Britney Spears’ DUI arrest shows she’s ‘long overdue’ for help, manager says

In her 2023 memoir, “The Woman In Me,” Britney Spears wrote about how she liked to drink but insisted she “was never out of control.” She also claimed she was never into “hard drugs” and only ever used Adderall, the amphetamine that’s used to treat ADHD.

And even after Spears revealed she twice went to rehab in 2014 and 2019 — for her use of over-the-counter energy supplements, she said — she got publicly defensive in October when entertainment outlets published a video of her driving erratically, dangerously swerving in and out of lanes, after leaving a restaurant near her home in Thousand Oaks in Ventura County.

But now Spears, 44, can’t say that the tabloids are falsely accusing her of abusing substances or of being a danger to herself and others. The troubled pop star also can’t deny that her life is “spiraling,” after she was arrested Wednesday night in Ventura County’s Westlake Village, also near her Thousand Oaks home, on suspicion of driving under the influence, as TMZ first reported. 

Dispatch audio of Spears’ arrest reveals that, as with the incident in October, she was seen driving her black BMW convertible, swerving in and out of lanes on the freeway, as well as speeding, Page Six reported. Starting at about 8:13 p.m. the California Highway Patrol sent “all units” to respond and pursued her for nearly an hour, the Daily Mail also reported. After pulling Spears over, officers handcuffed her, arrested her and took her to a nearby hospital to have her blood drawn. She was booked at the Ventura County jail and then released at about 6 a.m., TMZ reported. 

Following her release, Spears, or someone acting on her behalf, deleted her Instagram profile, where she often posted videos of herself dancing alone and she sometimes appeared to behaving erratically or lashed out against people who she believes have wronged her.

For the official response to Spears’ arrest, her manager, Cade Hudson, issued a surprisingly and “searingly honest” statement that acknowledged that the singer is not well, Page Six reported.

“This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable,” Hudson said, according to Page Six. “Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life. Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.”

Hudson’s statement also said that Spears’ sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, “are going to be spending time with her,” while all her loved ones are “going to come up with an overdue, needed plan to set her up for success for well-being.”

The singer rose to international fame through a string of hits in the 1990s and early 2000s, such as “Baby One More Time,” Toxic” and “Oops! I Did It Again.” But her music career became overshadowed by her personal struggles, as the New York Times and other outlets reported.

In 2006, she was pictured driving her S.U.V. while holding her then-infant son Sean in her lap, not in a child seat as required by law. The next year, she was snapped by paparazzi shaving her head and hitting a photographer’s car with an umbrella. She also was cited in 2007 for a misdemeanor hit-and-run after hitting a parked car, with the case being settled after Spears paid an undisclosed sum to the owner.

In 2008, Spears was placed in a conservatorship after her father petitioned a California court for authority over his daughter’s life and finances, citing her public mental health struggles, psychiatric hold and possible substance abuse, the New York Times reported.

But during a public court battle in 2021, in part spurred by an online #FreeBritney movement, Spears asked a judge to release her from the conservatorship. “I just want my life back,” Spears said. Later that year, the judge agreed to terminate the conservatorship.

But Spears and people around her have faced questions about whether she still needs the conservatorship, especially because of her alarming Instagram posts. In 2023, law enforcement visited Spears’shome regarding a video she posted of herself dancing with knives, but no charges were filed.

In October, concerns about Spears’ “spiraling” out of control were raised, following a Daily Mail report that she appeared  “unsteady” on her feet during happy hour at a Thousand Oaks restaurant. With the help of a female friend, she made her way out of the restaurant but reportedly ignored several people’s pleas to not get behind the wheel of her car. While driving the five miles home, she was recorded tailgating other vehicles, swerving off the road and crossing over into the on-coming lane, according to the Daily Mail.

The next month, Speared shared a photo of herself with bandages around her hands, wrists and knee, saying in a caption, “I fell down the stairs at my friend’s house,” the New York Times reported. Then, in late February, she appeared in a photo, looking disheveled with her makeup smudged, the Daily Mail reported. She also exposed her bare breasts, though she covered them with a red-heart emoji.

Following Spears’ release from custody Thursday morning, she is scheduled to appear in court on May 4.