Let's Talk About #FreeBritney

July 2, 2021

I've never qualified as a Britney Spears fan, but I have become kind of fascinated with her story in recent years when I learned about her conservatorship. #FreeBritney has been a hashtag for at least a few years now, but after last week, it has rightfully blown up even more. In retrospect, Britney's life up until this point seems so tragic, as many child stars' lives unfortunately eventually do; and that tragedy has endeared me to her as a person.

For those who somehow still don't know, Britney's father got a conservatorship over her in 2008 when she (understandably, considering all the media pressure and lack of privacy she had to deal with) experienced some mental health issues.

I did like Britney's music when I was a kid and she first came onto the pop music scene, but I was never into it enough to consider myself a fan. I guess you could say I was on my way toward being a fan -- after all, I remember recording her televised concert on VHS and excitedly waiting for a new episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch in which she guest-starred in 1999 -- but when my parents saw how sexualized some of her music videos were, I don't think they liked me listening to her that much. So I only listened to her casually -- on the radio, Disney channel, etc. -- without ever really following her career or owning any of her CD's. Still, for people of my age group in general, she was a staple of our childhood.

In all honesty, I had never heard the term conservatorship prior to Britney's case making headlines, even despite working in the field of behavioral health for so long. I definitely had several clients who had a legal guardian, but those were usually public fiduciaries, whose job it is to make decisions for the clients over whom they have guardianship; rarely was it a family member, and never (that I'm aware of) was there a conservatorship.

From what I understand, though I am certainly no expert, a conservatorship is basically a more all-encompassing form of guardianship, or a specific form that focuses on a person's estate and property, and it's meant to protect adults who are incapacitated and cannot take care of themselves, including people who have dementia or developmental disabilities. It allows the conservator to be in control of the person's money and financial decisions, as well as, in some cases it seems, their healthcare and other life decisions. Basically, the person can't make any legal decisions on their own without the conservator signing off on it.

Apparently Britney has a conservator of the person as well as a conservator of the estate, but again, I am not an expert on any of this. If you want someone to explain what the exact difference is between that and a regular guardianship, I'm the wrong person.

But from Britney's most recent testimony on June 23, we know that her conservator controls more than just her estate. She even says that the conservatorship prevents her from getting married and having more children, as she has an IUD in to prevent pregnancy and they won't let her go to the doctor to have it removed. She also details how she believes she is being punished by the conservators when she wants to do something they don't want, such as trying to take a break from performing, and how they have lied about her not taking her medications or being "uncooperative" during rehearsals. She even mentions that she was under constant surveillance at one point and not even allowed to change clothes without someone there watching her, having absolutely no privacy.

At some point within the past year, I couldn't sleep and was browsing music videos from my childhood on YouTube. It was on autoplay, and after I ended up on one of Britney's videos, it then led to several others. What really struck me as an adult re-watching her videos was not only that they were, in fact, very sexualized, but the fact that Britney was only 16 years old when she filmed some of them.

I began to feel even more sorry for Britney as the realization sank in that she has probably been controlled by other people for pretty much her entire life.

Britney is seven years older than myself, so back then, I didn't realize that she was also just a child. As a nine- or ten-year-old watching a teenaged Britney, she looked like a grown-up to me. It took me re-watching her videos as an adult to realize how inappropriate it was for somebody her age to be sexualized as much as she always was. But it wasn't her fault. She was literally a kid at that point. It was the adults in her life who ultimately made those decisions, and whether she was on board or not (which I'm sure she was, being a teenage girl) they were not her decisions to make because she wasn't old enough to consent.

She certainly isn't the only underage popstar who's been turned into a sex symbol by the music industry, but she was definitely one of the most prolific and marketable ones, especially because she was actually extremely talented. The other thing that struck me upon re-watching her videos was what a truly great performer she was. And as a teenager who loved singing and performing, of course she was going to do anything she was told in order to pursue that passion and achieve fame. She was ripe for the exploiting.

As we know now, they even made her change her voice and singing style to something unnatural; that weird, almost robotic voice you hear on her records is apparently not even close to what her natural voice sounds like. And while I don't know if it's true, and therefore won't report it as if it is, there are rumors that her parents had her get breast implants when she was around 16 to further her career (which were later removed as her natural breasts got bigger with age). Despite having no idea if that rumor is true or not, based on everything else I know, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

Looking back now, I feel like Britney was more of a product to her parents than a daughter. A cash cow. Something marketable that made a lot of money for her family. And they wanted to keep it that way. When you're a minor, it's easy to be controlled by your parents, but eventually Britney would become an adult. And apparently, her dad's solution to that was the conservatorship he's had for the past thirteen years. Despite being in her 30's now, the conservatorship basically keeps her a child, unable to make her own decisions without her dad's approval, which seems to have been the goal all along.

