Britney Spears was arrested in California this week on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to law enforcement records. The singer, 44, was taken into custody by Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol around 3 a.m. Thursday and released shortly after 6 a.m. Her Instagram account appeared to be deleted soon after the incident.
No further details about the circumstances of the arrest were immediately available. The arrest comes amid renewed attention on Spears’ personal life following reports she was seen driving erratically in October. A video circulating at that time showed Spears leaving a restaurant in Thousand Oaks, California, before entering her black BMW. Several individuals reportedly attempted to stop her as she exited the parking lot.
An onlooker claimed Spears “nearly ran over her friend while pulling out” of the vehicle. However, a restaurant manager who interacted with Spears that evening stated she was not intoxicated and did not order alcohol with her meal.
Spears’ arrest follows the end of her conservatorship in 2021. The legal arrangement had governed her personal and financial decisions since 2008 when she was 39. She entered the conservatorship at age 26 after a widely publicized breakdown.
In February, Spears criticized relatives on Instagram without naming anyone directly, stating: “For those of you in your family that have said to help you is to isolate you and make you feel unbelievably left out … they were wrong. We can forgive as people but u don’t ever forget.” She added: “Yearning and longing for contact is always crucial !!!” and expressed she felt “incredibly lucky to even be alive with how my family treated me once in my life and now I’m scared of them.”
Last month, it was confirmed that Spears sold her music catalog.
