outrageous and had to cancel said to her as she was laid out for several weeks and it is around this time

that she meets K-Fed Kevin Fedderline chin strap number one I really believe this Natalie Natalie had said this earlier the amount of chin straps in her life is really what did you say I just think you should count the number of chin straps in your life and if it's over zero you should question your choices. And just your overall life zeal because many of these men had chin straps. And not that I'm even truly against chin straps so much as whom they are attached to in this story.

I'm pretty against. But KFed was a backup dancer for Justin Timberlake. And if you, you know what? The worst part is that I could see myself being attracted to someone whose nickname is Meatpole. But I don't know if I'd marry Meatpole. know what I think is super hot in a guy when he has another woman who's about to give birth to his baby because I'm like, he's a family man. That's so sexy. When she's still, when Char

Jackson is first, his first, I believe girlfriend, I don't think his first wife was pregnant with his second child and he cheated on her with Britney Spears. Fetterline said, I met her to club in Hollywood Joseph's. Our eyes met and that was it. We just hit it off right away. I was madly in love with her. Everything just seems so right. I didn't see it as too fast or too slow. Also, I thought it was pretty crazy that her dad assassinated the president.

I always take that line out. I think it's kind of sexy, though. This is also around the time that Larry Rudolph, who was her longtime manager, her manager from the age of 16, he leaves when she marries KFED. Doesn't she

fire? Oh, okay, I thought she fired. Well, I think that she says he fired, that she fired him. He says he left because he didn't agree with the marriage. So it is, I'm not quite sure. And we will see him come back later after she decides to fill his role

with other chin straps in the future. But so this is, and I don't mean to say this because I know that he is for manager. So ultimately he is definitely scuzzy in some way, right? Because he wanted the whole baby thing in the beginning. I get that. But he is the only person that said, I will not stand by while you do this. I'm a go.

Because you're going to go make these decisions and that's fine because no one else told her, no. Well, he's the least of the vipers. He's the smallest. He's the tiniest, he's the tiniest viper, but he will still puncture your belly with poison. He just doesn't have as big a teeth. Yes. And also, it's money is in his eyes. So watching her make his, yes.

his Chevy just got repossessed. He's literally broke. He's like in the club scene, but he's like that guy in the club scene that like just shows up. It doesn't actually have any money. This is the thing that really makes me mad about her mom. And her mom is not aggressively abusive the way her father is. But you read her book and she's praising KFED through it. She talks about how he's a great guy.

And it's this thing that really irritates me. And maybe it's not fair. But the way that that kind of. life is like that woman is raised in that lifestyle is to just not question dudes actions never never look at a guy's behavior as problematic it's just you praise and praise and praise these people who don't deserve it and she continues to do that in her book she'll talk about how brittany can be can be a good mom sometimes but how kevin is just so involved with the kids and it's so nice no just ridiculous. I think probably too

it's like, because I definitely have been in a family in crisis, I think and I feel like you're just like, oh God, okay. Especially after Jason's got Alexander thing, Jason Alexander thing, it was like, okay, she's got a stable situation at all, you know, kind of thing.

And I'm not going to question any of it. When really, if you look at the details of it, it's like, oh, this is not going to work. No. And also, it was, it wasn't until the four month resting period that she had to take from the tour that she was on after she had the surgery, that's when she decides to propose to K-Fed because I feel like it is, then she's like, because she really, and what it is forever

the, you see in every interview, what she always wanted to be was a mother. She always wanted to have children. She wants a family so desperately. And I think that in her eyes, she saw this as her way of finally having the normalcy that she really wanted. It's why she said she was going to take a break and then didn't. And also why she proposed to him. And when I do, this is kind of fun because Christina Aguilera said in 2004 that because Spears had to buy her own engagement ring. And she said about the five-carat rock, it looks like she got it at QVC. I know, Brittany. She's not trailer trash, but she sure acts that way. And I thought that was kind of a mean thing to say. It is mean, but also she wants to be trailer trash. She should be allowed.

to be and they're trying to fight so hard against how she wants to act. And I, those interviews during that time period, I like her because she's chewing gum the whole time. She's kind of ruling her eyes. Like, she doesn't want to be there. Yeah. But I will, but this is also around though, the time when she starts the Britney and Kevin chaotic reality show that if you watch that, wow.

It is, she gets a camera and starts the, quote, unquote, starts the reality. show and it's only five episodes, five hour long episodes. And it starts with her talking about how like, it was all this behind the scenes footage of just her and her camera. So you really get a real good look into what her life was at that time. You can watch them on YouTube. And she wanted a man and a family so badly. But it also showed how she was a good friend, that everyone that was a good friend,

that everyone that was around her, like she was always, like, as much as, you know what, people, you could call me, like, I'm also white trash as well. And, like, as growing up in Florida, like, honestly, white trash is some of the nicest people you ever meet your life for the most part, unless, you know, depending on where you are and where, you know, yeah, and everything like that. But, I mean, outside of that,

watching Britney Spears interact with people around her was delightful. because we all know that behind and close, like, you know, you go back and listen to the Prince episodes and things like that where it's like, he knew what he was. Right. Right. People that, like, these huge stars that everyone knows, well,

they're not very nice. Yeah. Britney Spears through and through, everyone says it. Regardless of mental breakdown or not, it's a very nice person. Definitely not a diva. And how much of a pro she was.

