FILE - Britney Spears arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," on July 22, 2019. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Britney Spears was arrested Wednesday night (March 4) in Southern California and booked early the following morning. The charge was unclear, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office website. However, TMZ reports that the detainment was in connection with a DUI.
As mentioned, the California Highway Patrol arrested Britney Spears around 9:30 p.m. in Ventura County and booked her around 3 a.m. At around 6 a.m. on Thursday, officials reportedly released the pop star, according to the sheriff’s office records and TMZ. There are no other details about the arrest and a mugshot has not been released.She is scheduled to appear in court on May 4.
Britney’s arrest follows a legal win. According to TMZ, a California court granted the singer a permanent restraining order against a 51-year-old man named Donald. Court docs claim he’s been harassing Britney Spears online since 2013, making seemingly threatening posts like “bullet hole heart.” Also, last year, Donald was reportedly arrested for trespassing after popping up at her property. Donald was allegedly “shaking” and smoking a cigarette when cops pulled up after a 911 call from the singer’s security guard. The arrest report allegedly stated that Donald was behaving oddly and “made several incoherent comments.”
Now, the restraining order requires Donald to stay at least 100 yards away from Britney Spears at all times. The order is in place until 2030, per TMZ. Britney Spears said in the court docs that she doesn’t personally know Donald or have a relationship with him. He, however, reportedly has a criminal history that includes burglary and harassment charges, convictions of criminal trespass aggravated assault and accusations of cyberbullying.
Britney Spears was born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana. She was a teen pop phenomenon who became a defining superstar of the ’90s and 2000s. She rose to fame from Disney Channel’s ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’ to MTV and beyond. Spears is also the talent behind heavy hitters like ‘Baby One More Time,’ ‘Oops! I Did It Again’ and ‘Toxic.’ Most of her albums have been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, she has two diamond titles: 1999’s ” Baby One More Time” and 2000’s “Oops! I Did It Again.” She released her last full-length album, ‘Glory,’ in 2016.
Despite musical success, Britney Spears became a focus of tabloids in the early 2000s. Headlines often dragged her as she battled mental illness and paparazzi documented the details of her private life.
Later, cultural opinion evolved to recognize the misogynistic media coverage of the time. The #FreeBritney movement was born and fans supported her fight to control her life. In 2008, a court placed Spears under a conservatorship. Her father and his lawyers had the say-so, controlling her personal and financial decisions for well over a decade. The conservatorship was dissolved in 2021. Two years later, she released a bestselling, tell-all memoir, ‘The Woman in Me.’
Associated Press staff contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
