Toxic! Britney Spears’s Conservatorship

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Britney Spears’s recent fight for freedom has shown the world a glimpse of the malicious greed within the entertainment industry and the power social media has in creating a movement.

Gossip surrounding Spears’ mental health stirred when paparazzi invasively captured Spears’s shaving her head in February 2007 and later hitting a photographer’s car with an umbrella, and spun it into another pop-artist-gone-mad story of the century. Following her divorce later that year with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, Spears fought against police for custody of her two sons. The impact of this incident resulted in Spears’s commission to a mental health facility. Here, the hospital concluded she was no longer fit to take care of herself, labeling her “greatly disabled.” Spears’s freedom declined after her father was given temporary conservatorship, an agreement that stated he could control all of Britney Spears’s financial and personal decisions. Conservatorship is a last resort contract, and therefore rarely done and rarely reversed. This was only supposed to be a temporary solution in order to protect her assets while Spears focused on her wellbeing, however, the agreement ended up lasting over 10 years. Spears was ultimately trapped under her restraining guardianship with no power over her income to seek legal help.

During the duration of her conservatorship, she released multiple albums, starred as a judge on X Factor, held a four year long Las Vegas residency, and released a new perfume line called Believe. All while her advisors are collecting checks, Spears was under constant surveillance outside her home, confining chaperoning was implemented into her relationships, she was forced to continue birth control, and many other regulations regarding her personal life. The people trusted by the court to look out for her best interest were using the contracts loopholes to create a bucket of revenue. How could someone diagnosed as “greatly disabled” tour, guest star on national television, and advertise a business? Although her father, James Spears, affirms he still loves his daughter unconditionally through this battle, he also admits they have not spoken to one another in months.

Britney Spears attests the conservatorship has damaged her life, “I’m not gonna be performing on any stages anytime soon with my dad handling what I wear, say, do, or think”

Thanks to social media platforms like TikTok, fans were able to pick up Spears’s silent cries for help. Bothered followers commented instructions like, “wear orange” or “hold flowers in the next video if you need help”. Spears responded to these comments in her following videos by obliging to fan requests. A consistent pattern was concerningly noticed. Things escalated to protests outside of the courtroom, her ex-husband even joining along. Major news outlets like the New York Times spoke on Spears’s freedom. With the help of musical artists and fans, Britney Spears is fighting to charge her father with “conservative abuse”, which is qualified as financially exploiting or abusing power over a person in your care.

The legality and morality of these proceedings has brought to light major discussion about the abusive treatment celebrities face in the entertainment industry. This situation has also brought out a new solution, social media. Social media has allowed a direct line of communication between a celebrity and their fans which breaks the bonds that hold the entertainer to money-grabbing managers. Through platforms like Tiktok or Instagram, stars can continue their passions under their own supervision.

Britney Spears states in her documentary, “I’d much rather share videos YES from my living room instead of onstage in Vegas…I’m not gonna put on heavy makeup and try try try on stage again and not be able to do the real deal with remixes of my songs for years”

#FreeMaGirlBrit