Britney Spears had sober coaches but fired them before DUI arrest: report

Britney Spears or the people around her were reportedly deeply concerned that she was drinking too much or otherwise engaging in self-destructive behavior because they had employed sober coaches, professionals who were supposedly tasked with working with her 24/7 to help her stay sober, navigate recovery and avoid relapse.

But according to TMZ, the troubled, 44-year-old pop star fired those employees last month, a few weeks before she was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence of what the California Highway Patrol alleged was “a combination of alcohol and drugs.”

TMZ reported that Spears also fired security guards, whose job presumably involved keeping her safe and not letting her get behind the wheel of a car if she wasn’t in a condition to drive. The staff changes occurred after Spears returned home to California from a trip to Mexico and after selling her music catalog for nine figures in early February, as TMZ reported. 

TMZ didn’t offer a reason for the staff firings, but they are indicative of someone who doesn’t think she has a problem or who doesn’t want to feel like she’s being controlled.

Following Spears’ arrest, her manager, Cade Hudson, issued a surprisingly and “searingly honest” statement Thursday morning, which acknowledged that the singer is not well and hasn’t been for a while, as 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, 20, and Jayden James, 19, were “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.”

Spears was arrested in Ventura County’s Westlake Village, near her Thousand Oaks home, on Wednesday night. According to the Daily Mail, CHP officers began pursuing Spears after a call came in at around 8:48 p.m. to report that a black BMW was driving erratically at high speeds on the southbound side of US-101 near Newbury Park.

CHP officers were able to spot Spears’ vehicle and direct her to leave the freeway and pull over, the Daily Mail also reported. Officers reported that Spears appeared impaired and was put through a variety of field sobriety tests. As a result of her performance, officers said they arrested her on suspicion of violating California Vehicle Code section 23152(g) — driving under the influence of “a combination of drugs and alcohol.”

Spears was booked into the Ventura County jail at around 3 a.m. Thursday before being released several hours later.

However, this is not the first time in recent months that Spears has allegedly gotten behind the wheel of her BMW, possibly after drinking too much, and driven erratically. In October, the Daily Mail reported that the singer 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 drive. 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.

At the time, sources expressed fear that Spears was “spiraling” amid the release of her ex-husband Kevin Federline’s memoir. The two were married from 2004 to 2007. In the memoir, “You Thought You Knew,” Federline revealed that their sons were afraid to be alone with their mother when they were younger.

“They would awaken sometimes at night to find her standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep — ‘Oh, you’re awake?’ — with a knife in her hand,” Federline wrote, according to the New York Times. “Then she’d turn around and pad off without explanation.”

Such alleged behavior prompted Federline to sound the alarm in his book about Spears’ mental health, especially when there was no longer the kind of oversight that was provided by a conservatorship that a Los Angeles judge terminated in 2021.

“It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK,” Federline wrote. “From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the 11th hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.”

Spears 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 the Grammy winner’s music career became overshadowed by her personal struggles and growing concerns about her mental health, as the New York Times and other outlets reported.

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, possible substance abuse and a psychiatric hold.

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 the people around her have faced questions about whether she still needs the conservatorship, especially because of her alarming Instagram posts, in which she often dances by herself or appears to behave erratically. In 2023, law enforcement visited Spears’ home regarding a video she posted of herself dancing with knives, but no charges were filed.

In the past two years, Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies have been called to her home 14 times for reports of trespassing, alarms being activited, unspecified disturbances and wellness checks, the California Post also reported.