Britney Spears’ ex-husband Sam Asghari defended the pop star’s infamous Instagram videos dancing with knives, calling her a “genius artist.”
“I’m not someone that [would say], ‘Let me take your phone from you and not allow you to do anything and restrict you from posting your own content,’” the “Traitors” contestant said on the “Viall Files” podcast Wednesday.
Asghari, who was married to Spears from 2022 to 2024, praised his ex-wife’s creativity, comparing her to the late Michael Jackson.
“What’s in her head is gold, and it’s what made her who she is,” he said, adding that the Princess and King of Pop both had “genius ideas … that somebody else wouldn’t have.”
The actor then alluded to Spears’ 13-year conservatorship, which saw her now-estranged father, Jamie Spears, control her personal, financial and medical decisions before its termination in 2021.
“When you take away the ability to make art, express yourself, I’m not going to be the one that’s gonna stop anybody from posting what they want — especially if dance is the way you express yourself,” he reiterated.
That said, Asghari, 30, only had positive things to say about Jamie, 72, despite previously calling him a “total d–k.”
“I will always have my respect for everybody, and I will always stay respectful, and I always try to understand what really happens and why and how I could help in both sides and how I could just protect someone as well,” he told host Nick Viall.
“So my relationship [with Jamie] was always respectful, even though I didn’t agree with some of the stuff — or anything really.”
Britney, 43, sparked concern in 2023 when she posted videos on social media of herself dancing in her living room with butcher knives in each hand as her dogs scampered off in the background.
While the “Toxic” singer insisted the blades were “NOT real” in the caption of her first post, she had a large bandage wrapped around her arm and cuts on her thigh in a subsequent video.
Police later told Page Six that they had received a call from “somebody close to Britney” who was “really concerned for her mental well-being” upon seeing the clips online.
“We determined this is someone who knows Britney on a personal basis,” a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office spokesman shared with us at the time.
As a result, officers responded to Britney’s $7.4 million home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., but security guards assured them via an intercom that the Grammy winner was “fine,” so they left the premises.
Britney later called the welfare check a “joke,” writing on Instagram, “It’s about power for cops.”
