Oprah Winfrey is losing her Midas touch. “Midas touch” is an English phrase that means a person who has the unique ability to make money from anything they touch.
American pop singer Britney Spears says she turned down “lots of money” for an exclusive interview with Oprah, and others.
On Monday, the pop star tweeted — then deleted — a link to a 22-minute audio file on YouTube, according to Yahoo! News.
In the audio, Britney described what life was like living under her father, Jamie Spears‘ conservatorship for all those years. A judge dissolved the conservatorship in 2021, giving Britney control over her own life.
She also discussed Oprah reaching out to her with an offer for “lots and lots of money.”
“I get nothing out of sharing all of this,” she said.
“I have offers to interview with Oprah and so many people, lots and lots of money, but it’s insane. I don’t want any of it. For me, it’s beyond a sit-down, proper interview.”
She continued:
“I’ve had tons of opportunities — Oprah, interviews — to go on a platform and share the hardships and just really anything that’s going on in my mind. I really don’t think any of that is relevant, getting paid to tell your story. I feel like it’s kind of silly.”
Britney remembered the harrowing moment when her conservatorship began 25 years ago.
“There was a SWAT team in my home,” she said.
“Three helicopters. I remember my mom’s best friend, and my two girlfriends, we had a sleepover the night before. They held me down on a gurney. Again, none of it made sense.”
Prior to the police intrusion in her home, Britney played cat and mouse games with the paparazzi who pursued her everywhere. Then the infamous photos surfaced of her head shaven bald.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“Literally, the extent of my ‘madness’ was playing chase with paparazzi, which is still to this day one of the most fun things I ever did about being famous,” she recalled. “I don’t know what was so harmful about that.”
She continued:
“I remember my mom was sitting on the couch, and she said, ‘We heard people are coming here today to talk to you. We should probably go to a hotel or something.’ I never really understood what she meant. I didn’t believe her. Like, is a lawyer coming here? Who is coming here? Four hours later, there were over 200 paparazzi outside my house video-taping me through a window of an ambulance, holding me down on a gurney.”
Britney said that was when she realized she had been set up.
“I know now it was all premeditated. A woman introduced the idea [of a conservatorship] to my dad, and my mom actually helped him follow through and made it all happen. It was all basically set up. There was no drugs in my system, no alcohol, nothing.”
