Britney Spears’ ‘X-Factor’ Co-Star Reveals Troubling Behavior During Production

The rehashing of Britney Spears‘ stardom over the last few decades got a fresh complication this week thanks to her X Factor co-star Louis Walsh. Walsh filled in as a judge on the U.S. version of The X Factor briefly in 2012, working alongside Spears closely. In an interview with The Irish Independent, Walsh now says that he believes Spears was inebriated while filming, and says she “wasn’t there mentally.”

“I was sitting next to Britney for two days, and after every few auditions, she would go—” Walsh said, reportedly imitating Spears slumping over lifelessly in her seat. The 68-year-old continued: “They would literally have to stop the show and take her out because she was on so much medication and other stuff. I felt sorry for her.” Walsh’s comments come amidst the “Free Britney” movement, where fans are calling for Spears to be released from her conservatorship and given control of her own affairs.

This was spurred in no small part by the documentary Framing Britney Spears, which detailed her treatment by the media in the early-2000s. It sounds like Walsh is not entirely unsympathetic to the “Free Britney” movement. He said: “Here she was, the biggest pop star on the planet, and she was just sitting there physically, but she wasn’t there mentally. She had a lot of problems.”

Still, Walsh felt that Spears made out alright in the deal, noting that she was “getting millions of dollars” regardless of her performance on The X Factor, so “why the f— wouldn’t she sit there?” Walsh was only filling in for Simon Cowell at the time, and Spears left the competition show after one season.

After the reality show, Spears went on to launch her long-running Las Vegas residency, Piece of Me. She would later confess that she had “panic attack after panic attack” while filming The X Factor. In a 2012 interview with Elle, she said: “I got over that quickly, though, and realized that I was helping them by being honest.”

“Personally, I think that’s the toughest part about being a judge on The X Factor,” she went on. “Most of them are still developing, and it’s hard to tell such young kids whether they have what it takes or not, so I try to be as protective as I can with their hopes and dreams.”

Today, Spears is more sparing with her public commentary, presumably because her case is open and the terms of her conservatorship could change soon if she plays her cards right. Spears remains an elusive star of social media, with no other major projects in the works.