We’re at the one-week mark since Britney Spears’ internet-breaking statement in court, and it’s still unclear what the ultimate impact will be. On Tuesday afternoon, TMZ published, and then quickly deleted, a story claiming that Britney’s attorney had filed a petition to end the conservatorship. It appears that this was an unfortunate misfire, and despite Britney’s apparent desire for the conservatorship to be terminated, it doesn’t look like any formal paperwork has been filed yet.
So while we wait for any legal progress on the #FreeBritney frontier, all we can do is overanalyze the situation and come up with new theories about WTF went wrong here. Since Britney spoke last week, one of the biggest internet scapegoats has been her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears. While Jamie Lynn’s role in the conservatorship is less prominent than her parents’, many feel that she hasn’t done enough to support her sister, and that her continued silence signaled approval of the toxic situation.
On Monday, Jamie Lynn Spears finally spoke out on the situation in a series of videos posted to her Instagram story. She seemed frustrated by the negative attention she was receiving, and distanced herself from the particulars of Britney’s situation, saying “This situation does not affect me either way, because I am only her sister who’s only concerned about her happiness.” She specified that she’s “made a very conscious choice” to only participate in Britney’s life as her sister and aunt to her two sons, and said “I am not my family.” She added that she thinks Britney should be able to end the conservatorship if she wants to, but basically said she has nothing to do with the whole situation.
So like, okay, Jamie Lynn isn’t involved in the same way her parents or the attorneys are, but is she really that detached from the whole situation? Ehh, not exactly. Actually, legal documents show that Jamie Lynn was quietly added as a trustee for her sister in 2018. Seemingly, this means that if Britney passed away, it would be Jamie Lynn’s responsibility to make sure her money was placed in the trust designated to take care of her children.
That role makes sense, but some Britney fans have taken issue with Jamie Lynn’s claim that she has “nothing to gain” from Britney’s financial situation. Financial disbursement records posted by a fan account on Twitter show that Britney’s funds were used to pay for several of Jamie Lynn’s flights in just a two-month period in 2012, totaling around $2000. Jamie Lynn claimed on Instagram that she’s paid her own bills since she was 10, but apparently that doesn’t extend to seat upgrades on United flights. It’s impossible to know the exact nature of Jamie Lynn’s involvement in this whole situation, but people are skeptical of how she’s portraying her relationship with Britney.
So Jamie Lynn is serving mixed signals, but yesterday, both of Britney’s ex-husbands came out in support of Britney’s quest to end her conservatorship. Kevin Federline’s attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, shared a statement of support for Britney, saying she “has not been served well by the conservatorship and it’s not consistent with what she wants. I think that she should be able to challenge that. And if it’s what’s best for her, Kevin supports it.” K-Fed and Britney have a complicated history with each other, but Kevin isn’t the biggest fan of Britney’s father either—he still has a restraining order against Jamie stemming from an incident in 2019, when Jamie allegedly got into a physical altercation with his grandson, Sean Preston. Kaplan noted that when it comes to the kids, “the best thing would be for their mom to be healthy and happy. And if either of those things aren’t true, it doesn’t provide the best setting for custody to be exercised.” That lawyer-speak isn’t the most satisfying, but at the end of the day, K-Fed clearly wants Britney to be okay.
In other ex-husband news, Jason Alexander (the one from the 55-hour marriage) shared some passionate words with another fan account. He acknowledged that he’s “really just an outsider in all this,” but said that despite being forced to sign an NDA, he “cannot in good faith stay silent” about what he observed in his time with Britney. He wrote, “Even back in the day we all saw signs of Jamie’s greed. He had his daughter on a tight chain then just like he does now.”
Jason declined to share details, saying it’s not his story to tell, but said that if Britney decides to do an interview or write a book someday, “the things she reveals will be bone chilling to the core.” You just know Oprah is foaming at the mouth right now. But really, when the 55-hour ex who has been the butt of every joke for 17 years feels like he can’t stay silent, you know sh*t is really bad. Is Jason Alexander suddenly kind of iconic?
Aside from these people in her life, Britney Spears has received a massive outpouring of support in the last week, with celebrities like Cher, Mariah Carey, and Christina Aguilera calling for the end of the conservatorship. While the rest of the world is rooting for Britney, hopefully Brit’s attorney is hard at work on the paperwork to request termination of the conservatorship—how long does it take to fill out a form?