Yeah. And that's even with blackout and in the three, rows of everything that's going on. People are just like she showed up. She worked her ass off. She's incredibly polite. And that is really surprised. Even in her, you know, when people get really selfish when they're going through like

drug years, you know what I mean? And she didn't seem to do that. Also, it should be noted. It was originally titled, Brittany and Kevin, can you handle our truth? And then they're chasing the chaotic. No. That's so funny. I love it.

You didn't know that? No, that's so funny. I think it was very, because Holden, was talking about sitting down with a cup of coffee. He was like, oh, I'll watch a couple of episodes. You put it on me like, oh, God, because it is chaotic. And also, I can't handle their truth. Yeah.

It's a lot. And I was in a bad mood, and it's just like not. And you know what's about to happen to. And it should be noted as well that, according to a friend is this quote, Kevin convinced Brittany that he was going to get the users out of her life and they were going to run her business together. And he is they're selling the baby photos for a million dollars. wedding photos as well, respectively.

Oh my God, their wedding too. Their wedding was just supposed to be the engagement party. And so they, so people showed up, 27 guests showed up to their engagement party. And Britney Spears was in a wedding dress. And she gave her friends pink juicy couture track suits embroidered with the maids on the back. And then KFED gave his groomsman white track suits emblazoned with. pimps on the back. I see no problems with the name of this.

I think it's actually lots and lots of fun. I love it. And so they just get, they get quick married for no, they don't need to. But I think, you know, again, she's raised, even though she is studying Kabbala at this time, she was raised Baptist. I believe that she felt that she needed to be married before she started to have children. And, but I did love this quote from the Rolling Stone article written by Vanessa Gregoriatis that Vetterline gave Brittany license to fully embrace her white trash side,

walking into gas station restrooms barefoot, dumping ashtrays out hotel windows, wearing novelty teas like, I'm a virgin, but this is an old shirt. And most notably not strapping the kids into car seats. I think I need the shirt, I'm a virgin, but this is an old shirt. It's pretty great. So in 2006, pictures showing Britney Spears driving with her son on her lap instead of a car seat caught the ire of the public. And she blames this. And I bet this is true on a paparazzi encounter this idea that she had to just get in the car and go. People blew that way out of fucking proportion.

Totally, right? And this leads to a visitation of Department of Child and Family Services to Brittany's home. By the end of 2006, Brittany is then getting tired of K-Feds, love of the high life and childish. and ask them for divorce via text message and rehires their manager. I will also say that before all of this, in the middle of everything, of this really rough marriage is the lost album, Original Doll. I need to know all about this, Jackie. So please, I implore you. Give me this Britney Spears history lesson.

So Britney's fifth studio album was supposed to be released in 2005. It's called Original Doll. and she worked, it's supposed to have a very dark, intimate feel. She worked with songwriter Michelle Bell, and the songwriter said that Spears wanted to craft an album that was more vibe and more personal and more honest. So even the idea that the album as a whole exists is up for debate. When BuzzFeed asked Britney Spears's manager, Larry Rudolph,

for his comment on original doll, he said, not supporting, commenting on it, or providing any info for a bullshit story with zero factual basis. But where's the proof of the album original doll? She did have a little bit of proof. In December of 2004, Brittany made a surprise appearance at Kiss FM in Los Angeles to premiere a new song she recorded.

She had just called up that morning and said, hey, I'm going to show up today. I've got a new song. I want you to put it on the radio. So the song is called Mona Lisa. You can listen to it if you guys want it. I have a playlist album called, I have a playlist called Britney Baby

One More Time on Spotify that I include my favorite Britney songs, but also the songs that we discuss in the show. I really can't believe how usable Spotify's lists are. Oh my God, aren't we companymen? So she goes to Kiss FM, she gives an interview, and she said that she was halfway through recording

the album that was called the original doll. It was supposed to be released in summer of 2005. Jive, which is the record company that she'd worked for since the beginning, were furious that Brittany had premiered the song on the radio without their permission. And they stated that she had only started recording the album. Now, Mona Lisa is a, it's a beautiful song.

And I don't know how it is on Spotify, but it is on Spotify. And it's way more her. You can feel her coming from, it's a much darker song than she usually puts out. And she had said during the interview that the song, Mona Lisa was untitled right now. She said it's not even all the way done. And she hoped that before summertime or maybe a little sooner than that,

she would be able to release the album. A quote from one of the Kiss FM radio DJs regarding the original doll. They said, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, no signed artist would ever do that premiere a song on the radio without the label's permission. Because Barry Weiss,

who is the Jive president and CEO, would cut them in half with a cleaver. If you don't have the record out yet, you're going to find some radio guy who will ship it out half done and the whole project will be trashed. So there are multiple reasons of why it's possible that this album was never released. And also to the point that her people refuse its existence. It's so crazy how much the music industry changed since then.

