The New York Times recently released a documentary on Hulu called Framing Britney Spears. The film analyzes the rise and tragic downfall of American singer-songwriter, Britney Spears, who is currently locked in a conservatorship, which was granted to her father. For those who don’t know, a conservatorship is when a court appoints a person to manage an incapacitated person or minor’s financial and personal affairs. In Britney’s case, her dad is her conservator, but more on that later. It’s a lot to digest, so let’s start from the beginning.
Britney grew up in the small town of Kentwood, Louisiana. Her incredible voice sparked the realization within her family that her talent could lead to somewhere big. Money was tight for Britney’s parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, but eventually, Britney’s music career took off in the late 1990s. However, she was brought into the spotlight during the sex scandal between Monica Lewinsky and former President Bill Clinton.
Why is this important? Her image was immediately sexualized. At the height of her career in the early 2000s, Australian reporter, Mike Munro, told Spears, “To many, you are a contradiction. On the one hand, you’re a sweet, innocent, virginal type. On the other hand, you’re a sexy vamp in underwear.” The topic of sex in the country during that time and the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal shifted onto Britney Spears. Hayley Hill, former Teen People fashion director and former stylist for Britney, says that: “Lots of people were uncomfortable with her sexuality.”
Almost every interview with Britney was sexualized, the most chilling one being with Dutch interviewer Ivo Niehe. Britney was only 17 years old when Niehe asked her extremely disturbing and inappropriate questions, one of which centered around the singer’s body. He explained to Britney how everyone was talking about her breasts (remember that Britney is only 17 years old at this time) and that she “seems to get furious when a talk show host comes up with this subject.” Um, hello? I doubt most women would feel happily content having grown, white men talk to them about their body parts and sex life every time they interview them. Case in point, not once have I witnessed an interviewer or talk show host bring focus to such personal questions to a male guest on their show the way they did towards Britney.
The singer experienced brutal sexism by the Hollywood industry, especially during her breakup with American singer-songwriter, Justin Timberlake. Timberlake used their breakup’s popularity to form his own narrative, making Britney out to be a cheater and that there was a right and wrong side to what happened. The media buzzed with questions concerning Britney, asking her “What did YOU do to Justin?” and “YOU must have done something wrong.” Although Justin Timberlake has publicly apologized for this part of his past, it still does not make it right to accept the intense criticism and blame that was targeted at Britney.
Although these events heavily impacted the singer, it wasn’t until 2007 that Britney’s downfall really began. After having her first child, the tabloids created the perception that Britney was an unfit mother. Tabloids blew up images of her driving with her son in her lap, failing to mention how they were banging at her window, yelling her name, and that she was desperately trying to comfort her crying child. She even used an umbrella to assault a paparazzi’s car after not being able to handle the harassment anymore. After filing for divorce from her then-husband, Kevin Federline, a custody battle began for their two children. In October 2007, she lost physical custody and was granted only visitation rights due to a continuing mental health decline from toxic media and the perception of being unfit. That next year, she lost her visitation rights, was hospitalized, and was put on an involuntary psychiatric hold. It was then that her father, Jamie Spears, filed for temporary conservatorship over Britney.
The whole point of having a conservatorship is to care for and protect a person when a judge decides that that person is incapable of doing so for themselves. So what’s the issue with Britney’s father being her conservator for the last 12 years? It’s because he was barely a figure in her life before these events conspired. Mr. Spears was rarely around while Britney was growing up due to alcohol struggles and difficulty holding a steady income for their family. Now he gets full control over his daughter? What’s worse is that Britney’s one and ONLY request was that her father wasn’t her conservator. On October 28, 2008, the conservatorship was made permanent. This granted Jamie Spears the ability to: control who can and cannot visit Britney, retain security guards around her for 24 hours/day, access medical records and communicate with her doctors, take control of her house, cancel her credit cards, and make recording, touring, and TV deals for her. He even got approved by the court to receive 1.5% of the gross revenues related to the merchandise and performances of Britney once she got back on stage. In the documentary, Britney says, “When I tell them the way I feel, it’s like they hear me, but they’re not really listening” and that they’re “only hearing what they wanna hear.” It’s important to recognize as well that in order for a person to terminate a conservatorship, a petition needs to be filed, and there needs to be evidence or some sort of documentation that proves it’s not necessary for the individual to be in it at that point of time.
You see, no one talked about mental health while all of this went down. No one addressed what Britney Spears was going through at the time and concentrated on what was wrong with her instead. The reality was that in Hollywood during those times, too much money was being made off of her suffering to focus on all the negative impacts. People saw her as an object and didn’t think to realize that Britney was so much more than being pretty and having sex. Now, the dialogue and stigma surrounding mental health are changing, and people are finally realizing the toxicity and difficult environment Britney Spears was forced to endure. Currently, the #FreeBritney movement has exploded, advocating on behalf of Britney and calling for an end to her conservatorship. On February 11, 2021, a judge denied Jamie Spears’s attempt to gain more power over her affairs. This gives us hope that the court is starting to believe in Britney again. However, it’s possible that it’ll still be quite some time before she is finally free.
**All information provided in this article is from the Framing Britney Spears documentary**