Dark History - 167: Wendy & Britney: Hollywood Hostages? The DH of Conservatorships

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I love Wendy Williams. She’s an icon, she’s a legend, and “she is the moment.” From 2008 to 2021 Wendy hosted over 2,000 episodes of her show, got an Emmy nomination for best host, and honestly gave us some of the best memes and clips of all time.  Then, in 2021, Wendy kind of… Vanished. No one really said what was going on. Just that she was dealing with “health problems.” Turns out, Wendy was put under something called… a“conservatorship.” Now this was allegedly to help her manage her life and money in this difficult time. But a lot of fans, myself included, were left wondering… who’s really calling the shots here? And is Wendy in trouble?  It seems like we only hear about conservatorships when it comes to celebrities. But after I did some digging… it turns out, it’s *WAY* more common than we think. So let’s get into it. I appreciate you for coming by, and tune in next week for more Dark History. I sometimes talk about my Good Reads in the show. So here's the link if you want to check it out. IDK. lol: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/139701263-bailey ________ FOLLOW ME AROUND Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian* RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: [e-mail] Business Related Emails: [e-mail] Business Related Mail: Bailey Sarian 4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300 Burbank, CA 91505 ________ Credits: This podcast is Executive Produced by: Bailey Sarian & Kevin Grosch and Joey Scavuzzo from Made In Network Head Writer: Allyson Philobos Writer: Katie Burris Additional Writing: Alexander Elmore Research provided by: Coleen Smith & Alexander Elmore Special thank you to our Historical Consultant: Dr. Stacey Wood, Molly Mason Jones Professor of Psychology Scripps College. Author of the forthcoming book “Played: The Psychology of Scams” Director: Brian Jaggers Additional Editing: Julien Perez & Maria Norris Post Supervisor: Kelly Hardin  Production Management: Ross Woodruff Hair: Luca Burnett Makeup: Roni Herrera ________  Right now, you can get a 30-day free trial PLUS 25 percent off your annual subscription when you go to https://www.dipseastories.com/darkhistory. Start your initial free online visit today at https://www.forhers.com slash/darkhistory for your personalized hair loss treatment options. Individual Results may vary. Compounded products are not FDA-approved or verified for safety, effectiveness, or quality. Prescription required. Price varies based on product and subscription plan. See website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. Calm the chaos of order fulfillment with the shipping software that delivers. Switch to ShipStation today. Go to https://www.shipstation.com and use code DARKHISTORY to sign up for your FREE trial. Personal styling for everyone—get started today at https://www.stitchfix.com/darkhistory.

I love Wendy Williams. She's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment. Look, from 2008 to 2021, Wendy hosted over 2,000 episodes of her show, the Wendy Williams Show, she got an Emmy nomination for best host, and honestly gave us some of the best memes and clips of all time. Then in 2021, Wendy kind of just disappeared, right? No one really knew what was going on. It was all speculation and then it was like she was dealing with health problems and it was sad. It was like what's going on? Where's Wendy? But we all kind of knew like something was happening. The show officially ended in 2022 with no updates about Wendy.

And then in February of 2024, it was announced that Wendy had been diagnosed with dementia and aphasia. And I think sadly, a lot of us realized we'd probably never hear from Wendy again. Oh, it was just so sad. But then a few weeks later, there was another announcement. There was going to be a documentary about Wendy.

And on top of that, she was going to be the executive producer. So this was supposed to give us an update on what's really been going on with her. If you watched, did you watch? Oh, who approved that? Who approved that? Because it was one of the saddest documentaries ever. I couldn't even watch it.

It was just like, this shouldn't have even been put out. The documentary featured her health problems, her alleged alcoholism, her financial issues, which made the fans think like, okay, I guess Wendy wanted people to know about this, or at least she was okay with it, I don't know. Well, almost immediately her family and friends started speaking out against this documentary. They called it abusive and said that

Wendy's medical conditions made it impossible for her to have actually agreed to the show. Well, it turns out Wendy was under something called a conservatorship. A conservatorship is a legal arrangement where one person is appointed by a court to handle personal and slash or business decisions for another. Some states call it a guardianship. Others save the term guardian for minor children. Point being that it's a big deal to be under a conservatorship or guardianship because you've been stripped of the right to make certain decisions for yourself. Now this was allegedly to help her manage her life and money in this difficult time.

But a lot of fans, myself included, were left wondering, like, is she okay? Who's really calling the shots for Ms. Wendy? And is she in trouble? It seems like we only hear about conservatorships when it comes to celebrities. But after I did some digging, it turns out it's way more common than we think. So let's talk about it, shall we? Welcome to the dark history of conservatorships. Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today.

My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Hi. Here we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic, sometimes it's happy. But either way, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe. I'm always posting new content for you. And let me know what you think in the comments section down below, because I read them at the end.

Now, let's get into it, huh? So to understand the origin of conservatorships, we have to talk about Frances Farmer. I know, who's Frances Farmer? What kind of farm did he own? Great question. Well, Frances Farmer was actually an American actress. Yeah, not a farmer.

She was born in 1913 in Seattle, Washington. Frances came from a poor family, and after her parents divorced when she was four, she was raised by her mom. And from a young age, Frances just knew she wanted to do something bigger and better in her life. She worked her butt off in school and eventually made it to the University of Washington

where she realized she had a passion for acting. She starred in every single production at college and even started acting in professional plays. And that's when she decided she was going to move to New York and try and make it as an actor. So she goes and she auditions for anything and everything she can get into. And all her hustling pays off.