That you could, that you, that she would have so much more freedom of being able to control what she puts out. She can put out whatever the fuck she wanted. Which you will see later on. But so some of the reasons that the internet believes that the album wasn't released, was it's possible that because of Britney's pregnancy, the Jive may have wanted Brittany to concentrate on starting a family rather than releasing a new album, or because Britney premiered unreleased material without their permission.

Or Jive did not like the material set to appear on the album because Britney rushed releasing, she had just released greatest hits, my prerogative, a few months before. So it's possible that Jive is like, you're not ready to put out another. album or what I personally think is that they didn't like that she did that because obviously she is in the middle of having a manic couple of years. Well also because they don't trust her again like everyone in her life they didn't want her to have any personal control. Yes. Over any. And she was trying desperately to get that for herself. And I imagine in her brain of like, okay, well, if they're not going to listen to me, I'm just going to call up the radio. What is the radio station going to do with

Britney Spears calls up with a song that they had never heard of to put that on the radio. This is the Britney I like. Yes. And support. Yes. And because like through her mental fog at this point in time, she still knew what she wanted from her career and what she wanted from herself. This is going to be very controversial.

But are we certain that she is bipolar? No. Like is this necessarily a manic phase? this hurt just trying to be a person? Right. It's so cloudy when someone is in such a rough environment like this. But you can also be in a manic state without being mentally. Sure.

I mean, you know, I think that just the idea of wanting to break free and be your own person, that can put you into a state of even if it's just temporary meaning. Especially if she is sometimes imbibing with certain things, but that can help. But I feel like if my type of personality, if I was in that position, I would be acting out like crazy because it feels wrong. Right. It feels wrong to be held down that much. And she's never had a chance.

She's in her 20s. You're supposed to push the limit. Yes. But at the same time, you know, you being everything in your life has been controlled up to that point and then you want to have your own family and you want to do those things. But it's not the time to decide to be rebellious and do all those things to yourself if you also are trying to have young children, which is where this problem and it all comes to a head because what I don't agree with is putting your children in danger.

And I don't know, because we will never know, if she had the mental faculties. And I guess that's why, because there's nothing out. You can't read, like, she's never been diagnosed with anything. So this is all speculation of the amount that she wanted to have a family, the amount that she wanted to be a good mom. In your brain, I can't imagine personally ever putting my children in that kind of danger

if I had all of my mental faculties. For sure. However, like we've said, she was raised in an abuse of home. Poorly, very poorly. If her mother is telling the truth, her mother said that he would say horrible shit to them, like call them garbage and stupid and like criticize everything they did.

Yes. But you know, the one who's still running her life now somehow. So she grew up in abuse. She's probably not super familiar with what it's like to be in a healthy family. Yeah. And I do think that like as the kids got older, well also as she got more in control of herself, I do think that she treats her children with the respect that they should. be treated with, at least according to social media.

But we will get there because we're still in the thick of the beginning of all this. There's not really a lot of documentation of her being specifically abusive to them, right? Like more negligent. Well, like the thing with the baby on her lap where she just did straight up like, she's like, I grew up country. You know, she's like, I wrote on my daddy's lap all the time, which that doesn't mean that it's okay. No, but I also don't think that that's necessarily indicative of your kids having a bad life. Right.

No, she even said, I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger. So what it really truly seems like is she just put the kid on her lap and drove the fuck off to get away from them. Because those dudes, I assume they were all dudes. I never saw a female paparazzi, but I'm sure there are some. But like, those dudes would, especially back then, get in the face of people. They would go into private property.

They would spy on you. they were kind of just allowed to do it. Nobody would stop it. Yeah, I definitely have some good stuff about that as we move into 2007. But before we get to that, we've got the divorce happening at the end of 2006. KFed responds by writing on the wall of a nightclub bathroom. Today I'm a free man. Fuck a wife.

Give me my kids, bitch. And the divorce is finalized in 2007 with an agreement to share joint custody of their kids. I just like that he's just free. And he just says what it's on his mind. Because this is two months after she gave birth to her youngest son. But it's also during the publicity release of Kevin Fedderline's album

playing with fire. I wonder how he got that album. It has nothing to do with Brittany and what she's giving him and the life she's creating for him. Well, everybody remembers that album and everyone cares about that album. Everyone's always thinking about chin strap number one, baby. So let's get into the crazy

party days of 2007. Are you referred to the Bimbo Summit? please call it by its proper name. The Bimbo Summit, I thought. Is the Bimbo Summit the picture of... No, no, no. Is that the J-Lo, Paris, Britney Spears in the car picture?