Images: Image Group LA / Contributor
If you, like many others, have not stopped thinking about Britney Spears since Framing Britney Spears came out, you may be eager to learn that there should be some very important updates in the conservatorship happening soon. On Tuesday, Vanity Fair reported that Britney Spears will speak to the court about her conservatorship. A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge set a hearing for June 23 to allow Britney to talk about the “status of the conservatorship”, which may be one of the most significant updates since #FreeBritney began. Her lawyer, Samuel Ingham III, did not indicate what the pop star plans to say at the hearing, although TMZ is reporting she may declare that she wants her father out as her conservator.
That seems likely, as it’s not exactly a secret that Britney and her father don’t see eye to eye, especially when it comes to the conservatorship. In November 2020, Igham said during a hearing, “My client has informed me that she is afraid of her father,” and warned, “She will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.” He also said Britney is a “high-functioning conservatee” who has not spoken to her father “in a very long time.” (Jamie Spears’ attorney argued the reason Britney and Jamie haven’t spoken is because Ingham prevented it.)
Recently, Britney has been advocating for her father to be removed as her conservator. In March, she petitioned to remove Jamie from his role as conservator and replace him with Jodi Montgomery, the temporary conservator who took over when Jamie stepped down as conservator of Britney’s person due to health reasons in September 2019. (He remained co-conservator of her estate along with Bessemer Trust.) A judge denied the petition to remove Jamie but appointed Bessemer Trust as co-conservator, which has yet to actually take effect because the attorneys are still arguing over it.
Since the conservatorship came under renewed public scrutiny in 2019, Britney has remained largely silent on the matter, posting cryptic videos on her Instagram in smudged eyeliner and various crop tops, the color of which some fans believed to be a code signifying she needed help. In March 2021, Spears broke her silence regarding the Framing Britney Spears documentary, saying on Instagram that although she “didn’t watch the documentary”, she was “embarrassed by the light they put me in”. She said she “cried for two weeks.”
And what about Britney’s mom? In November 2020, Lynne Spears advocated for the end of the conservatorship, saying in a statement that her daughter’s relationship with her ex-husband had become “toxic” and that it was “time to start fresh.” But her motives might not be so pure, either. Earlier this week, Jamie Spears’s lawyers came for Lynne after she attempted to object to the firm’s $890,000 in attorney fees, writing in a court filing obtained by PEOPLE that she “not acting in the best interests” of Britney. The filing also states, “Despite having zero involvement in her daughter’s conservatorship until very recently, Lynne Spears is asserting claims as if she were a party directly involved in the litigation (which she is not).” Legal burn.
The response also accuses Lynne of taking advantage of Britney’s personal troubles: “Lynne Spears is the one who exploited her daughter’s pain and trauma for personal profit by publishing a book about the Conservatee.” The book in question is titled Through The Storm, and in it, Lynne reveals the age at which Britney lost her virginity and alleges the singer used cocaine shortly after.
In March, after Jamie’s role as conservator came under fire yet again after House Republicans called for a Congressional hearing on conservatorships, citing the #FreeBritney movement, an attorney for Jamie Spears said, “Any time Britney wants to end her conservatorship, she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it; she has always had this right, but in 13 years has never exercised it.” The attorney added, “Britney knows that her daddy loves her, and that he will be there for her whenever and if she needs him, just as he always has been — conservatorship or not.” True or not, I don’t want to hear the word “daddy” come out of a lawyer’s mouth—just not my kink.
Even though legal experts have argued that a conservatorship is highly unusual for someone as young and active as Britney, and disability rights advocates have pointed out that guardianships (such as a conservatorship) can be very harmful and lead to abuse, her father has consistently maintained that Britney reserves the right to petition the court to end the conservatorship at any time, and has chosen not to. Hopefully, after hearing from Britney herself, we will finally have answers and can (my brain: don’t say it, don’t say it) leave Britney alone feel assured that she is making the decision she feels is best for her.
Images: DFree /Shutterstock.com
Leftover Trump rage and nowhere to put it? Let’s all collectively aim it towards the most vicious Disney villain of them all, Jamie Spears, while we decompress after devouring the latest episode of The New York Times Presents, Framing Britney Spears.