She manages to land a movie deal with Paramount Pictures. You go girl. Back then you would sign a contract with a movie studio for a certain number of years and only appear in movies that's studio made and nobody else. It seems like a nice deal because it's like, oh, it's a five year contract or something.

And it's kind of like your guaranteed five years of work. It seems like a sweet deal, but you know, the truth was studios had a reputation for being extremely controlling with their actors and actresses. Rumor has it they still actually do this. I read it somewhere, so it must be true. But I heard they do this, like Marvel will do this

where you can, like you'll sign a deal and you are agreeing to doing like X amount of Marvel movies and you can't work for anybody else, you know, but I could be lying. I think it's true. Anywho, what I'm getting at is, okay, great. So it's 1936 and it was a big year for Frances. She got her studio deal and she made her very first movie

and she ended up marrying another up and coming actor named Leif Erikson. I know, I was like, could you imagine? Like this is my husband, Leif. Le Like, this is my husband. Leaf. Leaf. Leaf. It's just Leaf. I don't know. Let me know your thoughts on Leaf. I just imagine like you're being like sexual and stuff. You're like, oh baby, oh baby, give it to me, you know? But you're like, oh Leaf. Do me right, Leaf. That was my takeaway from the story. Leaf. I know. Anyhow, so they get married.

And to be honest, the marriage wasn't really about love, let's say. Frances, she was smart, and she knew that getting married to another actor on The Rise was like good PR, okay? So their marriage was more of like a professional partnership behind closed doors. And I guess it worked because her next two movies did really well. So their marriage was more of like a professional partnership behind closed doors.

And I guess it worked because her next two movies did really well. Then in 1936, Frances Farmer starred in an Oscar-winning movie called Come and Get It. And this made her an it girl overnight. Over the next few years, Frances had a little more trouble getting ahead of her reputation. She was still working a ton, doing plays, hit movies, but there were rumors going around about her being difficult to work with. And let me tell you, in the industry, once you get the label difficult to work with, it's like game over. It's so annoying. Frances became known as a little bit of a rebel because she would stand up for herself

and she had opinions. Who would have thought? And because of this, she rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. And then the cherry on top, it was discovered that she was having an affair with a director. I'm not judging, but everyone else was.

Now, because her husband with the fantastic name Leaf was a famous actor, their marriage gets thrown into the spotlight. So of course, the media is reporting on this and who are they gonna side with? Not her, she's having an affair. They're gonna go with Leaf, right? So everyone's loving Leaf.

And this is when people really start to say very nasty and hurtful things about Francis behind her back. Hi, sorry for the jump scare. I'm out of town. I went hiking today. Isn't that nuts? Anyways, how are you? Everything seems so stressful in the world, you know?

I don't know about you, but sometimes I just want to escape for a little bit, which I'm doing. Maybe even add a little bit more like spice to my day. Well, guess what? Whether you need a break from your daily grind or you just wanna like get lost in pleasure, Dipsy is your perfect escape.

Oh yes, Dipsy, let me tell you. Dipsy is the audio app that lets you immerse yourself in spicy stories that transport you to your wildest fantasies. Dipsy is the female founded app for juicy audio books and more. spicy stories that transport you to your wildest fantasies. Dipsy is the female founded app for juicy audiobooks and more created by women for the female gaze. Their app has over 1000 audiobooks all crafted by a team of professional writers and they have everything. Oh, everything.

Whether you wanna hear a sexy rendition of Pride and Prejudice or a naughty little story about a hot professor, you'll find characters you'll love on Dipsy. Their app is easy to use and lets you search for your new favorite romance genres like contemporary, historical, dark. They got a romanticie. Oh, they have everything.

So much more. Plus new chapters are released every week. So you'll always have something new to look forward to. Right now you can get a 30-day free trial plus 25% off your annual subscription when you go to dipsystories.com slash dark history. That's D I P S E A stories dot com slash dark history for 30 free days and 25% off your subscription. Dipsystories.com slash dark history. In 1942, Frances found herself without any job offers for the first time in years.

She was unemployed and no studios or directors wanted to hire her because of her reputation. On top of that, on June 12th, her husband, Leaf, Leaf divorces her and gets married to another actress on the same day. Yeah. Petty. Petty. Petty. But whatever. He knew what he was doing.

A few months later, it's October of 1942, she's driving home late at night. You know, there are a few different accounts about what happens next. But what we do know is that a police officer pulls her over and like comes up to her car. I guess Frances was driving with her headlights on in an area that was called a dim out zone.

So in an area called a dim out zone, you weren't supposed to be driving with your headlights on. It was common during World War II because of potential air raids, it was a thing. So they wanted you to just drive in the dark, I guess. Long story short, she gets arrested. The police officer said that Frances didn't have her license on her. But many people believe Frances was actually arrested

because maybe she gave the officer attitude. We don't know, we weren't there. Now she's released about eight hours later but obviously she's a famous actress so the story makes it all over the tabloids. She was Lindsay before Lindsay. This leads to Paramount cancelling her contract, essentially firing Francis. So now Francis is just like out of luck.

And at this time, if you did not have a studio contract, it basically meant your career was over. After a few rocky months, she's hired on a movie called No Escape, but she only completed a single day of filming because on January 13th, 1943, I guess Frances gets into a fight with the hairdresser. Well, it depends.

Was the hairdresser doing a bad job?. Was the hairdresser doing a bad job? Like maybe the hairdresser did a really bad job. We don't know, but either way, not that I'm trying to victim blame or anything, it's just we don't know, but either way, Frances is upset and she storms off set and goes back to the hotel that she's living in now. She starts drinking at the bar with some friends.

