Britney Spears enters substance abuse treatment facility weeks after arrest

Britney Spears voluntarily checked herself into the facility, a representative said. Picture: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Britney Spears has entered a substance abuse treatment facility just over a month after she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

A representative for Spears told The Associated Press that the 44-year-old pop superstar had voluntarily checked herself into the facility.

On March 5, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers received a report that a BMW was driving fast and erratically on US 101 in Ventura County near the Los Angeles County line, the CHP said.

Britney Spears in 2016 (PA)

Spears, who lives in the area, took a series of field sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs, authorities said.

She was taken to a county jail and released several hours later.

Investigators turned over the case on March 23 to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, which plans to make a decision on charges against Spears before a scheduled May 4 court date.

A representative at the time called Spears’ actions “completely inexcusable” and said it would ideally be “the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life”.

Spears has mostly set aside her music career.

She has not toured in nearly eight years and has not put out an album in nearly a decade.

In 2021, she regained control of her life decisions and finances when a court-ordered conservatorship was dissolved after nearly 14 years.

Two years later, she released a bestselling memoir, The Woman In Me.