Director Samantha Stark does an exceptional job recalling the tabloid-induced trauma and public shaming Britney endured at the expense of our own entertainment. Copious footage of inappropriate interviews, dangerous paparazzi attacks, and what can only be described as a very f*cked up round of Family Feud are enough to leave you wondering, where were Jamie, Lynne, and Jamie Lynn? But, with the complex history of Britney’s infamous “breakdown,” it’s easy to lose track of her father: hillbilly Voldemort, Jamie Spears. Before digesting FX’s new documentary, we pulled out an old copy of MTV’s 2008 Britney: For the Record and shuddered at the way in which Jamie’s behavior is repeatedly laughed off. Perhaps the most telling is when Jamie dresses up as a self-described “monster clown” and terrorizes Britney’s toddlers in a demonic Halloween mask while howling with laughter at their scream-cries. Flash forward to 2019, when Kevin Federline is granted a restraining order against Jamie on behalf of their son, Preston. At one point, Britney even looks to the camera and asks, “I don’t understand how he can be such an asshole and then be so nice.” Siri, what is emotional abuse?
Clearly, we were more than a little disappointed in the gentle treatment Jamie received by the objective professionals at The New York Times. Well, we have no intention of being “professional” or “objective.” Instead, we shall simultaneously timeline and decode Britney’s songs in an effort to document why her dad (a Cancer with a God complex) is the actual worst. So here is our oughts-burned CD (hold the JT tracks) tentatively titled: It’s Jamie, bastard.
Track 1: My Prerogative
“I don’t need permission / make my own decisions / that’s my prerogative”
July 26, 2004: Britney’s estimated $100-million fortune is placed into a SJB Revocable Trust (Case # BP109096) and she is listed as the sole Trustee. Oops…things are looking good!
Track 2: Heaven on Earth
“Don’t know what I’d do if I ever lose you / look at you and what I see is heaven on earth”
Feb. 21, 2007: After Britney is admitted to rehab, Kevin Federline is granted an emergency custody hearing. It’s later confirmed in a 2012 testimony by Jamie’s own attorney that Britney’s father “convinced Federline to obtain sole legal custody of their two young children”. Conspiring with her ex so that he would be prepared to file for custody the day after she enters rehab is even more repulsive than K-Fed’s bejeweled Ed Hardy everything. Heartbreakingly, in Britney: For The Record, Brit explains, “that would be heaven for me: to have my two kids…on an island and no one could get to us.”
Track 3: Amnesia
“I forgot my name / I forgot my telephone number / If he wanna see me / He don’t even know it”
Jan. 4, 2008: Britney is placed on an involuntary psychiatric 5150 hold when the one and only Dr. Phil is called to her hospital room. If inviting a TV doctor (unless there’s a “Mc” in front of their name) to come and exploit your daughter’s alleged psychiatric breakdown isn’t the work of actual Satan, we don’t know what is.
Track 4 : Kill the Lights
“Eff me over / your exposure / not the best / you want me bad / I want you out”
February 1, 2008: While Britney is placed on a second 5150, Jamie gets his wish and the court places Brit under a temporary conservatorship citing “dementia.” For real. Three days later, Britney’s request to choose her own lawyer is denied as well as her “very strong desire” for her alcoholic father not to be named the conservator of her estate. It’s our personal belief that no one knows the character of a man like his daughter. Despite this, the court later rules that Britney’s conservatorship is permanent, costing Britney over $2.7M in legal fees alone. Lynne Spears then releases her memoir Through The Storm detailing how Jamie perfectly conceived and executed the conservatorship.
Track 5: Out from Under
“When I’m out from under /I don’t wanna feel the pain / what good would it do me now/ I’ll get it all figured out / when I’m out from under / so let me go / just let me fly away”
Jan. 21, 2009: Britney leaves a voicemail to lawyer Jon Eardley in which she claims, “my father has threatened me several times, you know, he’ll take my children away.” Eardley explains Britney’s civil rights are being violated and later testifies that there have “been significant verbal attacks by her live-in father” and Eardley “is concerned for the emotional and physical safety of Britney.”
Track 6: Womanizer
“Look at you gettin’ more than just a re-up / baby, you got all the puppets with their strings up”
March 3, 2009: Just three months after being restrained in the hospital, Circus Starring Britney Spears premieres. Britney completes 97 shows in nine months while also being legally incapable of providing for her own basic personal and financial needs.
