In a Los Angeles courtroom (open in new tab) on Wednesday, Britney Spears sought to end the "abusive" conservatorship she has been protected by her father, Jamie Spears, for 13 years. She told Judge Brenda Penny that the conservatorship did not allow her to remove her IUD, prevented her from having another child, and forced her to take the mood stabilizer lithium against her will. 'I want my life back,' she said. This conservatorship has done more harm than good to me."

Spears made her first public statement since the hearing on Instagram Thursday." I apologize for pretending like I was okay," she wrote.

"My pride got in the way and I was embarrassed to share what had happened to me."

Sharing a quote about fairy tales, Spears wrote, "I believe that as people, we all want a fairy tale life, the way I posted ...... My life seems to be looking pretty great and has been ...... I think it is something we all strive for!!!!" I wrote. That was one of my mother's best traits ...... When I was younger, no matter how bad my day was...... for me and my siblings, she always pretended as if everything was ok"

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"I let everyone know about this because I didn't want them to think my life was perfect.

"Believe it or not, pretending that I'm okay has actually helped me: ...... So I decided to post these words today." Instagram is my existence ...... I feel like it helped me have a cool outlet to share my existence ...... And to simply feel like I mattered despite what I was going through...... And hey, it worked ...... So I decided to start reading more fairy tales."