Has Britney’s conservatorship battle changed how we see celebrities?
The crushing weight of public attention once threatened to destroy Britney Spears. Now it seems to be her emancipator.
It’s difficult to imagine a recent pop culture news story which has captured the public’s imagination more than the saga of Britney Spears. For years, die-hard fans have rallied around the star under the banner of #FreeBritney — but in past months, this religion-adjacent zeal has spilled out into the mainstream. Newspapers and magazines have capitalised on growing interest, authoring article after article discussing the ins-and-outs of the star’s conservatorship battle with her father Jamie Spears. Podcasts from the likes of BBC Radio 4 and Witness Docs meant avid followers of the case can keep up with twists and turns on the commute or doing the housework. One podcast even dedicated itself to decoding apparent hidden messages hidden in Spears’ Instagram feed. But no medium has been quite as saturated with Britney-centric content like that of the moving picture.
At the time of writing, there have been four feature-length documentaries released in the past six months, all of which chronicle the past, present and future of the pop star’s conservatorship battle. There’s Framing Britney Spears, produced by The New York Times for Hulu, as well as its follow-up Controlling Britney Spears. CNN also produced a documentary special about Spears, titled Toxic: Britney Spears’ Battle for Freedom. And of course Netflix threw its enormous, wide-brimmed hat into the ring with the heavily-advertised Britney vs. Spears.
All of these productions feature a similar story arc: Britney Spears, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed babydoll from Louisiana goes from school kid to stage star virtually overnight. Appearances on The Mickey Mouse Club alongside fellow would-be stars Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake kickstart her career and lead to pop stardom and multi-platinum albums. Controversial moments like locking lips with Madonna at the 2003 MTV VMAs crop up, acting almost as a foreshadowing for the tumult ahead.
A lot of focus is given to the period of the late 2000s, when Spears went through a very public and bitter custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline. In photos, videos and audio recordings from the time, it is clear Spears is under an immense amount of pressure and her mental health is fracturing in the flashes of the countless cameras. Most of the productions mark their climax as the moment Spears shaved her head in a Los Angeles salon and attacked a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella — the point at which Britney truly ‘snapped’.
From there, the story of the conservatorship begins and the films become a rolling record of the injustices committed against Spears by a plethora of individuals and institutions. Spears’ father, Jamie, perhaps receives the most heat for his ruthless and somewhat inhumane treatment of his daughter — most of which only became public knowledge in the past year or so. He is accused of tampering with Spears’ reproductive rights, forcing her to take medications against her will, secretly recording her telephone calls and conversations as well as severely restricting her finances.
However, Jamie is not the only one to be tarred with the brush of irresponsibility — Spears’ mother Lynn often takes a beating, as does ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. Also targeted in multiple documentaries is the incessant, blood-thirsty tabloids of the era, who are often framed as exacerbating Spears’ mental health issues by chasing her down relentlessly and photographing her in vulnerable positions. Questions regarding her fitness to mother her children, drug habits and sexuality were splashed on front pages almost daily by outlets like US Weekly and Page Six. Newspapers worked themselves into such a frenzy that they readied an obituary for Spears, ready to publish it at a moment’s notice.
Regardless of each film’s content start-to-finish, all document a horrendous and traumatising experience suffered by Spears — the best of which reflect back at the viewer their own role in this tragic tale. No film is bare-faced enough to ask “Did you greedily buy a copy of the National Enquirer with a photo of bald Britney Spears on the cover?”, but it is not hard to distinguish an almost scolding voice materialising through the archive TMZ footage that shifts at least a portion of the blame onto a curious public for allowing this to happen. Ultimately, by buying into the vicious coverage of Spears, sharing the embarrassing images with our friends and failing to see a woman desperately in need of assistance, we are argued to be part of the problem.
There is something about the tone of these films that feels almost tasteless; conservatorship abuse is a topic that people should perhaps know more about, but it’s difficult to see Spears as the subject. At times, a notion of genuinely trying to make a change shines through but the numerous films can still feel vulture-like in their nature as they pick through long-known details that highlight the intense scrutiny Spears was under at the time.
And of course, time is a circle — interest in Spears and her case have skyrocketed over the pandemic. Instagram became flooded with posts demanding expedited hearings and better representation for Spears in court. YouTube detectives started documenting rallies and highlighting the injustices of the conservatorship system. Newspapers capitalised on the interest and returned to the days of daily articles about Spears.
Thankfully, however, in the era of mindfulness and frank discussions about mental health, coverage of Spears has become far more sympathetic. The #FreeBritney movement has been instrumental in publicising her struggle and encouraging a broad support for a woman once ridiculed for her struggles. The wider conversation regarding Spears is now far more tender and considerate in nature, with thousands of comments on her Instagram posts sending well wishes and love. Today, journalists and outlets are more inclined to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Britney activists rather than ridicule them — remember “Leave Britney Alone”? Some of the worst offenders have even gone so far as to apologise for their past coverage of the star.
Ironically, it would seem that the one thing that pushed Britney to breaking point all those years ago has now become the reason she has escaped the imposing clutches of her father. If Spears did not have the crushing weight of public attention on her back in 2008, it could be argued that she perhaps never would have spiralled into such a chasm of despair. On the other hand, without the public attention trained on her case today, it is likely that Spears would still be standing alone in battling the complex laws and restrictions that governed her conservatorship. Such is the paradox of fame.
However, it is clear an evolution has taken place in the ten-plus years since the era of the celebrity meltdown. Some things we can never escape. Vampiric paparazzi no longer illustrate the shifting digital conversation — online trolls do a much better job of that. And while things aren’t perfect, the mainstream media do a better job of reporting on sensitive topics. Instead of “Britney’s lost the plot”, we now have “Britney’s mental health crisis”.
Public perception of celebrities has also shifted away from the untouchable to the real and tangible. We see them on our phones, chat with them Instagram Live and connect with them as much as our own friends; the shimmering essence of celebrity has never existed in such close proximity before.
But most importantly for Britney, the perception of her as nothing but a superstar — a product for public consumption — has melted away entirely. In that space stands a fully-realised human being ready to begin her life anew, free from the vice-grip of her conservatorship. And behind her, standing strong, is an expanded army of fans and admirers that vow to never make the same mistakes again.
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