Track 7: Work Bitch
“Here comes the smasher / here comes the master / here comes the big beat /big beat disaster”
May 31, 2013: Jamie Spears embarrassingly registers as President, Secretary, and Director of Atara Tours, Inc. Luckily for Jamie, the “Britney: Piece Of Me” residency grosses over $137,695,392. How much of that do we think is the secretary’s cut? Soon enough, another album and lucrative two-year residency is secured, supplemented by a contractual agreement with Caesar’s Entertainment that the conservatorship “must remain in place.”
Track 8: Liar
“Left, right, nowhere to turn / I’m left in the ash from the bridges you burned…it’s too late for apologies / nothing you can offer me now”
May 2, 2014: Jamie seeks additional compensation from Britney’s activities in addition to the $16,000/month allowance and the $2,000/month for rent he already receives. Confusingly, two years later, Money Nation reports that Britney has earned over $670M while conservatorship filings suggest she is only worth $46M. Either there’s some shady shiz going on and/or the Mountain DewLittle in charge is almost as bad as Trump at maintaining profit.
Track 9: Hold on Tight
“So wicked / In the way he moves / don’t miss it / do not be a fool”
Mar. 4, 2019: Lawyer Andrew Wallet asks to resign immediately as co-conservator of Britney’s estate. Wallet cites that, “substantial detriment, irreparable harm and immediate danger will result to the conservatee” if he is not removed. The next day, Wallet’s resignation is granted by the court, leaving Jamie as the sole conservator.
Track 10: Just Like Me
“Before I think / I start to run / but you can’t even face me / know exactly what you’ve done”
Apr. 3, 2019: One month into Jamie’s lone reign, Britney checks into a mental health facility to “help her cope with her father’s illness.” Do we think Britney was admitted to process the grief of her father’s colon that ruptured five months prior? Or, has history taught us that Jamie uses facilities as a way to silence his daughter when she begins to seek independence? Not-so-shockingly, on April 16, Britney’s Gram (a popular podcast doing the Lord’s work) releases an anonymous voicemail confirming that Britney’s hospitalization was forced.
Bonus Track: Don’t Cry
“If they told me it’s over / I wouldn’t believe it”
November 10, 2020: After months of hearings, the judge finally rules on Britney’s request to appoint Bessemer Trust Company but denies the supplemental request to suspend her father, leaving Jamie still in control of Britney’s finances.
As of today, according to LA Court’s schedule for Case# BP108870 (our first tattoo?), four status hearings are scheduled. We can’t help but hope there will soon be independence for Britney and justice against her Queen B-keeper father. Until then, we remain grateful for documentarians like Samantha Stark who so poignantly remind us of Britney’s unimaginable strength. Unfortunately, 13 years later, Britney’s words in MTV’s 2008 documentary still ring true: “I’m kind of stuck in this place. And it’s like, how do you deal? You know? And you just cope. And that’s what I do. I just cope with it. Every day.”
Images: Chris Farina/Corbis via Getty Images
2019 has been a long year, and personally, I’m ready for a nap. Between work, maintaining a social life, and staying caught up on seven different Real Housewives franchises, there isn’t much room in my brain our brains for miscellaneous info. Because of that, random pop culture happenings tend to leave our collective consciousness as fast as they enter (except Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello kissing, sadly we can’t unsee that).
You probably remember a lot of the highlights of this year, from Miley and Liam’s breakup to approximately seven million celeb weddings, but that’s not all that happened in 2019. This year came with lots of random moments in pop culture, from relationships to babies to memes that were just too easily forgotten. Here are all the 2019 moments that you definitely already forgot about.
1. Fiji Water Girl
As we all embrace Peleton bike girl, I have to ask, what happened to Fiji water girl???
— Logan Again (@sloganagain) December 7, 2019
Does the name “Kelleth Cuthbert” ring a bell? Honestly, probably not, and that’s okay. I’ve worked hard to purge the word “shook” from my vocabulary, but I was 100% shook when I realized that the Fiji Water Girl was from the 2019 Golden Globes. As in, the one that happened this year. Kelleth, whose Instagram bio somehow doesn’t mention Fiji, has 200k followers, and her modeling career seems to be going well. After the Golden Globes, she actually sued Fiji, claiming that they were using her image without properly compensating her. They sued her back, and that was basically the last anyone heard of it. And somehow, all of this has been within the last year. Weird.