That's the whole picture. Yeah, the Bimbo Summit is Lilo, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, baby. Either way, this is the party days with Paris. Spears is in L.A. She's partying her fucking stupid tits off,

and with none other than Paris Hilton, of course. In November of 2006, a video pops up on TMZ.com of Hilton and Spears dancing at a Las Vegas club, as well as a picture of Spears on a couch with no pants on smoking a cigarette, as they claimed the club was so hot, they took off their pants. Hilton nicknamed Spears the Animal because she doesn't think before she acts. This and other-

Meat pole and the animal. Fuck on. Listen, if you'll recall from the first episode before this time, and again, this is not considering the kids part is really bad, but her life as a young, girl was micromanaged to the point that she was given an hour a day that was scheduled for her alone time and that was it. What is going to happen? This is going to happen if you're not given any freedom up into that point. Yes. 100% and this all these incidents leads up to the

Department of Child and Family Services trying to set up a meeting with Spears in 06 with her family very worried about her current lifestyle. At different points, Spears like Hilton is photographed by the paparazzi getting out of cars with no panties on, therefore flashing their vaginos to the camera. I remember this time. It was so weird. I was like, why is this happened? Yeah, I bet you remember. But also, this is the time period as well with Lindsay Loahan that kept getting many pictures of her taken without her underwear on as well. And they were having a great, and apparently Paris Hilton still. Paris does it all the time. Britney Spears. And she says, you're going to see. She loves her vagina.

Because she's had a lot of photos. And you know what? I say good for you, girl. She's not doing it like a playground, you know? But it's also still, it goes to show where it's like, after all of this, even Paris Hilton says about Britney Spears, she's so sweet. The last time I saw her was at her show in Vegas

and she looked hotter than ever. She does not age. I love her. But then fucking Lindsey Lohan, right after, you know, of course, being interviewed and asking her what she thought about Britney's decision to file for divorce from Kevin Fedderline. She responded, I didn't even know that, actually.

That's bad of me. I'm sorry, but that's none of my business. I really don't care, to be honest. Britney Spears is not, I mean, I met her twice. You got to give her more of a cigarette, rest. Oh, yeah. No, it's my Mariah Carey. I know, it's a little Mariah. I have to find the subtleties betwixt the two.

So Britney Spears posts on her blog, every move I make at this point has been magnified more than I expected, and I probably did take my newfound freedom a little too far. I look forward to a new year, new music, and a new me. And what a fun new her it's going to be in 2007. Because this is, yes, this is when it all really starts to get dicey. In December of 2006, worldof Brittany.com, a fan site closes due to her recent shenanigans. But she also had said on that same website.

So World of Brittany, the fan site shuts down. But she had said on her own website on January 5th, 2007. She said, the media has criticized my every move and printed a skewed perception of who I really am as a human being. Behind every decision I've made in my public life, there always seems to be an apparent contradiction. I have come to terms with that, which is why I usually don't pay much attention to it. Spears went on to call the last few years very enlightening and discussed a new album, which is in the works, which again, doesn't exist. On New Year's even Las Vegas, shortly after the ball drop, Brittany passes out and is reportedly carried out by bodyguards, I think the real spiral starts with this,

this incident right here. In January of 2000, her beloved aunt that we talked about in the last episode, dies of ovarian cancer. That she would go to for help and protection. Yes. She was the aunt that was actually

one of the only people that really cared about her, and she passes away from her battle with cancer that she's been dealing with, like even while she was going out on the road with Britney and all this kind of stuff. With Paris, yeah. So the big incident is what I've called this section of the notes.

and I think we all know what that's referring to if you were around. February 16th, 2007. Two weeks after the death. I guess it's the day before that she checks into Eric Clapton's Crossroads, which is a rehab center, but she leaves just one day later,

I think within 24 hours. She then goes to K-Feds for her kids, but finds him teamed up with her manager and Lynn, and they tell her no contact until she registers at a Malibu rehab center called Promises. She then heads into a hair salon, in Tarzana, California, and shaves her head with over 70 paparazzi outside watching, and later goes to a tattoo parlor for her hip and wrist tat.

All right, we have to talk about the hair coat. We have to talk about it. So Brittany goes in, right? She's flanked with like a hundred paparazzi behind her that aren't allowed inside. She asks for the hairstylist to cut all of her hair off. And the hairstylist tried to talk her out of it. She said, we all have these hormonal things. regret it in the morning. So the singer decided to grab the tremor and start doing it herself.

Esther Tognossey, who is the hairstylist, cleaned up Britney's work when she was done. Upon completion, Spears, whom the shop owner described as emotionless, said, oh my God, my mom's going to be so upset with me. And is the first thing that she said. She is, what, 25 years old at this point? Oh, God, I got it. Dude. And then, and then, because again, no one, no one, no one, what is. in her life, that even the hairstylist turns around and tries to sell her hair and the clippers she used and the can of Red Bull that Brittany drank out of on eBay for a million fucking dollars, you piece of shit. And on top of it, again, like I said, that the bodyguards that she were with were paid off by the paparazzi to keep opening the blinds so that they could take the

fucking pictures of her. Because she asked to have them not be allowed to see it. Yes. She, okay. Yes. Yes. There's so much to unpack here in her mother's book. Oh, is it this? I wanted to be, so this is a quote from her book. I wanted to be in denial, but I couldn't deny the video footage unfolding in front of me because at this point in time, Lynn Spears was not allowed around her mother, according to Britney Spears. She said, it was Britney, and she was shaving off her beautiful hair. All I could think of was,

how could this be? She used to be the happiest girl in the world. This quote, you're fucking talking about. Before this, when was she the happiest girl in the world when she was having the shit beaten out of her as a kid? When she's been told to be a baby her entire life, is that when she was the happiest girl in the world?

