Image of Britney Spears in 2021. Courtesy of Glamour.
Britney Spears, the pop icon who is known for the hit songs “Toxic” and “Baby One More Time,” is immersed in an ongoing trial over her 13-year conservatorship that officially ended on November 12, 2021. According to a Deadline article, there is a mini-trial set for July 27th, 2022 to further examine illegal activity, such as surveillance and total control over Britney’s personal finances, that occurred during the conservatorship.
As stated by Vox, a “conservatorship” appoints a parent or guardian to manage all financial and personal affairs of an adult person who is unable to live on their own, usually for medical or age-related conditions. In 2008, the press branded Britney Spears as “insane” during an infamous public breakdown where she shaved her head and attacked a paparazzi’s car with an umbrella.
When asked why she shaved her head, Brittney responded that she was “sick of people touching my hair.” Soon after this shocking event, Spears was admitted into psychiatric hospitalization and then placed into temporary legal conservatorship, filed by her father, Jamie Spears.
Jamie Spears (left) and his daughter Britney Spears (right). Courtesy of NY Times.
This “temporary” legal agreement has lasted for over a decade, in which every aspect of Britney’s life has been under tight supervision. In her damning testimony for an open court on June 23, 2021, Britney revealed her abusive and grim reality. She claimed that her father put her on lithium, a mood stabilizer medication used to treat bipolar disorder, that made her “feel drunk,” and had a pregnancy-preventing IUD implanted – all against her will. She described her father’s team forcing her to go on tour, once even with a 104-degree fever, and relentless ten-hour, seven-days a week training for performances. Her recount of her father forcing her to go to a program that he claimed would help stabilize her mood illustrated the constant surveillance: “They watched me change every day–naked–morning, noon, and night… I had no privacy door for my room.”
During this time, Britney was cut off from speaking freely to the public. Jamie Spears had surveillance cameras set up in Britney’s bedroom and prohibited her from having a cellphone, driving a car, or purchasing anything beyond her $2000 weekly allowance. Despite continuing to perform and release music, a New York Times article indicates that Jamie fully controlled and profited off of Britney’s finances. Jamie would receive a percentage of the gross revenue for Britney’s various performances, such as the 2014 “Piece of Me” world tour which brought in $138 million. A Forbes report estimates that Jamie made almost $5 million from the conservatorship. This does not even include the additional hundreds of thousands Britney was forced to pay in legal fees. The conservatorship rules required Britney to pay an annual $520,000 to the lawyer San Ingham who represented her during the conservatorship and while in court.
A supporter at a #FreeBritney rally in Washington, DC. Courtesy of Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times.
Britney Spears’ case exemplifies how media exposure is a double-edged sword. She became a child star at sixteen years old and grew up in the public eye, subject to constant speculation. Media greatly boosted her popularity around the world. On the other hand, however, the excessive tabloid stories and paparazzi surrounding Britney’s divorce in 2007 greatly contributed to her eventual breakdown. The #FreeBritney Movement, which gained online momentum in 2019, directly responded to the public’s obsession with judging Britney’s body, her career, and even her parenting style. The movement, along with the 2021 New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” encouraged fans and others alike to recognize the legitimacy of her legal trial.
Although Britney may be free from her conservatorship, the battle to gain financial rights and settle the legal implications of her father’s abuse continues. Her trial speaks to a larger struggle that many famous child stars-turned pop icons face in maintaining any privacy from the media. A prominent example includes singer Demi Lovato; under immense public pressure as a Disney Channel child star, they struggled with mental health issues and drug addictions for years. Similarly, the iconic actress Judy Garland was forced by her film studio to take diet pills as a child to maintain thinness, catalyzing a tumultuous lifetime of pill addiction. Although fame promises glamor, wealth, and adoring fans, there is often a darker underside for women caught in the media’s spotlight. The right to one’s body and voice– free from public judgment– can become a grueling lifelong struggle.