Britney Spears has been released Thursday morning after having been arrested on suspicion of DUI in Ventura County, California, law enforcement has confirmed to NBC Los Angeles.
Spears, 44, was arrested Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m. after being pulled over by the California Highway Patrol in Ventura County, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Law enforcement told NBC4 Investigates that another driver saw someone driving erratcially and called 911. The California Highway Patrol caught up with Spears and initiated the investigation, law enforcement said.
Spears was released shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday, jail records show.
No further details were immediately available.
“This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable,” Spears’ representative told NBC4 Investigates. “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. 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 has two children with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline.
TMZ was the first to report Spears’ arrest.
Spears’ Instagram account, frequently updated with videos of her dancing in her Thousand Oaks home, appeared to be taken down early Thursday morning.
The Grammy winning pop star’s arrest came about five years after she was released by a judge from a controversial conservatorship that gave her father control over her finances and career for more than a decade. Jamie Spears was named conservator after his daughter suffered a series of mental health crises in the early 2000s.
Spears shared her experience under the conservatorship in her best-selling 2023 memoir “The Woman In Me,” describing how her life was controlled by others.
The Mississippi native ended up at the center of the #FreeBritney campaign that supported her efforts to be granted authority over her medical, personal and financial decisions. After Spears’ conservatorship case unfolded in the public eye, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that limited conservatorships that grant legal guardianship over individuals.
Spears, who has not previously been arrested, was behind some of music’s biggest pop hits, including “…Baby One More Time,” “Oops!… I Did It Again!,” “Womanizer” and “I’m a Slave 4 U.” Spears won her first Grammy in 2004 for Best Dance Recording for “Toxic.”
Last month, Spears sold the rights to her music catalog.
NBCLA’s Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.
