Britney Spears has voluntarily checked herself into rehab, a representative for the singer confirmed to Rolling Stone and Variety. Last month, the pop star was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and booked into California’s Ventura County Main Jail; she was released a few hours later and given a court date. Pitchfork has reached out to Spears’ spokesperson for comment.
On March 4, Spears was arrested by the California Highway Patrol at 9:30 p.m. after officers received a call about a vehicle driving erratically at a high speed. Upon locating the car, officers enforced a stop and noted that Spears, the driver, “showed signs of impairment and submitted to a series of field sobriety tests,” after which she was arrested for violating California Vehicle Code section 23152(g), driving under the influence of a combination of drugs and alcohol. Spears was booked into the jail at 3 a.m. and released a few hours later. She’s scheduled to appear in Ventura County Superior Court on May 4.
Weeks later, on March 27, Spears addressed the arrest in the caption of one of her social media posts, which was a video of herself dancing alongside her 19-year-old son, Jayden Federline. “Thank you guys for all your support… spending time with family and friends is such a blessing,” she wrote. “Stay kind !!!”
In 2021, Spears’ 13-year conservatorship was terminated. Her father, James “Jamie” Spears, oversaw her in the court-ordered arrangement since its implementation in 2008. The singer started working to end the conservatorship in 2014, and gained momentum nearly seven years later when she gave an incendiary testimony in court begging for it to end, revealing she wanted to sue her family, and saying, “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive.” Jamie Spears filed to end the conservatorship that September.
This past February, Spears sold the rights to her music catalog to Primary Wave, a company that has spent the past two decades scooping up the works of Bob Marley, Whitney Houston, Prince, and many others. Spears released her most recent album, Glory, in 2016, while her latest single was the 2023 collaboration with Will.i.am titled “Mind Your Business.”
Read the Sunday Review of Spears’ 2007 album Blackout.
