Most shocking revelations from Netflix’s Britney documentary Britney Vs. Spears

Netflix’s new Britney Spears documentary unearths many shocking facts – including a cry for help from the star that nobody heard.

Yes, another Britney Spears documentary. Netflix today released its entry to the ever-growing catalogue of documentaries examining the pop star’s conservatorship, Britney Vs Spears – but it makes for gripping viewing in what is fast becoming a crowded market.

In the 90-minute film, journalist Jenny Eliscu and filmmaker Erin Lee Carr investigate Britney’s fight for freedom from the conservatorship she’s lived under for the past 13 years.

The events of the past few years have been well-documented already – Britney’s sudden retirement from music, her explosive court testimony at a June hearing about her conservatorship – so the film is best when it’s looking at lesser-known elements of her story.

Britney’s paparazzo ex speaks

Hounded by the paparazzi every day, Britney eventually chose one of their throng as her boyfriend. Picture: AFP

In a bizarre start to a relationship, Britney started dating paparazzi photographer Adnan Ghalib in late 2007 when he was one of the throng of photographers assigned to chase her each day for photos.

But theirs was a volatile relationship – interviewed in the doco, Adnan remembers staying up with Britney for three days at a time, not wanting to leave her or go to sleep because “if anything happened to her, I’d get blamed.” He says she was taking the prescription medication Aderrall at the time.

“What was apparent to me in her divorce from Kevin (Federline) was she didn’t have one person she could trust – not her mum, dad, sister anybody. That’s a very scary, dark place to be,” he says.

Britney’s darkest night

Paparazzo chase the emergency services vehicle, with Britney inside.

One terrible night in January 2008, Britney locked herself in a room of her house, refusing to hand over her two young children to their father Kevin Federline at the court-appointed time. The resulting chaos is still shocking to witness – but witness it we can, because it was so well-documented. Dozens of photographers swarm the ambulance that takes Britney away, chasing it down the street and holding onto the doors trying to get a photo. It’s like watching a zombie movie.

Bizarre reason for conservatorship

The reason Britney was placed under conservatorship.

Court documents featured in the doco show the reason given for Britney’s controversial conservatorship arrangement: “Orders related to dementia placement.”

As the filmmakers note, it was highly unusual to have “dementia” listed for a conservateee in their 20s – or for someone who then continued working, touring the world and releasing albums.

“Something I don’t believe has been portrayed correctly is the level of crisis when the conservatorship began,” Britney biographer Lorilee Craker says.

The crisis? Sam Lufti, her manager and handler at the time. Craker claims he was “crushing drugs, putting them in her food and bragging about it,” – an allegation Lufti, also interviewed in the doco, vehemently denies. “I was the perfect scapegoat to get this (conservatorship) done,” he says.

Britney’s heartbreaking secret letter

An excerpt from Britney's secret letter.

Less than one year into her conservatorship, Britney wrote an open letter about her situation which she gave to friend and documentary filmmaker Andrew Gallery, with a request to get it out to the public.

“This year Britney’s been silenced to speak about anything that’s really going on. The people controlling her life have made 3 million dollars this year. She’d love for new eyes to see her situation, but if she brings it up she’s constantly threatened that the conservators will take her kids away,” Britney writes.

“So how long does this go on for? As long as the people are getting paid and she has no rights it could go on for a while, but it doesn’t make it right at all.”

“Britney’s given her brother a $2m apartment, her mother an estate in Louisiana and her father the best job in show business. She’s a very giving person and would love to get the respect she deserves.”

Gallery says bids like this to get her story out would happen “often” during his friendship with her – she would also try to use his phone to contact people.

He says “a huge fire alarm went off” within the conservatorship when they found out about the letter. He stopped working or spending time with her shortly after that. “Britney had met a bunch of my friends, she had come into my life … it was sad to think that she would be alone again,” he says.

A conservatorship ‘in chaos’

By 2012, Britney had a new fiance, talent agent Jason Trawick. He starred in the music video to her song Criminal – and Britney requested he be added as a conservator for her along with her father. Documents from around this time show the conservatorship was “in chaos” – Britney had inked a multimillion-dollar deal to be a judge on The X Factor. The medical team assessing her for the conservatorship advised against the role, but Britney’s management pushed back.

Unsealed documents acknowledge Britney was on "stimulants" during her X-Factor stint.

One “bombshell” the filmmakers uncover from this time - a time when most fans thought Britney was back in control of her career: Britney started being given different doses of “stimulant” medication each day, depending on whether she was filming X Factor or not.

Appropriately for someone who was silenced for so many years, it’s Britney’s own voice that delivers the emotional climax to Britney Vs. Spears: Her searing court testimony from June closes the film, with a furious, articulate Britney Spears demanding justice and begging for the court to make a change to her situation.

That change may be coming very soon – her next conservatorship hearing is scheduled for September 29, the day after the film’s release.

Originally published as Most shocking revelations from Netflix’s Britney documentary Britney Vs. Spears