Why Britney Spears Didn't Speak Out Earlier

In case you hadn’t heard, Britney Spears was finally able to speak for herself in a court hearing on Wednesday and proved many #FreeBritney followers right.

She told the judge she believed her conservatorship was “abusive” and was keeping her trapped from living her life, despite the fact she was a capable adult.

As for the years of telling everyone she was fine? She addressed that directly, saying:

“I’ve lied and told the whole world I’m OK and I’m happy. I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized… I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry. It’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day.”

So awful.

But… why was she lying in the first place? She spoke a bit about that as well, and the answer was rather unexpected. She said during her virtual hearing:

“To be honest with you, the Paris Hilton story on what they did to her at that school, I didn’t believe any of it. I’m sorry.”

She is of course referring to when Paris spoke out last summer about the abuse she faced as a teen attending the Provo Canyon School. She claimed the adults running the place were verbally and physically abusive to the teenage girls there, who were sent because of disciplinary issues and thus were not believed. It didn’t take long before several other alumni joined her in speaking out about their abusive experiences.

But what did that have to do with Britney? Well, she reasoned that if she didn’t believe Paris at the time, why would anyone believe her when she spoke out about her abuse?

“Mainly I didn’t want to say it openly because I honestly don’t think anyone would believe me… I’m an outsider and I’ll just be honest, I didn’t believe it and maybe I’m wrong and that’s why I didn’t want to say any of this to anybody to the public because I thought people would make fun of me or laugh at me and say, ‘she’s lying, she’s got everything, she’s Britney Spears.’ I’m not lying. I just want my life back.”

Wow. Just heartbreaking.

Britney detailed several abuses at the hands of her father, things it seems to us should be illegal in any conservatorship — like that she was drugged when she refused to perform a concert or that she was forced to take contraceptives against her will because they didn’t want her to have more children.

She told the judge:

“In California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking, making anyone work against their will, taking all their possessions away credit card, cash, phone, passport.”

It’s a strong point. She added:

“Ma’am, my dad and anyone involved in this conservatorship, and my management, who played huge roles in punishing me when I said ‘No’ [to going on tour] — Ma’am, they should be in jail.”

We feel so sad that she thought no one would believe her. It’s a hell of a world where women still feel they can’t come forward without being laughed at and called a liar.

She didn’t say what changed, but if we’re being honest, it seems pretty obvious to us — the strength of the #FreeBritney movement reached her, letting her know she had a LOT of support waiting for her when she chose to break her silence. And that’s just what happened.

Did YOU believe Britney was in trouble before she spoke out??

[Image via Britney Spears/Instagram/MEGA/WENN.]