She's getting really really loose. Allegedly she takes off her sweater and she smashes a mirror in the bar. She's pissed. She's had a rough day. After that she goes back to her room and she knocks out. Then knock knock. Hello. It's the police. It's aboutm. and they are here to arrest her. I mean, technically the reason for their arrest should be because she like smashed the mirror and whatnot, but they said that they're arresting her because Frances had never paid off the fines

from her first arrest, the one that I just mentioned. But Frances claims that they never told her why she was being arrested, which is why she didn't pay originally. The next morning, Frances goes before a judge. She was allegedly not allowed to see a lawyer. told her why she was being arrested, which is why she didn't pay. Originally. The next morning, Frances goes before a judge. She was allegedly not allowed to see a lawyer. In court, Frances tries to reason with the judge and asks him, like, have you ever had

a broken heart? And the judge ignores her and asks if Frances is an alcoholic. And Frances says quote, I put liquor in my milk, I put liquor in my coffee, and in my orange juice. What do you want me to do? Starve to death? I mean, yeah.

What do you want her to do? Starve to death? I mean, if that makes her an alcoholic, then I don't know. Well for not paying her fines, Frances gets sentenced to 180 days in jail. She asked to use the telephone and the judge says no. So Frances throws a bottle of ink off the desk towards the judge.

When the police try to restrain her, she gets into even more of a fight. She's taken back to jail and she's charged now with assault. Court declares her mentally incompetent, meaning that they believe she cannot take care of herself. It was at this point that Frances lost all control she had over her life. And this leads to what we would call today

a conservatorship. On January 20th, she's taken to a psychiatric hospital in Los Angeles called the La Crescenta Private Sanitarium, completely against her will. And it's not long before the doctors start to give her insulin. I know, I was like, insulin? She's diabetic?

Okay, whatever. Well, she wasn't diabetic. So listen, get this. If your body has too much insulin, you can go into a coma. We've talked about this a little bit in our diabetes episode, but also, I think I did a murder mystery on this where wives who wanted to kill their husbands

would inject insulin into them and would kill them. It's a thing. Doctors would inject people they considered mentally incompetent with insulin to put them into a medically induced coma for a few hours or even a few days. This was called insulin shock therapy. Now these comas weren't just like taking a nap. Francis described the insulin shock therapy as quote brutal physical attack which not only stunned the brain cells, but shocked the body as well and left the patient wracked with nausea and pain.

Now at first doctors said that this was for her depression and it was meant to keep her calm, but really that just meant it made patients like Francis easier to control. It also made it hard for Francis to understand what was going on. I mean, she's completely like disoriented, she can't leave, you know? So in April, Francis was supposed to be released, but a newspaper reported that she had relapsed and was required to stay at the hospital longer.

So Francis, she's freaking over this shit. She's like, I'm freaking out of here. And guess what she does? She manages to escape the hospital. She hitchhikes right out of there and when she's able to get away, she contacts her mom who was still living back in Seattle. So, her mom Lillian comes to Los Angeles and arranges to officially take Frances out of the hospital. Now, in order to do this, the courts have to make Lillian, her mom, her legal guardian. Even though, at this point, Francis is 30 years old. Today, this is what the

courts would essentially call a conservatorship. It's the same thing, but the official name has just changed over time. Nowadays in California, people under the age of 18 are assigned guardians versus people over the age of 18 are assigned conservatorships It depends state by state, but it's essentially the same thing. So by the end of 1943 The courts they actually appointed Lillian to be Francis's guardian Francis is released and both she and her mom go back to Seattle. So when she's released, she's back at home, right? She's able to like maybe hopefully just kind of come back to herself.

And a producer finds her phone number or whatever and reaches out to Francis because he wants to hire her for a film. A film you say? Well, guess what? She's's like I'm actually not interested. Click and like turns them down. Now when Lillian, her mom finds out, oh she's pissed off. She is pissed the fuck off. She files a complaint saying that Francis is insane for turning down work and for wanting to get out of Hollywood. Lillian took note that her daughter, Francis, she was acting a little strange.

She would go for long walks and then run back into the house saying like someone was following her. She would play the piano or the radio really, really loud and say this was to quote, "'Drown out the voices of fear,' end quote. I feel that. By March of 1944, Lillian is like over her shit and sends Francis back to the hospital. And this time, with Francis, she had her rights to any sort of trial completely signed away.

She was questioned by doctors who immediately declared her insane and diagnosed her with schizophrenia. Back then, people didn't talk about anxiety or depression or fricking stress, really. If you were a woman and you were like having any type of feelings, they would call you hysterical, unstable, schizophrenic, a woman, you know? And then they would just lock you up. So a judge ordered Francis to be committed to a new psych ward. This one was called the Western Washington State Hospital for the Insane at Stellacombe. It was said here Francis

received electroshock therapy. Oh so scary. Electroshock therapy is a medical treatment where electric currents are sent through the brain which would trigger like essentially a controlled seizure and they would do this because it was a treatment for mental illnesses, for depression and schizophrenia or whatever they were dealing with. They would just blast them, blast the brain. And apparently electroshock is like as just as horrible as it sounds. It's super painful. It was common for patients to break bones and even have intense memory loss. On top of this, Francis was also given something called hydrotherapy. Now this was where people were forced to sit in bathtubs of ice water for hours. I know. Because I know a

lot of you like to do what's it called cold plunge where you, I've done it once or twice where you jump into cold water or whatever, but you do it for maybe one to two minutes. Well, she was doing it for hours. Yeah, you try doing it for hours. After a few months, the doctors reported that Frances's behavior was improving. She was allegedly less erratic and more calm. But here's the funny part. It's not funny, but like in her own autobiography,