Not only that. So, right before that, right before that quote in the book, she says, so my sister died. And then the most horrific, unbelievable thing happened. I received a phone call. She shaved her hair. Fuck you.

Fuck you, Lynn Spears. And so much of this was treated like this, like she had gone in and robbed an orphanage. Yes, of all that sweet money they hide it there. of their porridge. She came and stole all of their gruel and threw it into the river. She'd also once told the Daily Mail, when her life was such a success as her mother,

what did she need me for? And when things took a turn for the worse, I was out because other people, dancers, managers, were closer to her and with her day and night. Well, this is, this is like that glimpse into what they consider good and bad in her life and what her standards were to be considered

Like her shaving her hair Was this nightmare scenario for her mother When it In reality it's not a big deal Shave your fucking head if you want It grows back Who gives a shit But that is what her mother would consider a nightmare

And she was still thinking about if her mom It's gonna be mad at her or not Which she was that was the first thing she said afterwards And during that time that Because they interviewed the hairdresser The hairdresser asked her why she was doing this And Brittany said because I just don't want people touching me anymore

Yeah She wanted to get people off of her constantly being groped by getting her hair done, having her clothes chosen for her, having the paparazzi interface. And she wanted to just go, look, I want time away from this. Please let me have this. Take control. But instead, they all acted like she was a fucking monster for doing it. Instead of just going, maybe she needs some privacy for a little while.

I don't know. Let her pick her own hairstyle for a minute. And of course she would later be seen back outside of K. Fed's house where she attacked a paparazzi's car with an umbrella in the famous photo that we all know. And I'm fucking proud of her for doing it, to be honest with you. Yeah. Well, because she wanted to see her kids. And this is, this is again where I do believe that there's a chemical issue inside of her brain that she needs.

Or even if it's just a temporary thing of that, I want to see my fucking kids. But you know that somewhere deep down, you can't act like that if you want to see your kids. I get that. But at the same time, imagine what it's like. She's begging, verbally begging paparazzi, please leave me alone right now. They are ignoring her acting like she is not a human being. Can you imagine how insane you would feel? If there's just people in your face and you're saying, please, it would feel like assault.

And knowing that she can't see her own babies, I can understand how she would act like that because she's being treated like she's not an adult human. She's also staying up for 48 hours during this time, staying up straight 48 hours, driving around drinking Red Bulls, afraid she was being followed by demons or that a cell phone charger was taping her thoughts. I mean, this is, she's, you know.

Is it weird that I'm sort of like empathizing with her during this? Or I'm just like, yeah, that makes sense to me. I understand where you're coming from. I'm only just saying it from the way of like... It's very sad. I wouldn't allow a person like that, even if they were her kids, to be around their kids.

Yeah, I also would, you know. But also, K-FEDs not that much better. The reaction by the rest of the country was largely to laugh about it and just be like, whoa, look at this craziness. Look at, and loving to see the popular girl like fall, like fall on her face. I think that was largely the reaction. After rehab, so she goes to rehab, and after rehab, she tries to cut everyone out of her life who made her go there.

She also signs a new management contract with a place called the firm that I believe is now defunct. And so either way, with new management. management, she starts recording songs for the upcoming album, Blackouts. She also does, and she also does a photo shoot with OK Magazine in July. And even the photographer had said, what we experienced was a young girl who is desperately in need of help. And sadly, she's surrounded herself with too many people who are pretending that nothing

is wrong. The photos were unusable. So that's even just a quote of someone that had worked with her that even, that didn't know her personally was like someone needs to help her yeah someone really needs she really needs to be helped i really think there's a solid chance this mental illness is coming from her environment that maybe she wouldn't have had this problem if she just had a different life i do think that this is a reaction to what's happening to her but there's also a point too where you have to understand that no one is going to you have to make the choice for yourself to get help and this is right this is where and that's where i think i'm

in between with the conservatorship and everything that ends up happening, I understand why it was put in place. I don't think that it should have been permanent. I don't think that it should still be going. But at the time, someone that that is that powerful, that cannot be controlled, which I don't think that she should be controlled. But when it comes to the safety of her children, I would understand her needing to be away from them for a bit. I would, if they were my, my, my, my, my, nephews, I'd be like, no, you need to step off for a second. What she would need was somebody who was healthy in her life to encourage her. And I feel like she is asking for help a lot and nobody's giving her the help that she

actually needs. And also in this point in time, it makes sense in that same Rolling Stone article that and why the paparazzi loved all of it is that she's finally showing and what she wants to show is that she's not a good girl. She's not America's sweetheart. And this article says, she's an inbred swamp thing who chain smokes, doesn't do her nails.

