Britney Spears gives heartbreaking conservatorship details in newly unearthed footage

A resurfaced clip from Britney Spears' 2016 interview in which she spoke out about her conservatorship has gone viral. But why did they originally cut it from the show?  © IMAGO / NurPhoto

Eight years ago, the 42-year-old pop star promoted her 2016 album, Glory, on The Jonathan Ross Show and shared how her conservatorship got in the way of her creative process.

Though Britney's team infamously edited out the remarks from the episode, on Sunday the show released the never-before-seen footage as part of a "memorable moments" segment.

In the unearthed clip, Ross asked the Criminal singer, "The new album, you are more involved in this musically, I understand, than previous ones? So you’ve taken control. You're more in control of your music than before? Why did it take you so long? Why did you wait 'til now to do it?"

Britney, then 34, hesitantly replied, "Well, um, there's a lot of reasons, but I won’t get into the whole story."

Britney Spears spoke about being restricted creatively amid her conservatorship.  © Screenshot/YouTube/BritneyOnline

The host did interject to remind viewers about her history, including her mental health issues, adding that she did "not have to go over" anything if she didn't feel comfortable.

"Since the conservatorship, I felt like a lot of things were planned for me to do and, you know, being told what to do," the pop icon said.

"And I was just like, for this album I want to make it my baby, and I want to do it myself," she continued.

"I was very strategic about the way I did it, and, um, yeah, that's why it means so much to me."

The Toxic hitmaker seemingly referenced this in her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me, writing, "I even mentioned the conservatorship on a talk show in 2016, but somehow, that part of the interview didn’t make it to the air."

"Huh, how interesting," she added.