Britney Spears reportedly spoke “nonsensically” and appeared to have “drastic mood swings” when she was arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence in March.
The pop superstar also had a bottle of Adderall that had not been prescribed to her and an empty wine glass in her car, according to reports, audio files and dashcam video from the California Highway Patrol obtained by numerous media outlets including The New York Times, People and USA Today on Thursday.
Her mood changed from “confrontational and agitated to flamboyant and compliant,” the arresting officer wrote in his report, according to the Times, People and USA Today. “She also appeared to speak with a British accent at times.”
When she was pulled over, Spears denied she was drunk, according to the Times, and said she’d merely had one mimosa that afternoon.
Still, an officer smelled alcohol coming from her car, the arrest report states, according to multiple outlets. She initially refused to exit the vehicle, saying she’d been “pranked” in the past, according to the Times and USA Today. When she finally emerged roughly 10 minutes later, the officer noted her speech was slurred and her gait unsteady, according to reports, and said he smelled alcohol on her breath, according to USA Today.
“Her eyes were also red and watery, and her pupils were dilated,” the officer states in his report, according to USA Today.
The officer told Spears she was being pulled over because she was “swerving in two lanes,” for which the musician apologized and said she was “on my phone,” according to video of the arrest obtained by the Times.
“You can come to my house — I’ll make you food or lasagna or whatever you want,” she said, the Times and People reported. “I have a pool.”
When she was being examined she would “talk nonsensically about things that did not pertain to the exercise,” another officer who evaluated her wrote, according to the Times.
While her breath tests showed blood alcohol concentrations of .05 and .06 percent, which are under the legal limit in California, she told officers she takes Prozac as well as Lamictal, for epilepsy and “mood swings,” and Adderall to stay “elevated,” the Times and People reported. One officer who evaluated Spears concluded she was under the effects of a stimulant, according to the Times, People and USA Today.
When she was asked to go to a hospital to take a blood test, documents released by the CHP state, she became “argumentative and belligerent.”
Officers who evaluated Spears said she assumed different accents, sometimes using a childlike voice, during her arrest and had drastic changes in her demeanor, the Times reported.
At one point in the video footage obtained by the Times, while she was in the back of a police car, Spears said the officers are being “mean to me” and “lying.”
“I didn’t have a DUI!” she said. “I wasn’t even drinking.”
Later she said she’s “scared” and just “want[s] to go home.”
After she was released from jail the morning after her arrest, Spears’ rep told The Hollywood Reporter that what happened was “an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable.”
“Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life,” the rep added, “Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time. Her boys are going to be spending time with her. Her loved ones are going to come up with an overdue needed plan to set her up for success for well being.”
Spears voluntarily checked herself into rehab in April.
Earlier this month, she pleaded guilty to reckless driving and was sentenced to 12 months probation, avoiding jail time over the misdemeanor charge.
In her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me, Spears called Adderall her “drug of choice” and said she took it to ease feelings of depression.
Spears was released from a controversial, 13-year-long conservatorship in 2021.
