As is widely known by now, Britney Spears is free from her conservatorship. Part of the thanks there goes to the #FreeBritney movement, which helped bring public awareness to the injustices that Spears was facing. In a 22-minute audio clip shared (and then quickly made private) last night, Spears took a moment to acknowledge her fans and explain how their support left her confused.
It wasn’t their support itself that was confounding, but how it contrasted with the backing Spears got from her own family. She said (as Billboard reports):
“The whole thing that made it really confusing for me is these people were on the street were fighting for me, but my sister and my mother aren’t doing anything. To me, it was like they secretly, honestly liked me being the bad one, like I was messed up, and they kind of just liked it that way. Otherwise why weren’t they outside my doorstep saying, ‘Baby girl, get in the car, let’s go.’ I think that’s the main thing that hurt me. I couldn’t process how my family went along with it for so long.”
This isn’t the first time Spears has given thanks to her #FreeBritney fans. Shortly after the conservatorship came to an end, Spears wrote on Instagram, “You guys rock. Honestly, my voice was muted and threatened for so long, I wasn’t able to speak up or say anything. Because of you guys and the awareness of kinda knowing what was going on, and delivering that news to the public for so long, you give it awareness to all of them. Because of you, I honestly think that you guys saved my life in a way 100%.”