Francis said that she was putting on an act so she could finally get released and it worked. She's like, yeah, I'm great. I can name all 50 states. Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida. Just kidding, good for her. But her freedom sadly didn't last long. Her mom was so annoyed that Francis

wouldn't go back to acting. She just couldn't understand, like don't you want to be famous? So in 1945, Francis was dragged back to the state-run insane asylum, Stilakum. But this time, it was somehow worse. I wonder why her mom hated her so much. That's so sad. Okay, so she gets there and she's like, shit, I'm back.

Well, she's examined, she's stripped naked, her nails get cut, they frickin' shave her head. They completely shave her head. They completely shave her head and then she was sent to the violent ward which is called Ward T. So they send you here when like you are super violent. It's for like the most violent psychopaths and criminals. So it didn't really make sense why they were putting her there but they were. In these rooms there was like no ventilation, no windows, it was dark, people would be chained up by their wrists and ankles and just left

completely alone as if that's going to fix your problems. Any kind of disobedience would result in shock therapy. Worst of all, on top of all this, there were rumors that the guards would allow soldiers from the nearby army base to come in and rape the patients. Yeah, allegedly, allegedly, allegedly. I believe it though. Now, Frances stayed in the asylum for a total of five years. She had committed no crimes to earn that fricking five-year sentence, and she was a legal adult. If she hadn't been put into a conservatorship,

as we would come to call it, she never would have had to endure this brutal treatment. Finally, in March of 1950, Frances gets a parole hearing. So at this hearing, they ask Frances to talk about the weather for a minute, Frances gets a parole hearing. So at this hearing, they ask Frances to talk about the weather for a minute, you know, small talk. And then they ask if she can count to 50 and back. So she does, she does both of them.

She performs perfectly. She's like, yes, I can count. And then boom, it's like nothing happened. She's free to go. Like damn, that's all I had to do? Couldn't have done this five years ago? Okay. Many people believe that she was only given

the parole hearing because her father had requested it. Apparently he wanted Francis back home to care for her mother. Oh, I'm gonna care for her. I'm gonna wheel her right into a home. Bye. Have fun. I would love to.

So she's released and she ends up living, Frances, she ends up living with her parents and she's taking care of them. But it's kinda at like gunpoint because she knows if she doesn't behave herself or do exactly what they want, they're gonna send her away again. So for the rest of her life,

Frances kept a low profile. And I mean, who can blame her? Most people saw Frances as a tragic Hollywood celebrity, a star who couldn't handle fame, you know? It wasn't until years later, again, when she put out an autobiography, it was called, Will There Really Be a Morning? This is when people

really started to understand the abuse that she was going through and it turns out Francis's story was just the beginning. Are you dreaming of thicker fuller hair? Well get in line buddy okay? But there is another way with Her's Hair. Her's Hair treatments are made with doctor trusted prescription ingredients that many other hair products out there don't have. You can get thicker, fuller hair in just three to six months. They come in a variety of options,

including oral and topical solutions, or even choose options with added hair vitamins and supplements for extra support. Getting started is simple with a quick online hair quiz. Just answer some questions and you'll be connected with a provider to discuss your personalized treatment plan. Treatments start at just $35 a month and you can find the one that works for you.

Through Hers, everything is 100% online, so no pharmacy trips, doctor visits, or insurance required. Start your initial free online visit today at 4hers.com slash dark history. That's 4hers, F-O-R-H-E-R-S dot com slash dark history for your personalized hair loss treatment options. 4hers.com slash dark history. Individual results may vary. Compounded products are not FDA approved or verified for safety effectiveness or quality. Prescription required.

Price varies based on product and subscription plan. See website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. So let's fast forward a few decades. Conservatorship still really aren't like widely known or talked about about but all of that changes when a little someone named Britney Spears came into the picture. So Miss Britney Jane Spears was born into a little town called McCall, Mississippi

on December 2nd, 1981 making her a Sagittarius and we love that. But when she was about 11 years old, she was a member of the Mickey Mouse Club and Brittany, she quickly got attention for her dancing skills and she was just such a performer. At 15, she signed a record contract with a company called Jive Records. And in 1998, when she was only 16,

Brittany released her first song, Baby One More Time. She was 16? Oh my God. When you think of it like that, damn. She was just a baby. Oh, baby, baby. How was I supposed to know? That something was about here?

Thank you. I don't think I have to tell you, but that was a bop. And it was number one on the billboards within months. The wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wildest wild star. But I'm sure you remember the media back then was just awful, vicious. Today you would never find mainstream news outlets demanding to know whether a 16 year old had fake boobs or not, okay? Or was still a virgin because they were asking her these questions. But back in the late 90s that's exactly what they were doing to Miss Brittany. They shamed her for wearing short skirts, they criticized her every move, they criticized her every move, they criticized her song lyrics, they criticized everything.

She became a pariah in the media for being scandalous and sexual when she was only a teenager just wearing outfits that a lot of teenagers were wearing. Even though the media liked to attack her and the critics liked to call her music shallow, the public, we loved her. We didn't care.

Shut up everyone. She was great. And you know, from this single on, Britney was working nonstop. She released two more albums in the next two years. She was nominated for Grammys. She performed Slave for You at the VMAs wearing that snake around her neck. I don't like snakes. Don't put one around me, thank you.