It's a lot. Tells reporters to eat it, snort it, lick it, fuck it, and screams at people who want pictures of their little sisters. Sounds great. And screams at people who want pictures for their little sisters. She's not someone who can live by the most basic social rules. She's someone who, when she has had her

one and two-year-old sons taken completely out of her care with zero visitation rights, appeared at Los Angeles Superior Court to convince the judge to give her kids back, but then decided not to go inside. And she's someone who did this twice. She's the perfect celebrity for America in decline. Like President Bush, she just doesn't give a fuck. But at least we won't have to clean up after her mess for the rest of our lives.

This is a trash article. This is a, it is a rough article. That's all garbage. But again, it's what the media is fucking saying about her. Like, what did you bring President Bush into the thing? Right? It's just fucking. So Blackout, going back to Blackout, coming out, it has one of the songs on Blackout is the song,

Gimmy More, which opens with the classic line, It's Britney bitch, which I think speaks towards this more leaning into who she actually is and the type of attitude she's got at this point. And this is the lead up to Jive, reluctantly booking her on the 2007 VMAs and her trying to get into gear for it with very little time. She finally... Was it her choice or did they push her into? it. It sounds like they

wanted to try to get her back into popularity and you know, and try to... Because this performance is brutal. But yeah, here's the facts of the lead up to the show which kind of explains why we get to where we get to with that performance. Brittany, hours

before the show, refuses to let the hairstylist that was supposed to put her wig on her touch her. And this is a process she needed hours to actually make happen. So finally, Brittany relents. an hour before the show begins, which was way too late for the original plan.

So the, so instead, Nelly Furtado's stylist steps in to quickly glue on a replacement. She also refuses to wear the corset dress prepared for her, instead opting to don the glittery black bikini, which was just supposed to be like an undergarment,

which is, again, a big part of it was the look of that bikini. And the performance is noticeably sluggish with a haphazard lip sync as well. And what's funny is that watching the performance, again. It's definitely, it's super not as bad as you remember it, A, but B, it's really funny to see in the comments on the YouTube even on the YouTube link that say like, I can't believe this was fat for 2007. What the fuck? That is the worst part of it's, it wasn't fat, but they criticized her for having like five extra pounds on her body. She's a two and a one year old as well. She also still

looked amazing regardless, but I think the thing that really sticks out to me is that she doesn't look present during. Yeah. And I think that that's what makes her look more fat than she actually is, is just that she's very sluggish. She doesn't even look fat. She's very like, she's just very like kind of phoning it in and sort of, yeah, it just seems very out of sorts. She's like a little slumped maybe. Like her, she's not like at full attention in her body. Right. I don't know if that's what people are trying to complain about. But yeah, just not moving around. You know, she has such energetic performances. Here's a great example of why I hate Perez Hilton.

I'm glad that this type of celebrity coverage is fucking over. Even though he's still somehow around, I don't know. He's sort of around, I guess. But either way, Perez Hilton said, she blow it. Everybody knows Brittany and lip sinks. But that's because she dances so much. She barely even danced in this. It was so bad.

It was painful. It was embarrassing. And I loved it. Fuck you, Perez, I fucking hate you. Then things like the New York Times said about the performance. She didn't disappoint. She was awful, visibly nervous. She tottered around the stage,

dancing tentatively and doing nothing that sounded or looked like real live singing. And on the view, both Whoopi and Joy Behar said so sad. And Behar said, she's a good role model in that she comes out and shows she's not skinny anymore. And then Barbara Walters said, the lip syncing doesn't work.

And Dr. Phil was subbing in on the episode. Oh, good. And he said, she looks like she doesn't care. This is like a bad. stripper. And then he said he'd bought tickets to a train wreck. I'm just so glad that I got. Aren't you a doctor? Like what do you fucking talk about? I just love to hear hot takes from Dr. Phil. Yeah, he's so cool. Disgusting. But at the same time, it is around this point that at least some people, or maybe this is also people saying this way after the fact, like celebrity publicist Michael Levine said,

what mega celebrities do is they go into their internal house and they disconnect their internal local arm. So instead of someone saying, Brittany, you look like a moron or you're too heavy, they say, you're great, he said. And that's the issue. She's out of reality. Because she doesn't have anyone around her to be like, hey, you need to get help. We should maybe this isn't the time to go out in a bikini. But who gives a shit? Like that to me again is all of these toxic people around her, not saying you might need to deal with mental issues. They're saying, you're saying, Oh, she shouldn't have worn that because her belly didn't look good enough.

Which is crazy too because her belly is like... I think that she shouldn't have done the performance. She should have been taking a break. And it has nothing to do with her body. It's like she needed the break for her brain. Yes. And what's crazy is Blackout drops in October of 2007. It's her fifth studio album.

