Britney Spears released after being arrested on suspicion of DUI

The 44-year-old pop star was arrested Wednesday night after being pulled over by the California Highway Patrol.

Britney Spears has been released Thursday morning after having been arrested on suspicion of DUI in Los Angeles County, California, law enforcement has confirmed to NBC Los Angeles.

Spears, 44, was arrested Wednesday night around 9 p.m. after being pulled over by the California Highway Patrol near the Ventura County and Los Angele County border, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Law enforcement told NBC Los Angeles that another driver saw someone driving erratically at a high rate of speed on the southbound 101 near the Borchard Road Exit in Newbury Park and called 911.

CHP officers located the BMW 430i and initiated a traffic stop. The driver exited the freeway and pulled to the shoulder, authorities said.

Spears was the only occupant in the car.

Spears was released shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday, jail records show. Law enforcement said the arrest was alcohol- and drug-related.

No further details were immediately available.

"This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable," Spears' representative told NBC Los Angeles. "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."

Spears has two children with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

TMZ was the first to report Spears’ arrest.

Spears' Instagram account, frequently updated with videos of her dancing in her Thousand Oaks home, appeared to be taken down early Thursday morning.

The Grammy winning pop star's arrest came about five years after she was released by a judge from a controversial conservatorship that gave her father control over her finances and career for more than a decade. Jamie Spears was named conservator after his daughter suffered a series of mental health crises in the early 2000s.

Spears shared her experience under the conservatorship in her best-selling 2023 memoir "The Woman In Me," describing how her life was controlled by others.

The Mississippi native ended up at the center of the #FreeBritney campaign that supported her efforts to be granted authority over her medical, personal and financial decisions. After Spears' conservatorship case unfolded in the public eye, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that limited conservatorships that grant legal guardianship over individuals.

Spears, who has not previously been arrested, was behind some of music's biggest pop hits, including "…Baby One More Time,” “Oops!… I Did It Again!,” "Womanizer" and "I'm a Slave 4 U." Spears won her first Grammy in 2004 for Best Dance Recording for "Toxic."

Last month, Spears sold the rights to her music catalog.

NBCLA's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.

Click here for a list of Southern California mental health resources.