2. Psalm West
At this rate, Kim and Kanye are gonna name their fourth kid Deus or some shit
— Betches (@betchesluvthis) May 10, 2019
Oh yeah, Kim and Kanye did have a baby this year! Their fourth child, Psalm, was born via surrogate in May, and while none of our name predictions were exactly right, we did guess that they would go with something religious. And if you can’t remember if Khloé and Kylie had their babies this year, nope, that was 2018. There really are too many Kardashian babies to keep track of, but god damn it, we can try our best.
3. Andy From Fyre Festival
Lots of weird things have happened in 2019, but nothing else was weird in the same way as Netflix and Hulu releasing competing documentaries about Fyre Festival literally one week apart. While it was fascinating to get an inside look at the f*cked up planning of the event and the even more f*cked up mind of Billy McFarland, the most important thing to come out of this whole cultural event was a meme. Specifically, Andy King saying that he was prepared to suck d*ck for water. You just can’t make this sh*t up.
4. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s Oscar Performance
Remember that three-week period where everyone couldn’t stop talking about how Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga definitely wanted to f*ck each other? That was 2019, baby! They already looked like they were in love during their A Star Is Born press tour, but the rumors reached a fever pitch after their, um, passionate performance at this year’s Academy Awards. Every body language expert in the world scrambled to analyze Irina Shayk’s reactions, and it wasn’t surprising when she announced her split from Bradley just a few months later. Now, it really does seem like Bradley and Gaga were just friends (and compelling actors) all along, but a little part of all of us will always be… far from the shallow.
5. Pete Davidson & Kate Beckinsale
the fact that pete davidson has dated kate beckinsale and is now dating kaia… is this a fucking mad lib
— a (@septimbers) November 19, 2019
Okay, let’s straighten out the Pete Davidson timeline for a second, because he’s been a busy man for the last couple of years. The whole thing with Ariana Grande happened LAST YEAR. 2018. My coworker really thought it happened in 2019, and I had to double check to make sure I wasn’t in the Sunken Place. This year, Pete was busy dating a wide variety of women, but most notably Kate Beckinsale. Their public romance only lasted a couple months, but boy, was it strange. These days, Pete’s moved on to the barely-legal Kaia Gerber, and Kate’s moved on to… well, IDK, I don’t really keep up with her. I hope she’s doing well!
6. All The Jordyn Woods Drama
Okay, let’s be real, you probably didn’t forget about this, but it really deserves one more moment in the spotlight. Basically, the entire world collectively lost its mind after Kylie’s BFF Jordyn was spotted leaving a late-night hangout with Khloé’s baby daddy, Tristan Thompson. To be honest, I don’t know if there’s ever been a more scandalous story. Jordyn moved out of Kylie’s house, Khloé dumped Tristan’s pathetic ass, and we all actually got tricked into watching Red Table Talk. I still can barely believe all of this actually happened.
7. The Starbucks Cup In ‘Game of Thrones’
You be minding your own business then you suddenly remember game of thrones left a Starbucks cup in a scene of the final season. Day ruined.
— ☥K (@ItuByNature) November 22, 2019
And now, onto the other biggest scandal of the year. Okay, not really, but people were basically acting like the Starbucks cup left on set in Game of Thrones was the end of the world. As an avid GoT-non-watcher, I didn’t really care about this when it happened, and now, eight months later, I certainly don’t care. In fact, I barely even remember this happening. I don’t know if anyone got fired over this, but let’s hope not, because who f*cking cares. But maybe this is why the show got snubbed at the Golden Globes?
8. #FreeBritney
Am I the only one who forgot what a giant sh*tshow Britney Spears’ personal life was for a second this year? After canceling her Vegas residency to focus on her dad’s health, there were reports that Britney Spears was being held against her will in a mental facility. And then, when she did resurface on social media, we weren’t really sure whether she was posting what she wanted to, or just doing what someone else was telling her. As far as I can tell, we never really got answers about any of this, but I guess our attention spans are too short to keep caring. Love you Brit, hope everything is good!
9. Area 51
At this point my only hope for finding a guy who will text back is to raid Area 51
— notanothertruecrimepod (@NATCpod) July 15, 2019
I didn’t really realize Facebook events were still a thing, except for my extra AF friend when it comes to her Ugly Sweater Party, but apparently I was wrong. This summer, millions of people RSVP’d to a Facebook event promising to raid Area 51, with the logic that if everyone tried at once, someone would be bound to make it through and find the top-secret government info about aliens. Of course, the vast majority of them didn’t show up, which is probably why there hasn’t been any crazy news about aliens. The truth is out there!
