Britney Spears has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence following a March incident in California.
Spears, 44, had been charged with one misdemeanor count of DUI by prosecutors in Ventura County.
The “Circus” singer was pulled over March 4 by California Highway Patrol officers, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office’s inmate records.
Via a defense lawyer, Spears pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol at an arraignment at a Ventura County courthouse Monday, The New York Times reports.
She was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and one day of jail, credited as time served, by Ventura County Commissioner Matthew Nemerson.
“Through her plea today, Britney has accepted responsibility for her conduct,” defense lawyer Michael Goldstein said in a statement.
“She has taken significant steps to implement positive change which is clearly reflected in the Ventura County District Attorney’s decision to reduce the charge in this case and dismiss the DUI. Britney appreciates this discretion and is also grateful for the outpouring of support she has received.”
911 dispatch audio obtained by US Weekly revealed that Spears was driving a black BMW 2026 convertible, with the operator describing the vehicle “erratic[ly] braking, swerving and driving with no taillight.”
She was booked by the sheriff’s office around 3 a.m. Wednesday, and was released from custody hours later.
A representative for Spears told The Independent at the time: “This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable. Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life. Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.
“Her boys are going to be spending time with her. Her loved ones are going to come up with an overdue needed plan to set her up for success for well being.”
Earlier this month, her representative confirmed she had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment center.
In 2007, Spears avoided a criminal hit-and-run trial by paying for damages after photographers pictured the singer steering her car into another vehicle as she tried to park in a California parking lot, and walking away after assessing the damage to her own car.
Shortly after that incident, Spears lost custody of her two sons with her ex-husband Kevin Federline: 20-year-old Sean Preston Federline and 19-year-old Jayden James Federline. In 2008, she was placed into a conservatorship, leaving her personal finances and affairs under the control of her father, Jamie Spears.
The controversial legal arrangement was lifted in November 2021, 13 years after it was put in place.
In recent years, the Grammy-winning “Toxic” singer has found herself at the center of a string of controversies involving erratic social media behavior. She addressed her divisive social media activity in her 2023 memoir The Woman in Me, explaining that she gets “joy” from “posing the way I feel sexy.”
For a brief period after the DUI incident, Spears appeared to have deactivated her Instagram account yet again. It has since been reinstated.
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