Britney Spears Breaks Silence After 'Maniac' Footage at LA Restaurant

Britney Spears has spoken out after footage of her speaking "gibberish" at a Los Angeles restaurant was leaked to the media.

Spears took to her Instagram to slam the public interest in her "looking like Shrek" after she attended JOEY restaurant in San Fernando Valley with her husband, Sam Asghari, on Friday, January 13.

Fellow diners began filming Spears at the restaurant as she held up a menu to cover her face from their cameras. Witnesses at the restaurant told TMZ Spears began having a "manic" episode where she began yelling and seemed to be speaking incoherently.

Asghari allegedly left the restaurant soon after and some of the restaurant's patrons claimed Spears was speaking "gibberish," before she left with her bodyguard who later returned to pay the bill.

While Britney has posted on Instagram since that dinner, including videos of her dancing in a strapless dress, she referenced the leaked video in a lengthy post on Sunday night.

Alongside an image of a small girl pouring pancakes, Spears accused media of being "hyped up" about being drunk at the restaurant.

"I watched "NATURAL BORN KILLERS" this morning and damn I got ENLIGHTENED ... and HOLY SMOKES S*** BALLS I'm sure I brought a billion SMILES to me LOOKING LIKE SHREK at a restaurant," Spears began.

"Even my best friend couldn't WAIT TO SEND IT TO ME, THEY DON'T THINK TWICE because we are all natural born killers ... I know the news is all hyped about me being a little drunk at a restaurant ... it's like they'll be WATCHING MY EVERY MOVE 👀 !!! I'm so flattered they talk about me like a maniac THEN have the balls to talk about all the negative things that happened in my past !!!"

Spears added: "Honestly it would be safer for me to compliment this world and f*** up because if I become a prophet and don't create history, we might have something y'all... I'm just KIDDING, but it's a good thought 💭.

"I know y'all are rooting for me and all and make sure you check out the shocking Shrek picture of me ... I was like damn that's horrific yet there were two pics where I was normal 🤔 ... either way honestly I know nobody gives a flying f*** what I do !!! I'm just bored writing this paragraph like a damn idiot 🥱"

Spears removed the ability to comment on the post, but her fans took to Twitter to slam the person who leaked the footage and the media outlets who chose to play it.

"They are setting Britney up again. I just can't believe it's the GP actually realizing the shenanigans before most stans," wrote one person.

And another added: "LEAVE BRITNEY A L O N E ! ! ! that includes the people that started video taping her!!! Please leave this poor woman alone she has been through enough!!!"

Spears had mental health issues in the mid-2000s which led to her being placed in a strict conservatorship by her father, Jamie Spears, and her lawyer in 2008.

Freed From Conservatorship

During the 13-year conservatorship they had full control of Spears' finances, career and even medical decisions. But she was freed from the arrangement in 2021 after delivering harrowing testimony in a Los Angeles court, including how she was forced to get an IUD contraceptive device to prevent her from having more children.

Her experience in the restaurant came just weeks after conspiracy theories about her well-being went viral.

Fans were convinced she was in the middle of a mental health crisis and even accused those closest to her of editing her into social media posts as a cover for what's happening.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton then claimed a friend of his in the entertainment industry told him what was really going on with Spears.

"First of all, for many reasons, I'm not going to repeat what my friend told me...but my friend did share that things are bad," Perez said in an Instagram video earlier this month.