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Britney Spears arrested for DUI in Southern California
Britney Spears was arrested for on suspicion of DUI in Ventura County, officials said.
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - Pop icon Britney Spears was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence in Ventura County Wednesday night, TMZ reports.
What we know:
According to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, Spears was taken into custody around 9:30 p.m. local time.
Inmate records show the "Baby One More Time" singer was booked around 3 a.m. and released just after 6 a.m. on Thursday.
Britney Spears attends Sony Pictures' "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" Los Angeles Premiere on July 22, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Following her arrest, the 44-year-old singer was taken to a hospital to have blood drawn to determine her intoxication level, according to TMZ.
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Spears has since deactivated her Instagram profile.
What we don't know:
It's unclear where in Ventura County she was pulled over and if she was suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both.
It has not been confirmed if anyone else was in the vehicle during the incident.
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Spears or her team have not yet commented on the incident.
Dig deeper:
TMZ reports the arrest comes just days after Spears was granted a permanent restraining order against a 51-year-old Louisiana man, whom she claimed had been stalking and harassing her online since 2013. The man was arrested for trespassing after showing up at her Southern California home in 2025.
Spears’ recent arrest follows a period of major personal transitions, including the landmark 2021 termination of her 13-year court-ordered conservatorship.
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Just last month, the singer reportedly finalized a "landmark" sale of her entire music catalog to the publisher Primary Wave. While the exact sale price was not disclosed in legal documents, industry reports estimate the deal is valued at approximately $200 million.
The backstory:
Spears, born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, was a teen pop phenomenon who became a defining superstar of the ’90s and 2000s. She rose to fame from Disney Channel’s "The Mickey Mouse Club" to MTV and beyond, with such era-defining hits like "… Baby One More Time," "Oops! … I Did It Again" and "Toxic."
Most of her albums have been certified platinum, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, with two diamond titles: 1999’s " … Baby One More Time" and 2000’s "Oops! … I Did It Again." Her last full-length album, "Glory," was released in 2016.
Spears became a focus of tabloids in the early 2000s, and a source of public scrutiny, as she battled mental illness and paparazzi documented the details of her private life.
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Later, as cultural opinion evolved to recognize the misogynistic media coverage of the time, Spears’ fight to control her life became the focus of the #FreeBritney movement In 2008, Spears was placed under a court-ordered conservatorship, run primarily by her father and his lawyers, that would control her personal and financial decisions for well over a decade. It was dissolved in 2021. Two years later, she released a bestselling, tell-all memoir, "The Woman In Me."
What's next:
Spears is scheduled to appear in court on May 4.
The Source: This report was based on arrest records from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The Associated Press contributed.