She starred in Crossroads, it was really bad, but we still watched it. We were like, Brittany, we still love you, we'll forgive you for this one, it's a little weird. She was dating Justin Timberlake, I mean, she was an icon. But even while her career continued to skyrocket, things were going downhill pretty fast in her personal life.

In 2002, her relationship with that shithead Justin Timberlake ended. It was all over the tabloids. Everyone blamed Ms. Brittany, including that shithead Justin Timberlake. Millions of people started turning against her because of a relationship that they knew nothing about. And the hate was intense and it was overwhelming. It was a lot. So then we started to watch poor Miss Brittany

kind of unravel. She started to make some questionable choices. I mean, I think she was just trying to reclaim her life, but you know, the media, they didn't think that. The next year she got married in Vegas, but the marriage was annulled just like 55 hours later. Then in 2004 after three months of knowing each other she married this other shithead Kevin Federline. Remember when she got with him and we were like no Brittany no no she trash. Trash, KFed.

Anyway, she ended up having two boys with Mr. KFed. They ended up getting a divorce just a couple years later in 2006. Of course, I'm glossing over a lot of details, I know. This is about conservatorship. So this is when it looked like to the public that Brittany was like really losing her grip. She said quote, I know now that I was displaying just about every symptom of perinatal depression, sadness,

anxiety, fatigue. Being a new mom is challenging enough without trying to do everything under a microscope. No one was around to see me spiral except every paparazzo in America. She just needed some love and support. In the divorce, Brittany lost custody of both of her kids who were just toddlers at this point and Kevin starts actively trying to block Brittany from seeing her children at all. But despite all this trauma, Brittany continued to work. You better work, batch. The next year at the 2007 VMAs... So you remember the 2007 VMAs? Oh yeah, someone should have told her, no no no, not right now. But she

ended up performing her song, Gimme More, and it was obvious. Oh, it was so bad. Poor Brittany. Oh, I remember watching it like, oh no, Britt, Britt, exit, exit, stage left, go girl. It was just clear she wasn't, she wasn't okay. She was just kind of going through the motions. She was just there. And then one night in early 2007, Brittany walked into a hair salon and casually shaved all her hair off.

Brittany Lainer said, quote, shaving my head was a way of saying to the world, "'fuck you. "'You want me to be pretty for you? "'Fuck you. "'You want me to be good for you? "'Fuck you. "'You want me to be your dream girl?

"'Fuck you.'" When I read her book and I read that part, I was like, oh, that makes sense. It makes sense. I mean, the media, all of everyone, framed her as being oh she's crazy, she's crazy, she's lost it, she's bald, remember? You remember? It was wild. It was sad. Well after this, Brittany is sent to a psychiatric hospital because of her erratic behavior.

She's put under psychiatric hold for 72 hours and isn't allowed to do anything alone. Not even go to the bathroom. And a month later, in February of 2008, her family decides to put Brittany under a conservatorship against her will. Jamie Spears? That's Brittany's dad. Jamie, her dad, becomes her conservator. This would be the person now in charge

of making all of her life decisions. This is bad news for Brittany who said quote, "'Even though I begged the court "'to appoint literally anyone else, "'and I mean anyone off the street would have been better. "'They still made Jamie in charge. "'So why did he get the job, you know?' "'Well, this is where things get sketchy.'"

Oh, listen. I'm camping. No, I'm not. I'm like, I'm in the desert. The other day I was recording a dark history episode when there was an actual earthquake. Hi, I was like, oh no, this is it, huh? That's life for you, huh? It can be fine one minute and then chaotic the next.

And if you're in charge of your own business, you know that's a different kind of chaos. But with ShipStation, it doesn't have to be. ShipStation is a shipping platform designed for e-commerce businesses. If you're a business owner, the last thing you wanna deal with is shipping issues. Well, that's why you will love ShipStation's dashboard.

They let you automate shipping tasks, manage orders, and print shipping labels all at the click of a button. ShipStation is able to grow with your business no matter how big it gets. That's because it's the fastest, most affordable way to ship products to your customers. They even offer discounts of up to 88% off UPS, DHL Express, and USPS rates,

and up to 90% off FedEx rates. So if you're starting a new business or looking to transfer the one you have, give ShipStation a try. Over 130,000 companies have grown their e-commerce businesses with ShipStation. And 98% of companies that stick with ShipStation for a year become customers for life.

Calm the chaos of order fulfillment with the shipping software that delivers. Switch to ShipStation today. Go to shipstation.com and use code DarkHistory to sign up for your free trial. That's ShipStation.com, code DarkHistory. Just before the conservatorship was made official, Jamie started working with a woman named Lou Taylor.

Now, Lou had a company called TriStar Sports and Entertainment Group, and this is when Lou becomes Britney Spears' business manager. Which was a little fishy because Britney was Lou's only client at the time. But it gets fishier because Jamie Spears happened to owe Lou Taylor about 40 grand at this time. So based off of observation, it seemed like Jamie was setting her up with this cushy job instead of paying her back. Or maybe, you know, with this cushy job, she

was going to get paid back. Now, Jamie wasn't acting completely alone. Technically, a lawyer named Andrew Wallet was a co-conservator, which by the last name alone, I would not let him near my wallet. Ha ha ha. Yeah, no, okay. Well, he got paid really well, is what I'm getting at. This wallet guy, he got an annual salary of $426,000, which Brittany said was basically just a quote, "'Keep me from my own money.'"

On top of that, Brittany was given a court appointed lawyer and his name was Samuel Ingham the third. She was not allowed to change this lawyer and she hadn't had any say in picking him. And Brittany was forced to pay this man like $500,000 a year in attorney fees. So she's like hemorrhaging money to all these people and she doesn't even know what for.

So look, just based off those three people or whatever, that's like a million dollars already a year that Brittany is spending to be in this conservatorship that is doing what for her? She doesn't wanna be in it, she's confused. Jamie, her father, wasn't like calling the shots from a distance. He wasn't handling Brittany's bills remotely or anything, no.

Jamie set up an office inside of Britney's home. He sat Britney down and according to her said, I call the shots, you sit right there in that chair and I'll tell you what goes on. I'm Britney Spears now. I'd be like, oh, you're Britney Spears now? You put on that cute little outfit and those heels and you go on stage and perform then. Okay, bye bye now.

Thank you. Going back to Wendy, remember Wendy was like death to all of them. But yeah, death to all of them. But yeah, death to all of them. And while this whole thing is like going on behind closed doors, Brittany keeps working. She keeps showing up. She keeps smiling. She keeps performing. She filmed two episodes of How I Met Your Mother,

which ended up being the two most watched episodes in the show's history. She recorded another album, Circus. I know, a good one, all while being unable to spend her own money or make any of her own decisions. The next year, she went on a world tour for her album Circus and it grossed $130 million and 5% of it went straight to Lou Taylor, Jamie's little friend. So it seemed everyone benefited

to keeping Miss Brittany working. And even though Brittany wasn't locked away in some dirty asylum, she was treated very much like a prisoner in her own home. Now, if Brittany wanted to go to like a party, a security team would make sure no one had any alcohol or was taking drugs, even if they were prescription.

Or if they were like, hey Motrin, no, bad. You know? Nothing. If Brittany wanted to go on a date, the person had to give like a full background check, had to do a blood test, sign an NDA, and would be informed of Brittany's medical and sexual history prior to the first date.

I'm sure that's a real buzzkill. Brittany was not allowed to have a cell phone. The phones that she was allowed to use was always for like a limited amount of time and then they would have parental controls on them. Poor thing. But you know, I know, I'm gonna, I know. Like if you look at Brittany's Instagram now, I love Brittany, I love her to know, I'm gonna, I know. Like if you look at Brittany's Instagram now,

I love Brittany, I love her to death, I love her, but maybe she shouldn't have a phone. Just thought I don't, we don't have a, Anyhow, Brittany would have to take medication that was prepackaged in envelopes and she would constantly watched by security, making sure she's taking her medications. Just sounded awful.

In her book, Brittany wrote, "'I would go to sleep early, and then I would wake up and do what they told me again, and again, and again. It was like Groundhog Day. I did that for 13 years.'" That's so sad. It's not like she wasn't trying to fight this.

I guess at multiple points throughout the conservatorship, especially at the beginning, Britney tried to hire different lawyers but was never allowed to so she just had to keep going along with it. In 2013, Britney began the Piece of Me residency in Las Vegas and even though she was at the lowest point of her life personally, professionally, people were blown away by her. Critics were saying that she literally changed the Vegas music scene. And again, she did all of this while under conservatorship

as a person who allegedly wasn't mentally able to take care of herself. Like, okay, sure, she's not mentally able to take care of herself. Like, okay, sure. If she's not mentally able to take care of herself, how is she dancing like that? You know, it just didn't make sense. So no surprise at the end of 2016, the residency was extended for two more years.

Even though fans were very excited, poor Brittany was going through absolute hell. The other day I tried to go shopping and it was one of those stores that only had like a dressing, they only had mirrors out in the open, like not in the dressing rooms. So it's like, I had to like go out in front of everyone and like look in the mirror.

I don't know. I just, I wasn't ready. Okay, look, that's one of the many reasons I don't love shopping. But thankfully I can get Stitch Fix to do it all for me. Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service that takes the stress out of shopping. When you sign up for Stitch Fix,

you get assigned a stylist who learns all about your style and budget. And once they have all that information, they lock in and get to work figuring out like personalized pieces for you, in your size, in your price range, everything. The Silas feature is a huge help for me because they, you know, they go out of their way to find pieces

that look great, feel great, just are great. You know, they're doing all the shopping for you, which is great. That's great. Plus Stitch Fix doesn't force a subscription service on you. You can order boxes when you want and how you want no subscription required. So you order boxes when you want and how you want, no subscription required. So you can keep what you love and then send back the rest like it's so

easy. They even send you outfit recommendations and styling tips as a bonus. Look, no stores, no crowds, no sweat, no stress. Just personalize looks that you're gonna love. Stitch Fix makes it all so easy. Personal styling for everyone. Get started today at stitchfix.com slash dark history. Stitchfix.com slash dark history. That's stitchfix.com slash dark history. During her residency, Brittany was put on a strict diet. She was given an allowance of like $2,000 a week,

which I'm sure a lot of us would be happy about, but she's Britney freaking Spears, okay? She was earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per performance, okay? Behind the scenes, Brittany was doing everything to bring attention to her conservatorship. In 2016, she actually tried to talk about the situation on a talk show, but in the end they edited it out.

So they didn't even air that part. Poor thing. She was also actively trying to get the conservatorship overturned because of her dad who seemed to have an alcohol problem, but nothing she did, it worked. During the Vegas residency, apparently Jamie found over-the-counter energy

supplements. He looked through Brittany's purse and he threatened to send her to rehab over it. What a dick. So, we don't know behind the scenes what was going on. Would love to be a fly on the wall, right? Just so I could be a fly and then land on Jamie and fly poop all over him. But look, as a compromise, Jamie made Brittany go to Alcoholics Anonymous four times a week, no exception. Nothing wrong with going to Alcoholics Anonymous, but I think it should have been Jamie who was going

and not her, but okay. So by the time the residency ended in 2017, more than 900,000 tickets had been sold. Brittany generated like 137 million dollars from ticket sales alone. By this point Brittany was tired okay and she was ready to take a break. She's been performing all her freaking life but she doesn't get to call the shots in her own life. There's this plan in the works for her to do another Vegas residency. This one was gonna be called Domination.

Britney doesn't wanna do it, you know? She just wants to get out, but it's not up to her. So October, 2018, do you remember? I remember, I was watching it too. The live stream, oh yeah. So it's the night when the Vegas people are going to announce that Britney is extending her stay and it's gonna be called domination and blah blah.

They're announcing it to the media and to the public. It's like this big event. And they built this stage outside. They have live people with microphones. I think what's the same Mario Lopez was there. He's always there. I don't know why. And everyone was like, we can't wait. Miss Spears is coming out right now to make this crazy announcement. And then Brittany like comes out and everyone was expecting her to be like, Hey everyone,

I'm going to be extending my show to domination and I hope to see you there. But instead, Brittany shows up and she's like... and then she just walks out being like, she just gets the fuck out of there. She doesn't say anything. It was the weirdest thing. A lot of us were confused so it was like, okay what's going on? Well, safe to assume Jamie was pissed after this. I mean everyone looked like a fool that livestream or whatever. No one knew what to say because Brittany came and then she like walked out and didn't see anything and they were like alright uh okay. It was awkward. So Jamie was super pissed. He's like whatever. This is his cash cow.

So he makes arrangements over Christmas for Brittany to be psychologically evaluated. This loony tune. It's not clear what the evaluation is or like what it requires, but Brittany is informed that she failed the test. As a result, she's sent to a mental health facility in Los Angeles without knowing how long she would even be there for. You know what's crazy though? Like this is Britney Spears. Let's just say like okay she really was struggling with something mentally. You think they would find her like uh some kind of like luxury resort situation. Like you don't want to go to a Los Angeles like hospital so it's just weird that they didn't splurge for her care.

But you think you would want to take care of the person who's making you money? Well in this facility, the ugh, Brittany was put on lithium which made her pretty slow and lethargic. It can also mess with your perception of time. Can't it erase part of your memory and your brain and stuff like that? It fucks up with your brain, essentially. But as a result, the whole new residency plan was completely canceled. And it seemed like Brittany would be trapped in this conservatorship,

trickin' forever. But then, in 2019, something unexpected happens. Someone tweets the phrase, hashtag free Britney. And Britney's life changes forever. A few fans decide to publicly speak out about what's happening to Britney. It all started from a podcast called Britney's Gram,

which was started by Tess Barker and Barbara Gray in 2017. It started out as a way to talk about Britney and her Instagram presence, because at this time she was like, it was weird. It was weird. Pretty soon, Tess and Barbara realized that Britney might actually be in danger, and they voiced this on their podcast.

Then they got an anonymous call from someone associated with the legal team controlling Britney. And basically this was like a whistleblower who essentially told them, hey, like you're on the right track. So on this podcast, they uploaded on April 16, 2019, it was like a special emergency episode and it was titled, hashtag free Britney. Meanwhile, Britney is still in the mental hospital and a nurse actually manages to show Britney a video of her conservatorship

being discussed on a talk show. And that must've been like really kind of confusing but exciting, but like what? And this is like the first time she saw the phrase free Britney. Now this paved the way for a few documentaries to come out about Britney's situation. And you know, once there's a doc involved,

people go nuts, except for in Wendy's situation, it was like, ooh. So people are talking, people are supporting, a lot is going on. And all of this brought a new court hearing in September of 2019. This was a very big moment for not only Brittany, but for all the people trapped in a conservatorship that maybe they did not feel they should be in.

Brittany went on the stand and said, quote, I'm not happy. I'm so angry. It's insane. And I'm depressed. I cry every day. My father loved the control he had over me. He loved it. End quote. All of this was audio recorded and listened to by the free Britney public. The trial ended on November 21st, 2021, and the judge, Brenda J. Penny, ordered the conservatorship to immediately end. At this point, it had gone on for just under 14 years.

Now, a lot of people were left thinking, well, why did this happen? Brittany lost years of her life and was never the same after this all went down. But the truth was the free Brittany movement wasn't just a catchy hashtag it actually sparked real change in conservatorships within America. You see before Brittany people in conservatorships could not hire their own attorney. They were court appointed and those people can usually be bought if you know what I'm saying.