10. Bella Thorne’s Poetry Book
Surprise, bitch! Bet you didn’t remember this, but Bella Thorne released her first book of poems, The Life of a Wannabe Mogul: Mental Disarray. The Amazon page features rave reviews from celebs such as Zendaya, Snoop Dogg, and Lena Dunham, so it’s really a shame that I haven’t gotten myself a copy yet, but Bella, if you want to send me one, let’s get in touch. And don’t forget that this was also the year Bella Thorne made her directorial debut in porn, proving that she really can do it all.
What pop culture moments topped 2019 for you? Please tell me what I forgot that I forgot in the comments, because it really has been a long year.
Images: sloganagain, septimbers, itubynature, natcpod / Twitter; Netflix; britneyspears, bellathorne / Instagram
So I guess I’m officially on the Britney beat now. The #FreeBritney movement hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down over the past few days, and even gained traction over the weekend when Britney was given a day pass out of her mental facility for Easter, which she spent with her boyfriend Sam Asghari. (And please, please don’t ask me to tell you my theory that he is not not a semi-hired babysitter-boyfriend being manipulated by her team via sponsorships and attention.)
Before I go any further on a topic that’s actually taken a more serious turn than I expected, I have to start by saying that I’m both a huge fan of Britney’s and someone who takes mental health very seriously. I have mental illness in my family and have seen the gray areas involved and how deeply sad it is when a loved one is unable to care for themselves. I’m not writing this for “clicks”—I’m not a staff writer and have no assignments or quota to hit. (I bet you’re wondering who I am now, right? RIGHT? It’s Sami, cofounder of Betches, hi.) I’m writing it because this subject has really struck a cord with me as a Britney fan, and after seeing a literal #FreeBritney protest on social media yesterday, it’s clear that it has for others as well. Also, good to see protests are still hot.
If you’re a Betch Slapped listener, you’ll hear in Tuesday’s episode we revisited the Britney conversation, and Jordana brought up the point that it’s impossible for us to know the state of Britney’s mental health, and whether or not she is actually a danger to herself and needs to be on medications controlled by a conservator. Basically, maybe Britney shouldn’t be #free if she’s a danger to herself, and we are doing damage by running our mouths on sh*t we don’t know. And she’s honestly right about that. The article I wrote last week when this scandal came out had many, many comments to the same effect, which I took seriously. But this issue is less about whether Britney needs to be under conservatorship and receiving mental health treatment, and more about whether or not her conservatorship, necessary or not, is functioning in her best interests.
TMZ reported today (in what, in my opinion, seemed generally like a puff piece fed directly from Jamie Spears’ PR team but I’m no primary source), that the conservatorship doesn’t give Jamie the ability to control what medications Britney is taking or the ability to send her to a mental facility against her will. Sure, but regardless, doesn’t the fact that Jamie Spears is her conservator in the first place provide him with enough power to manipulate her to act in his preferred ways, even if those specific terms are not laid out in the conservatorship?
While it’s impossible to see into the Spears family and know whether or not everything is legit, I don’t think it’s illogical to question the simple idea that a conservator shouldn’t have financial incentives that are tied to the control of their conservatee. Britney Spears’ financial success is directly beneficial to her family, meaning they have less of an incentive to objectively judge whether or not she should be performing at all. It’s really hard for people to be aware of a reality when their financial gain is dependent on them not being aware of it, whether you’re a trillionaire earth-ruining corporation or you’re Jamie Spears from Bumblefuck whose daughter got mind-blowingly famous. His own finances hinge on him not accepting that keeping Britney famous, performing, and forced to meet and greet thousands of strangers is potentially contributing to her mental health issues. It happened in 2007, and it’s not crazy to think it’s happening again.
And here we have the crux of the issue. As Britney fans, all of us are a teeny tiny bit a part of where she’s ended up. …Baby One More Time was the first CD I ever owned and loved, and the girl has been famous since she was 11 f*cking years old. She had no time to personally develop before she started being consumed by other people, so she’s forever stuck there. Not quite the makings of a mentally healthy adult. And it’s not just Britney—it’s hard to name many celebrities who got famous very young (aside from Hilary Duff) who you would categorize as “doing well.”
