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Piers Morgan says Britney Spears is a ‘legal slave’ who must be ‘freed from torment’

Former ‘GMB’ presenter claims he ‘looks back and shudders at the way the media frenziedly fuelled the circus around Spears’

Ellie Harrison
Thursday 24 June 2021 07:43 EDT
Watch live as Britney Spears fans gather near LA court amid conservatorship hearing

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Piers Morgan has weighed in on the ongoing discussion about Britney Spears’s conservatorship, saying the way the star has been treated is “shameful”.

Spears addressed a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday (23 June), in a landmark moment for her conservatorship battle.

The pop icon spoke directly to Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny about the conservatorship, which has controlled her money and affairs since 2008.

Spears, who took part remotely, said: “I am not happy, I can’t sleep. I’m so angry, it’s insane. And I’m depressed. The last time I spoke to you [the judge]… made me feel like I was dead. I am telling you again because I am not lying… so maybe you can understand the depth and the degree and the damages… I deserve changes.”

In his latest Daily Mail column, headlined “Britney Spears is a legal slave who can’t control her own money, career or even her womb and MUST be freed from this torment to finally live the life she wants”, Morgan called for Judge Penny to release the singer from a “living hell”.

Responding to Spears’s claims that she has an IUD inside her as her team does not want her to have another child, Morgan wrote: “It almost defies belief that any woman in America, the world’s great superpower and supposedly ‘land of the free’, should be subjected to such appalling treatment.”

He continued: “We’ve been told for years via endless cruel briefings to the media that Britney’s so mentally unhinged that’s she totally incapable of thinking, speaking or acting for herself. That wasn’t the woman I heard yesterday. It was stunning to hear the brutal reality from Britney’s own mouth, in her own powerful, eloquent, often rapid-fire words. It was like she couldn’t wait to finally have her say, and who could blame her for the obvious frustration and anger?”

Morgan, who used to edit the Mirror, said he “looks back and shudders at the way the media frenziedly fuelled the circus around this obviously unstable woman as she spiralled out of control”.

The former Good Morning Britain presenter certainly has first-hand experience of the media’s controversial treatment of female public figures.

Just three months ago on the ITV breakfast show, he claimed he “didn’t believe a word” of Meghan Markle saying she’d be left with “suicidal thoughts” during her time as a royal, sparking thousands of Ofcom complaints.

Morgan also previously dismissed Lady Gaga for saying she has post-traumatic stress disorder after being raped as a teenager. He later admitted he was “a little too all-encompassingly judgemental”.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, Samaritans offers support. You can speak to someone in confidence over the phone on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website here.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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