According to the new documentary Controlling Britney Spears, Britney Spears’ phone was tapped and conservators bugged her home.
The documentary, which was released on the US streaming services Hulu and FX on Friday, serves as a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Framing Britney Spears.
It alleges that Spears was under intense surveillance throughout her conservatorship that “monitored her every move”.
In an interview with Variety, the creators of both Controlling Britney Spears and Framing Britney Spears, Liz Day and Samantha Stark, said it was “shocking” to learn that Britney Spears’ phone was tapped.
“One of the reasons why it was so shocking is because we had heard rumours about this — people have speculated that her phone is bugged or her house is bugged, but no one really ever had proof,” said Day.
She continued: “Security, in particular, was just a literal black box because no one knew what they did or how they operated. So, to have someone come forward with proof was so revealing and helps us understand how so much of what Britney said in court in June could be true. It’s hard to understand how that could happen to one of the most famous people on the planet.”
Stark added: “A lot of people said, “Why wouldn’t Britney just say something? Or go on her Instagram and say something?” We are really starting to unravel how difficult that would have been, now that we know she had such an intense surveillance around her for all these years.”
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Day revealed that it was Spears’ decision to speak out in court back in June that led to witnesses being willing to feature in the documentary.
“Britney speaking out in court was really the game changer, in terms of people saying they’re willing to break an NDA, or they felt it was important to speak,” she said.
Controlling Britney Spears is one of two documentaries on the pop icon to be released this month, with Netflix due to drop Britney vs. Spears on Tuesday, September 28th.
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Check out the trailer for Controlling Britney Spears:
