TV & Movies

Sam Asghari Has Mixed Feelings About All Those Britney Spears Documentaries

Plus, his sweet message for the #FreeBritney movement.

by Grace Wehniainen
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JULY 22: Britney Spears and Sam Asghari attend Sony Pictures' "Once Upon a T...
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Released on Sept. 24, Hulu’s Controlling Britney Spears is the latest documentary highlighting the pop star’s life under conservatorship — but it’s far from the only deep-dive that’s got fans talking. In addition to serving as the official follow-up to The New York Times’ Framing Britney Spears in February, Controlling Britney Spears also arrived days before CNN and Netflix were set to drop their own respective docs, Toxic: Britney Spears’ Battle For Freedom and Britney vs. Spears.

It may be hard to keep track of all the new developments, but this recent flurry of exposés can be attributed to Spears’ upcoming Sept. 29 court hearing, which could determine the fate of the conservatorship that’s controlled her life for the past 13 years. Of course, it’s natural to wonder what Spears’ loved ones think about all the revelations so far — a fact of which her fiancé, Sam Asghari, is keenly aware.

Ahead of Controlling Britney Spears’ release on Sept. 24, Asghari took to Instagram to share his thoughts on the recent specials and the #FreeBritney movement. “Apparently my opinion has increased in value over the last few days,” he wrote on his story, per a screenshot taken by Just Jared. “Past docs left bad after taste. I’m hopeful this one will be respectful. I don’t blame CNN, BBC or NETFLIX ([which] got me [through] lockdowns) for airing them because as an actor I tell other people’s stories too.”

Though Asghari — who recently appeared alongside Jean Smart in Hacks — was understanding in his statement, he was also skeptical, writing that he questions “producers who made [the docs] ‘just to shed light’ without input or approval from the subject. Any credit for light being shed should go to #FreeBritney.” Spears herself didn’t love the approach, either, writing on Instagram in March that she was “embarrassed by the light they put me in,” and “cried for two weeks” as a result.

Asghari has long been supportive of Spears on social media, of course, so his latest message comes as no surprise. In February, he wrote that he has “zero respect for someone trying to control our relationship” and outright called Spears father, Jamie, “a total d*ck.” And in June, following the “Toxic” singer’s milestone court hearing (in which she said she’d like to sue her family and send Jamie to jail), Asghari sported a “Free Britney” T-shirt on his story.

Fans can only assume that Asghari will be equally encouraging amid the upcoming Sept. 29 hearing, which has the potential to change Spears’ conservatorship (and life) as we know it. Should her situation finally improve, Spears has plans she’d like to pursue with Asghari — in her June hearing, she spoke of getting married, removing her IUD, and having a baby. “I deserve to have a life,” she said, per the court transcript. “I’ve worked my whole life. ... I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does, by having a child, a family, any of those things, and more so.”