Britney Spears' ex-husband is charged with stalking after trying to crash her wedding
Jason Alexander, a childhood friend of Britney Spears' and the pop star's first husband, was charged with a felony and three misdemeanors for his attempt to crash Spears' wedding to her longtime partner Sam Asghari.
Alexander pleaded not guilty to the charges of stalking, trespassing and refusing to leave private property, vandalism and battery, according to court records. Spears and Alexander married in 2004 in Las Vegas, but the marriage was annulled after 55 hours.
Prior to his arrest on Thursday, Alexander went live on Instagram and filmed his attempt to disrupt the wedding preparations. The video shows Alexander walking around Spears' property and walking into the house including the alter area proclaiming that he's "here to crash the wedding," and asking where Spears is.
Eventually, a security guard tackled Alexander, who was then arrested and charged by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
On Monday, a judge ordered that Alexander must stay at least 100 yards away from Spears for three years, not have any contact with Spears and not own or purchase any firearms.
Despite Alexander's attempt to crash the wedding, Spears and Asghari married on Thursday in front of a small group of friends and family that included Selena Gomez, Madonna, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton and Donatella Versace.
The day marked a milestone for Spears, whose 13-year conservatorship ended last November. Many across the country supported Spears in her fight as part of the #FreeBritney movement.
In a statement made to the Los Angeles court which considered terminating her conservatorship, Spears spoke about not being able to get married despite her wishes to do so.
"I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I'm not able to get married or have a baby," Spears said at the time. "So basically this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I — I deserve to have a life. ... I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does by having a child, a family, any of those things."
Spears had been dating Asghari for a number of years at the time of the hearing. The two met during the filming of Spears' music video for her song "Slumber Party" which was released in 2016.
"It was the humbleness that attracted me," Asghari told GQ about the pair's meeting. "She was very humble and she had a beautiful soul."
The two announced their engagement last September on Instagram, with Asghari posting a photo of the two that prominently featured the ring he picked out for Spears, and the pop star sharing a video showing her excitement.
Asghari told GQ that prior to the proposal he didn't tell anyone about his plans.
"I didn't want anybody to know and anybody to interfere in any way whatsoever so it was between me and her," he said.
Similarly, the plans for the wedding were kept under wraps – for the most part, that is.
The couple did not announce anything ahead of time, though TMZ reported early Thursday that it was their wedding day and shared photos of the event setup.
Spears sparsely teased wedding details shortly after their engagement, sharing that Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace would be the artist behind her wedding dress. The two go way back and Versace was one of the many celebrities to congratulate Spears on the end of her conservatorship. Versace shared details of the design after the wedding. [Copyright 2022 NPR]
