'Controlling Britney Spears': Documentary reveals surveillance apparatus around singer

The follow-up to Framing Britney Spears, Controlling Britney Spears premiered on FX and Hulu on Friday night. The New York Times Presents Controlling Britney Spears, those among the singer's inner circle came forward to share how they’ve witnessed the pop star being treated under her conservatorship. Those featured in the documentary include the singer's former longtime assistant Felicia Culotta, her former head of wardrobe Tish Yates, promotional tour manager of Spears’ Circus tour Dan George, and Alex Vlasov, a former executive assistant amongst others. Here are some shocking revelations made in Controlling Britney Spears.

Britney’s personal conversations from inside her house were recorded

As per Hollywood Reporter, one of the new voices introduced into the documentary was that of Alex Vlasov, a former operations manager for Black Box Security. Vlasov alleged that Black Box Security President Edan Yemini had a recording device installed in Spears’ bedroom and acquired over 180 hours of audio without her knowledge or consent, rendering the act illegal. Vlasov further shared that the audio was brought to him on a USB drive by an agent working for Yemini with a request to erase all traces of its existence.

Jamie Spears kept track of Britney through iPad linked to her iPhone

Alex Vlasov revealed that the singer’s first iPhone was linked to the same iCloud account used by her father so that every notes app entry, message and photo stored on her phone would appear on the iPad, too. Even her browser history. He said, "Her own phone, her own private conversations were used so often to control her."

Spears’ former head of wardrobe Tish Yates said that she had to ask Robin Greenhill, who received 5% of the gross income from the tour, permission to talk to the singer. She added that staff members like herself who did challenge the control of the conservatorship, whether directly or internally, often found themselves in a position where they thought it was better to not say anything than to speak out and as a result be removed or separated from Spears.

Britney's disdain over her conservatorship documentaries 

However, Britney Spears herself had expressed disdain over documentaries made about her. The Toxic singer via her Instagram had earlier written, "So many documentaries about me this year with other people's takes on my life... what can I say… I’m deeply flattered!!!! These documentaries are so hypocritical … they criticize the media and then do the same thing????? Damn… I don’t know y’all but I’m thrilled to remind you all that although I've had some pretty tough times in my life... I've had waaaayyyy more amazing times in my life and unfortunately my friends… I think the world is more interested in the negative!!!! I mean… isn't this supposed to be a business and society about THE FUTURE ???? Why highlight the most negative and traumatizing times in my life from forever ago???? I mean DAMN… on a lighter note… this is a video of me dancing."

(Image: Instagram/@kooljocelyn/AP)