But according to our expert Dr. Stacy Wood, since the overturning of Brittany's case, that has changed. People can now hire their own legal representatives. Of course it's different state by state, just saying that. And to be fair, I want to say conservatorships don't just happen to women. There are lots of men who have been in similar situations, like Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. Now, he's originally the reason I wanted to do this episode, because I learned about Brian Wilson and what a genius he was and I was I thought he was under a conservatorship so I was like oh we have to do this whatever but legally I found out he wasn't in a conservatorship it came out later that someone had been controlling his life and his money for years it was like the same but not It was a fake conservatorship essentially. This guy basically

like isolated Brian from everyone, his family, his friends, anyone he was trying to date. People cared about him. He overmedicated Brian, controlled his every move, and even co-wrote Brian's autobiography. And look even though we only featured stories about celebrities today, conservatorships aren't just things that happen to the rich and famous. Nay nay, absolutely not. I learned a lot. The majority of them in America are mostly for people who have gotten older, are just

mentally unable to take care of themselves, and they actually can do more good than bad. In this situation, we talk about the bad, but there is some good to it. And it's important, I think, for us, like millennial generation to know about, because we are approaching, as we're getting older, our parents and stuff are getting older too. And it's kind of like, you know,

once your parents' health starts to really decline, and maybe get to a point where you need help or something, that's where conservatorship can actually be very beneficial in a good way. And there's different levels to conservatorships. It's not like full psycho Brittany, you know, conservators are can help like with some people who don't have family to help out, or if they have strained relationships with their parents or family, whatever. Here's a hypothetical scenario. Say your dad is aging and he isn't doing so well physically or mentally. He has a big house, he can't take care of it anymore. he can't remember to take his medication,

he is maybe being done with the money or his money, just not being smart. Maybe you financially can't send him to a home and also live in nurses are really expensive and maybe you're in a position where you can't take them into your place, you know? In this case, a conservatorship could benefit you. With this, you can arrange for like a housekeeper,

make sure he takes his medicine, make sure his finances stay in order, and make sure that he's just taking care of himself every day. And like, that's the reality of everyday conservatorships. But because of what we see in the media, we all immediately think of it as like this bad, awful, negative thing.

But personally, I think it would benefit us to like know more about it because we might, I hope not, but like we might be in a position where you will have to use it, you know? And hey, if you have any experience with conservatorships that you want to share, we'd love to hear from you in the comments section. Yeah, so let me know. We have a holiday coming up and we could play it safe and we could just talk about the holiday itself, Mother's Day, you know, the origins of Mother's Day and all that. But I thought, wouldn't it be fun to go in the opposite direction?

Throughout history, not everyone has had the greatest relationship with their moms. Maybe that's because some can just be straight up monsters. So join us next time as we discuss the dark history of momsters. By the way, next week we will be dark so there won't be a new upload, but we'll be back on May 7th

with the dark history of momsters. Hope to see you there. Now, I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story, so make sure to leave a comment below so I can see what you guys are saying, and your comment might even be featured in a future episode. Now, let's read a couple of comments that you guys have left me.

Shelby Diz left me a comment. My baby girl arriving in February is named Eloise Faye. Shelby, congratulations! Oh, I hope everything goes well and you have a happy, healthy, beautiful birthing experience. I love the name. Sometimes I wish people would hire me to name their children because I low key have a talent for it. Here you go. I'm doing you guys a favor. If you're having a kid, I have some names for you. These are boys names.

Ready? Write it down. Okay. First name, Gus. Middle name, T. Last name, Wind. You can use that. The next example I have is Chris, middle name P,

last name Bacon. For my high cholesterol lovers. Or what about this one? This one's one of my favorites, don't steal it. Ben Dover. I have lots more. Eloise is cute too, but I love Ben Dover. Come on.

Can you? Okay. Anyways, good luck with everything and I hope you have a beautiful, lovely birthing experience. Thank you. Okay. Ashley Williams 5898 left me a spicy comment on the Typhoid Mary episode. Girl, you did a whole MMM about her, why are we pretending this is new info? Ashley, hi sweetie, listen, we need to talk. I think you might be confused. I did an episode on Bloody Mary? Maybe that's who you're thinking of. I didn't do an episode on Typhoid Mary, baby.

No, I didn't. If you would go and you would look Typhoid Mary murder mystery, whatever on YouTube, it would take maybe like three seconds. You would see that I actually didn't do that episode. So I'm sorry you are confused. And yeah. Anyhow, did you watch the Typhoid Mary episode?

Because she's one of the most misunderstood women in history. Well one of them you know. She's a villain to some people whatever. But since you already knew all of it, what were your thoughts? Don't try and read me when you're coming with incorrect information. Oh my god. Geez. Anyways, I hope you liked the video.

Ohnora619 left us an episode suggestion on our, ooh, Mussolini episode. I forgot about that. Speaking of dictators, Fidel Castro would be an interesting deep dive. He avoided assassination attempts 638 times. That must literally be a world record. Some of the attempts were pretty

creative too, like infecting his wetsuit with flesh-eating bacteria. Unique! That's great. I like this. That's a good episode suggestion. Wow. I'm, I, you know, I do, I like a dictators episode. I'm very interested in dictators because, you know, they're just, I hate them. So I'm always interested in dictators because you know, they're just I hate them. Um, so I'm always trying to learn about them, but I think that's a good idea Dictator focus episodes are some of my favorite episodes to research because there's just so much that I don't know about you guys But for me, I never learned about or heard about and it's like once you understand it. You're like, oh shit The girls are fighting, but it's dictators, no.

Oh, thank you for the suggestion. It's a good one. I'll look into it, don't worry. Well, you guys, I love you for watching and I appreciate you for being here and engaging. Keep commenting because maybe your comment will be featured. Hey, did you know that you can join me over on my YouTube where you can actually watch these episodes?

Yeah, on Thursdays after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup where I haven't done Typhoid Mary yet. And don't forget to subscribe. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an audio boom original. A special thank you to our expert, Dr. Stacey Wood, and I'm your host, Bailey Zarian. I hope you have a good day, you make good choices, and I'll be talking to you guys later.

Goodbye!