I don't know exactly how bad Britney's mental health was in 2008 when the conservatorship began. But I do know that a conservatorship is intended for people who literally can't take care of themselves, which is clearly not the case with Britney now, and probably wasn't the case back then either, especially since being that severely incapacitated is rarely something a person grows out of. Additionally, a conservatorship is supposed to protect the person who can't care for themselves, not exploit them.

It really seems, to an outsider anyway, that her father simply didn't want her to grow up, so that he didn't have to give up control of the money she made. He wanted to keep her as a workhorse, making money for him instead of herself. It isn't just about the money, though. It's about the fact that she's a grown woman in her late 30's who's being controlled as if she were a child.

It's all very sad. It reminds me a bit of Marilyn Monroe's life, another blonde bombshell who was always viewed as more of an object than a human being, who had to put on a happy face for the public, but was far from happy in private. We all know how Marilyn's tragic life ended, and I pray that won't be the case for Britney. She deserves her freedom and she deserves happiness.

When you think about Britney Spears, you think about someone who has it all -- world-famous, talented, beautiful, perfect body, tons of money, etc. It's discouraging to realize that even someone like her can be exploited this way. Even with her case being high-profile in the media, with legions of fans and even non-fans demanding her freedom, with a hashtag dedicated to bringing awareness to it, she's still trapped. What does that say about everyone else who might be suffering from the same thing, the ones who don't have such high-profile cases? How many people are stuck in conservatorships they shouldn't be in, and how badly are they being exploited by their supposed loved ones? I hope her case brings awareness to those people as well, as I think most of us, myself included, were unaware until Britney brought it to the world's attention.

It would be one thing if she were simply incapable of making financial decisions and wanted somebody else to do it for her. But she clearly does not want her father or anyone else to have this kind of control over her. She's asking for the conservatorship to be ended and testifying how they are abusing her, and it seems the people who have the power to end it aren't listening.

I know that Britney didn't write her own songs, at least not back in the Oops! I Did It Again days, but when I was re-watching her old videos, the one that had the biggest impact on me was "Lucky." Although it wasn't written by her, you really get the feeling that it's personal to her when you watch that video. Either it's just because she's a great actress (definitely a possibility) or it's because, even back then, she could really relate to the lyrics, which are about a young Hollywood starlet who's secretly unhappy despite the appearance of having it all. It's such a sad video and seems far more meaningful now than it did back then.

But the other one that made an impact was "Stronger," which I would have to say is my favorite Britney song. The exact opposite of the sadness shown in the Lucky video, this one is the power anthem of a woman breaking out on her own and regaining independence at the end of a toxic relationship. This is the song I hope we'll all be singing someday soon as Britney finally gets her freedom.

Just within the last day, after I'd already finished writing most of this, there were a couple of new headlines regarding her case. First of all, a wealth management firm that was assigned to be co-conservator along with her father has stated that they were unaware she wasn't in the conservatorship willingly, and now they're aware she wants out of it, they have decided to resign from it. I'm not sure how much that means for the case overall, because unfortunately it does not mean a resignation from her father.

Additionally, several Congressional Republicans, including even the despicable Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, have apparently written her a letter inviting her to testify before Congress about her situation. Despite the fact that I don't trust either of those people to have anyone's best interests at heart, they currently seem to be supportive of her, so I hope it leads to some sort of positive outcome. The more awareness raised, the better (I hope). Democrats such as Elizabeth Warren have also started to become more involved in advocating for people with disabilities and conservatorships as a result of this high-profile case.

For Britney's sake, we all hope that she's able to have the conservatorship removed, resume a somewhat normal life with her boyfriend, and do whatever else makes her happy. But even if that doesn't happen, she has performed an incredible service to the world by making this such a hot topic, making us all so much more aware of the abuses people can suffer under conservatorship. I hope that in the long-run, things may become better for people with disabilities and mental health issues because of Britney's bravery and determination to stand up for herself.

I highly recommend listening to Britney's full testimony to the judge from June 23, which can be found on YouTube or in transcripts across the web. The information she discloses in it is difficult to hear, but also important if we want to be aware.

tags: britney spears, conservatorship, #freebritney