Not long after announcing she was taking an "indefinite hiatus" from her Las Vegas residency, Domination, due to her father's illness, Britney Spears entered into a mental health facility to help cope with the complications that have arisen from his surgeries. Shortly after, the podcast Britney's Gram developed a conspiracy theory that the singer is being held at the facility against her will, with the accompanying hashtag #FREEBRITNEY. The conspiracy gained traction on the internet — so much so that Spears took to Instagram to address it, and the backlash her family has received because of the rumours.
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In the video posted Tuesday night, Spears shared a short message:
“Hi guys, just checking in with all of you who are concerned about me. All is well. My family has been going through a lot of stress and anxiety lately, so I just needed time to deal. But don’t worry, I’ll be back very soon.”
She went on to use the caption to more explicitly speak on the speculation.
"I wanted to say hi, because things that are being said have just gotten out of control!!! Wow!!!" she wrote. "There’s rumors, death threats to my family and my team, and just so many things crazy things being said. I am trying to take a moment for myself, but everything that’s happening is just making it harder for me. Don’t believe everything you read and hear." She concluded her message with a request for privacy to "deal with all the hard things that life is throwing my way."
Spears' sister, Jamie Lynn, also appeared to address the conspiracy on Twitter, posting a decade-old video of herself defending her sister from paparazzi with the caption, "10 years ago, who was there?? I have been here long before anyone else and I’ll be here long after. I love my sister with everything I have. So anyone or anything that speaks to the contrary can GTFOH with all the comments about what you don’t understand."
"Don’t come for me or the ones I love anymore," she added. "You can move the 'blank' outta here with all that, just like this other lady who was running her mouth."
Don’t come for me or the ones I love anymore. You can move the “blank” outta here with all that, just like this other lady who was running her mouth.??
— Jamie Lynn Spears (@jamielynnspears) April 23, 2019
Spears' stay in the facility is expected to last 30 days, after which she can not only return to singing, but also to her Instagram catwalking and painting.