It's totally lauded by critics. It is this progressive work. It's great dance pop. It's actually a solid album that's greatly overlooked, I feel. like. And upon listening to it for this show, I was just like, yeah, this is a bop. Like, this whole thing is covered in bops. And it's just amazing that she's able to do that while she's about to hit full on rock bottom, which let's get into it, I would say. Her handler and life coach becomes a guy named Osama Lutfi. And this is essentially, no one was around to take

advantage of her and control their life. So this asshole swooped in. He met her at a party in 2007 and according to her assistant at the time Kaylee Mikado he told her he was a private eye for Federline and that he knew her phone was tapped with a warrant up to search her Malibu home for drugs in the past this guy by the way already had two temporary restraining orders for harassment and he not only has a chin strap he has those like squiggly line facial hair things all over his face in different configurations you know or it's just like the one thin line where like the flavor saver goes. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. But also and I will say,

which we'll get into next week, but she is currently filing a restraining order just from the beginning of this year. So don't worry, she can't get away from him either. He's got no place to go. So Spears finds herself staying most nights at the four seasons in Beverly Hills under the care of Lutfi, who drives her around and acts as her manager, even on the phone with the record label, if he has any business doing this. From the Rolling Stone article, this is, so this gives you a perfect picture of what the,

what it was like to deal with the paparazzi at the time. Here we go, this is from the Rolling Stone article. There are 20 paps in the core Brittany detail, a bunch of hilarious, slightly scary thugs who use expert drag racing skills to block off new guys who try to get in the mix. It's like a game of Frogger.

With everyone jostling to be the first car behind Brittany, the better to shoot all over her. when she stops and then watch their feet because several have found themselves on crutches after she speeds away. Almost all the Papps drive rental SUVs, most with dents and scrapes on the sides because no one wants to get their real cars messed up. Britney pulls, and then this is about a photographer for Hollywood.TV from that article as well. Brittany pulls into her driveway and Williams, that's the photographer, waits down the street. He puts blackout on a CD player. Let's summon Brittany, he says. She's going to come back out after she does her drugs or changes her clothes,

whichever comes first. He jokes, lighting a cigarette. She didn't get enough chase today. So I wonder, it's just, because, so they also claim, now this is what we will eventually see in the trial that will eventually commensia against Lutfi after all of this happens. He claims that that Britney Spears was actually in charge of, that he helped her become in charge of the paparazzi. Now, he says that Spears at this point in time was in crisis mode, dealing with press photographers, 30, 50, 100, following her every move, speeding, driving next to her.

She had a lot of anxiety when they followed her. When they got out of a car, they would cluster around her. She couldn't move. She was very anxious. So Luffy claims he was the one that came up with the solution, that once he started working with Spears because yes, during all of this, he became her manager. He said that he was going in to try and control the photographers,

so he set up private meetings with Britney and press photographers at her home so they could get to know her as a human being. But I really just feel like that sounds like he's opening up her even more. That's just a payday for him. That's just how do we, it's just a team of people. sitting in the lobby of that four seasons hotel, figuring out how to best extract money from the Britney situation.

He got 15% of everything that she made. Yeah. During this time period. So during this time, Spears gets booked on charges of a hit and run and driving without a license, and this was because of an incident of her hitting a parked car

and a parking lot. She also gets her custody taken away of her two kids while having to submit drug tests in order to see them in small visits, eventually being granted three months, three monitored visits a week. In January of 2008, she's taken away in an ambulance after police are called to her house to end a nearly three-hour custody standoff with her sons.

And the next day, KFed is awarded sole legal and physical custody of the two children. So this is the point in time. So apparently, at least this is what it is said, is that she was intoxicated and holding the kids hostage inside of a bathroom. And so this is why, in looking at everything that has happened, if you look at a person that is intoxicated and has essentially kidnapped children that she shouldn't have in her custody at that point in time, that is where it's scary. That is where I, again, could understand why I would want the mother of the children to be

separated from the children for a bit of time and for her to collect herself and to figure these things out because that's not okay. To do those things is it's never okay no matter what you're going through. It's not okay. And that's where my brain gets into a bit of a push and pull fight with everything that's happening because she doesn't deserve to be at the place that she's in now in 2020 by any means. But this is a scary time.

But the problem is that there is nobody responsible around her during this time. Right. If you've seen the footage of this, there is an entire encampment of paparazzi outside of her house waiting for her to come out. Yes. And it is so unhealthy on every level. And nobody there has what's best for her or those kids in mind. So it's just like she needs help, but she's just going to other fucking asshole crazy people. And then she thought this dude, Lutfi was going to come in and help her.

And then he just prayed upon her again. And as their leave, because she gets taken away in an ambulance. So on January 31st, she is taken from her home by ambulance and escorted to a hospital by more than a dozen police officers, along with two helicopters overhead to UCLA Medical Center to be placed on a, quote, mental evaluation hold. And this is the last quote I have from the Rolling Stone article that made my stomach turn. 75 paps gather around the entrances to Brittany's gated community, stamping their feet in the chilly winter night as a police helicopter. circles overhead. You don't want an ambulance to roll out with a body bag and miss that, says a French photographer, checking his battery.

