Britney Spears’ bedroom was bugged, alleges FX documentary

On Friday, FX released “Controlling Britney Spears,” a surprise follow-up to “Framing Britney Spears,” the New York Times documentary that helped catapult the Free Britney movement into the mainstream and turn the tide of public opinion against the conservatorship that has dictated virtually ever facet of the pop star’s existence since 2008.

It joins a growing body of investigative reporting that includes an explosive expose in the New Yorker and “Britney vs. Spears,” a documentary to be released by Netflix on Tuesday — a day ahead of the latest hearing in Spears’ conservatorship case.

If you thought that it was no longer possible to be shocked by Spears’ circumstances — particularly after her impassioned condemnation of the conservatorship in June — then “Controlling Britney Spears” may prove you wrong.

Producer Liz Day and director Samantha Stark were able to get several new sources to speak on the record in the 70-minute special, including people closely involved in her security and behind-the-scenes management of her tours.

While much of the conversation around the conservatorship has focused on the role played by Spears’ father, Jamie, some of the most damning allegations in “Controlling Britney Spears” involve key figures at Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, the firm that handled Spears’ business affairs, and Black Box, Spears’ longtime security company. Sources in the film describe a coordinated effort by these individuals to monitor Spears’ private life in ways that appear to have little to do with her well-being and more to do with isolating and controlling her.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the documentary, which is available to stream on Hulu.

Spears’ security team functioned more like prison guards

A key source is Alex Vlasov, who worked for nearly nine years at Black Box as both an executive assistant to Edan Yemini, the company’s president, and as a cybersecurity manager. (He quit after “Framing Britney Spears” came out.)

Though the firm was ostensibly hired to protect the singer, he paints a strikingly different picture of the role Black Box played in Spears’ life. The situation “reminded me of somebody that was in prison and security was put in a position to be the prison guards,” he said.

When “Framing Britney Spears” was released earlier this year, Vlasov says Yemini was “so relieved” the documentary did not mention their work: “It was his biggest fear that security would somehow draw attention.”

All of Spears’ movements were documented in a group text that included her father

Vlasov, who was employed by Black Box from 2012 to 2021, says that all of Spears’ movements were monitored and recorded in a text chain between Yemini, Jamie Spears and Robin Greenhill, who worked for Tri Star, the firm run by Lou Taylor.

“Her intimate relations were closely managed. Britney could not have someone in the privacy of her house without those three…