'It was just all so weird': Andy Cohen recalls Britney Spears interview where a handler kept her 'captive'
Andy Cohen talks about his 'creepy' interview with Britney Spears when she was still under her conservatorship
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Andy Cohen has recounted an interview with Britney Spears when she was still under conservatorship and said it was like dealing with a 'captive' person.
The 55-year-old Bravo boss talked candidly about how strange it was to sit down with the 41-year-old pop icon in 2016 while a group of people were in charge of her every move during a recent episode of SiriusXM's 'Andy Cohen Live'.
Andy Cohen says Britney Spears was a 'captor'
He recalled, "I get there, and this woman was there, and it was like Britney was her captive. She was her captor. I'm not gonna mention her name because I don't want to get sued, but it was really creepy."
Cohen claims he was informed ahead of the conversation that someone would be on guard. 'The Watch What Happens' Live host emphasized, "There's this woman who is at Britney's side at all times, and she basically tells her what to do and where to go, and it's really creepy," as reported by Okmagazine.
Still, Cohen was more than a little alarmed by the handler's presence.
He said, "I remember they brought me in to meet Britney before the interview, and I was in some room, and they brought Britney a birthday cake, and they're like, 'Happy Birthday, Britney, surprise!'. And Britney goes, 'It's not my birthday. My birthday was last month."
The television tycoon took note of the bizarre circumstances, "And I'm like, 'What are they doing?' It was clearly for the cameras, and it was just all so weird."
Britney Spears was 'abused' during conservatorship
The "Circus" singer claimed in court, almost five years later, that she had been "abused" during her nearly 13-year conservatorship.
She explained in her 2021 statement to the judge, "I've worked since I was 17 years old. You have to understand how thin that is for me. Every morning I get up to know I can't go out somewhere unless I meet people I don't know every week in an office identical to the one where the therapist was very abusive to me. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive."
She lamented, "I shouldn't be in a conservatorship if I can work and provide money and work for myself and pay other people."
She added, "It makes no sense. The laws need to change. What state allows people to own another person's money and account and threaten them and saying, 'You can't spend your money unless you do what we want you to do.' And I'm paying them."
Spears said, "I deserve to have a life. I've worked my whole life, I deserve to have a two- to three-year break and just, you know, do what I want to do. But I do feel like there is a crutch here and I feel open and I'm OK to talk to you today about it."