These guys are jaded after all that's happened. Man, Brittany can't die because then I don't get my money, says a guy in a famous stars and straps baseball hat. It's disgusting. I understand that everyone needs to make money and that, you know, being a paparazzi is a profession that can, at least if you listen to people or treat people like a human being can be done properly, but this is disgusting. Well, you're, you're helping the problem if you buy those kind of magazines, um,

that publish those photos. So it's a big, it's a big cycle of bad. But if there's a bunch of video footage of the watching the paparazzi's watch her leave and it is, it's really nauseating. Like they're like blocking, oh no. I feel so small. She did. They're like blocking her leaving. The ambulance can't even get out. They get help. Symbolic, absolutely.

So after that, Sam Lutfi, the family files a restraining order against Sam Lutfi that alleges he drugged her, took over her finances, and controlled the ravenous paparazzi. As we already mentioned, he did set up those visits and everything. And on February 1st, 2008, Spears's father, Jamie, was appointed co-conservator of her estate as the star was deemed unfit to look after her own affairs along with his attorney, Andrew Wallet. Andrew Wallet, by the way, last name, wallet. This put her estate, financial assets, and some personal assets under the control of her father and the lawyer. Jamie now negotiates business opportunities and has control over things like who visits

her estate while the attorney helps manage her finances. And in July of 2008, Spears and Federal Line reach an agreement in their custody battle granting Spears more visits with their children. And that is where we're at for part three. When asked what it's like being Britney Spears, she responds, I'm sometimes in denial to the fact that I'm a celebrity. Deep inside, I wish to be very private, which I believe I am. All this fame is way too much for me, as it's really hard to grasp its magnitude. When you're young and in the beginning of your career,

it's understandable that you've just stepped into this world. But when you grow up and you look at this industry, you're like, huh, that's crazy. I have these moments where I just want to dress up like a normal person and walk in the street, it goes through my mind quite a lot. And that is really the big issue. Like you're saying, I do think she needs the help. And definitely in 2008 she needed it.

But it's like this group of people dumped a bag of manure on her. And then went, oh, God, you're covered in manure. Get her away from stuff. There's something wrong with her. Yes. And there's nobody to protect her. Justin Dibberley. Dustin, you got to go back.

Dustin. Well, whatever. He cheated on his wife recently, so fuck him. No, I'm just kidding. Well, supposedly. That's a blind item. Supposedly. Cry me a river, Justin.

Cry me a river holding hands on the New Orleans balcony. Either way. I know that this was a sad, upsetting episode. I know that it is, it again, I think that it does get unfortunately worse. Worse. It gets worse, actually. So we'll be having fun for that. No, no, but I do think that's such an important story.

This has been one of my favorite episodes ever. done research for or series of episodes because I've always been curious about this and doing a deep dive has been very eye-opening and tells the story. Again, I love stories.

Episodes like these because they tell the story of a time in America. Like they don't just tell the story of a person. They tell the story of a whole society. And the fact that I just remember these snapshots of time

that I was like, okay, yeah, yeah, I remember like the umbrella thing, remember what she shaved her head. But I never knew why. I never really, and I, and like, you know, of course, even through the trial

that will end up happening with Lofti and everything. He says, oh, she actually shaved her head because they said they could do drug tests on your hair. And that's why she shaved her head. But I just... That's bullshit. I think it's...

Him I don't fucking trust for a goddamn second. No, I don't believe that. And the fact that she just had to put out another restraining order against him, get out of here! We're going to get into the nitty-gritty of hashtag free Britney. And if... I just...

We don't know what the truth is. We know what we know. It is out there. It is. The truth is out there. It's just for someone whose entire life was manipulated, you get a breaking point. Anyone would. I mean, just think of what you were like, you know, the first second, when you left home,

as someone that I was able to get away with a lot of stuff. I did a lot of bad things when I left. Because then there was nobody to catch me anymore. But I got to do that. I got to have the freedom to do that. You rob so many orphanages. Man, oh yeah, you rip up their little cribs. Because that's where to keep the money.

Catch Jackie if you can, and you can catch us next week with another episode of Pop History. Thank you so much for joining us today, guys. This is a just a dozy of a series of episodes. We promise we'll do something really dumb and fun after this. We should do like the Flintstones after there's something like that. I don't know. But either way, check us out on Patreon.

dot com forward slash page seven podcast also check me out on twitch.tv. forward slash hold naters ho I do a Friday night stream with Jackie every Friday 6 p.m. E. That's my name. I'm Natalie. Hi. The Natty Jean and page seven LPN. Hi Natalie. Hi. Are we doing this again? You want to start from the beginning? I'm Natalie like the Mickey Mouse Club. And I'm I apologize for all the F bombs and shouting. during this episode.

How dare you, you bitch? And my name is Jackie, and I'm a great sister-in-law. And you can find me on Instagram at Jack That Worm. And thank you guys so much for joining us in this story. And we will get into the nitty-gritty next week, and we'll see you then. See you then. Bye, guys. This show is made possible by listeners like you.

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