Sean Phillip, Britney Spears‘ ex-assistant, has recollected aiding the singer during her most challenging moments while she publishes her startling new book, The Woman In Me.
Having lived with the now 41-year-old pop star, Sean characterized her as a ‘sad individual’ while reflecting on the well-known 2007 head-shaving incident.
Speaking on Tuesday’s GMB he said: ‘For me personally, I did see a sad person… I was worried for her, I felt protective of her at the time. It wasn’t a job anymore, it was protection in a friendship kind of way’.
During the conversation with Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway, Sean shared how he attempted to convince the celebrity to seek professional assistance by personally taking her to a facility right after the head-shaving episode.
‘We were told that she was being sued by her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, and that we had to take her to a facility and she agreed to go to a facility and we went’.
He continued, ‘But she had to check herself in voluntarily and when we got there, she didn’t want to do it and nobody could make her do it.’
‘He came over and we had a long discussion, a very emotional discussion between herself, her father and a few other people. That was basically the last time I saw her
Sean went on: ‘She walked out of the front door with her father, turned around, said, ‘I love you’ and ‘Goodbye’. I felt a certain kind of way, I felt like that was a goodbye.
‘I had no idea what was going to happen after that, no information about the legal things that were going on and what was to come after that. Things got a little worse, a lot worse, after that.’
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He went on to disclose how Britney frequently approached strangers, recounting an episode involving a group of surfers in Malibu, where she expressed her desire for companionship.
‘The problem with Britney having friends is a lot of people wanted to be friends with Britney for the wrong reasons. Those particular people on that day were nice gentlemen who took care of her, they called me and I picked her up.’
Adding: ‘I would see things on the news and see her with people I didn’t know, who I’d never met. It worried me that people would be taking advantage of her.’
Inquiring about Mel Gibson’s reported offer to assist Britney, Richard asked, mentioning, “He wanted to provide her guidance in some way.”
Recalling the influx of phone calls offering aid after the head-shaving episode, he informed the hosts, “I received a multitude of intriguing calls during that period. Many well-intentioned people wanted to help, but the situation was too chaotic… All I need is five minutes with her.”
Sean expressed uncertainty about reading Britney’s new book but acknowledged it as a positive opportunity for her to tell her own story.
This development follows Britney’s recent revelation in her highly-anticipated memoir, The Woman In Me, obtained by People magazine, where she candidly addressed the motives behind her 2007 head-shaving incident. Amidst a turbulent divorce with Kevin Federline and relentless public scrutiny, the renowned pop star delved into the circumstances that led to that pivotal moment.
She wrote: ‘I’d been eyeballed so much growing up. I’d been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager.
‘Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back.’
As a result, a year later she was put under a court-ordered conservatorship in 2008 which granted her father Jamie Spears and a lawyer total control over her financial and personal affairs.
Britney also revealed that due to the conservatorship she was prohibited from keeping the look as she wrote: ‘Under the conservatorship I was made to understand that those days were now over.
‘I had to grow my hair out and get back into shape. I had to go to bed early and take whatever medication they told me to take.’
In her account, Britney additionally addressed the 13-year-long conservatorship, outlining how her father ‘exercised control over her physical being and finances’ and inflicted emotional distress through disparaging remarks about her weight.