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Britney Spears has been arrested in Southern California for allegedly driving under the influence, according to state and local officials.
Spears was pulled over by California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers on Wednesday night after the black BMW she was driving was reported for speeding and driving erratically, according to the CHP.
The CHP told CBC News that the pop star submitted to a number of field sobriety tests before she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of drugs and alcohol.
Spears was booked at a detention centre shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday before she was released at about 6 a.m., according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
The CHP said the incident was still under investigation and that chemical test results were still pending. A court date has been scheduled for May 4.
Spears, born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, was a teen pop phenomenon who became a defining superstar of the 1990s and 2000s. She rose to fame from Disney Channel’s The Mickey Mouse Club to MTV and beyond, with era-defining songs such as Hit Me Baby One More Time, Oops! I Did It Again and Toxic.
The star struggled with her mental health and substance use in the 2000s, and was hospitalized for a period of time in 2008.
In recent years, fans scrutinized the conservatorship that allowed her father, James Spears, to control her life and money. This sparked the “Free Britney” movement and a documentary about her court fight with her father.
A judge suspended the conservatorship in 2021 in what was seen as a major win for the pop star.