Since writing this article last night, Britney appeared on her own instagram with a message for her fans. She said: “I am trying to take a moment for myself, but everything that’s happening is just making it harder for me…Your love and dedication is amazing, but what I need right now is a little bit of privacy to deal with all the hard things that life is throwing my way. If you could do that, I would be forever grateful.” Then she made some weird allusion to some Sam Lutfi emails that I have no idea the relevance of, but as with any Britney moment, gave us just a big enough whiff of ascandal to take us deeper down the rabbit hole and drag her further down with us. So I’m just not even going to google what those emails are and try to take a new approach to Britney fandom.
On some level, it feels like Britney fans (and fans in general, sorry we’re not special) have a codependent relationship with the figures we love. We love them so much that we can’t let them be, even if it hurts them. We demand more music, more performances, more smiles and selfies at the meet and greet we spent our hard-earned money to attend. And it’s not even our fault! Celebrities are marketed towards us for their own profit, what else is there? Which is why Britney is different. She doesn’t control her finances or personal decisions, and it’s clear that the fame drives her deeper into a very painful hole that she may never really be able to fully get out of. The sad part is that there’s no real solution, and as someone DM’ed me (this is obviously a well-sourced article): “please don’t fan the flames on this…because if she truly is an unstable person, this is not helping.” Maybe it’s finally time for all of us to really leave Britney alone.
Images: Shutterstock; @britneyspears / Instagram
As a lifelong Britney Spears fan, it’s been a stressful few months. It started in January, when she canceled her upcoming Las Vegas residency to focus on her father’s health issues. Then, last month, it was announced that Britney was taking an indefinite hiatus from music, and she entered a mental health rehab facility. The sh*t really hit the fan last week, when the Britney’s Gram podcast presented a detailed theory that Britney was being held against her will in the mental facility, and that her father Jamie was using his legal conservatorship to manipulate her. The #FreeBritney movement spread like wildfire across social media, and everyone was working to uncover the real truth of what’s going on with Britney.
It’s a new week, and there have been some important updates to the Britney Spears situation, so let’s take a look at the latest. Some of this information is still very much up for debate, so we probably haven’t heard the last of this whole situation. Here’s what we know, as of now.
The most important thing is that Britney Spears was seen out in the wild over the weekend. By “in the wild,” I mean that she was photographed outside of the facility where she’s been since January. On Easter Sunday, Britney was seen leaving the Montage Beverly Hills hotel, where she apparently spent the night with her boyfriend Sam Asghari. In the photos, Britney definitely looks a little disheveled, but I’m hoping it’s just because she overslept and had to check out in a hurry.
21.04.19 Britney Spears Gets Easter Day Pass From Mental Health Facility https://t.co/vc1sF9Hqm7 pic.twitter.com/303YHeZMAD
— popqueenbritneydotcom (@popqueenbritney) April 22, 2019
Of course, the sighting of Britney Spears outside of the mental facility raises some important questions about her overall situation. We don’t know if she’s officially been released from treatment, or if they just gave her a temporary pass for the Easter holiday. Either way, her outing seems like a positive indicator that her situation hopefully isn’t as dire as it seemed last week. Maybe the whole thing was blown out of proportion in the first place, or maybe the rules are being loosened as a reaction to the reports. I’m just glad that Britney seems to be okay.
If Britney’s Easter outing was the good news, then I guess this next part is the bad news. In the wake of last week’s reports about Britney’s rehab stay, there are new sources saying some intriguing things about the initial cancelation of the Britney: Domination Vegas residency. According to a new report from The Blast, a member of Britney Spears’ team knew that Britney wasn’t in a good place even during the contract negotiations for her new residency. The source says that, even while the residency was being actively promoted, they all really knew that “Vegas was off the table unless things drastically changed.”
Allegedly, Britney’s dad Jamie was very aware of this whole situation, and he just happened to have major health problems at the same time that Britney was struggling. According to the source, it was Jamie who made the call that Britney needed to cancel the residency, and he told her to use his health issues as the reason. Another source close to the situation said that “the notion that Britney canceled or postponed a multi-million dollar Vegas show deal to help medically care for her father is ‘complete nonsense.'”
Obviously, all these reports should be taken with a grain of salt, but there’s definitely a lot going on behind the scenes here. It’s hard to know exactly who’s right and wrong here, and the situation is probably still a lot more complicated than we even know. Is #FreeBritney the right response? Is Britney even still in the mental facility? Did her dad really make the wrong decision? Hopefully we’ll learn more in the coming days and weeks, but for now, I’m just hoping Britney Spears is okay.
Images: @popqueenbritney / Twitter
