Britney’s fight for her life

Emma Shimak, A&E Writer

Britney Spears at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards while under her conservatorship. Bing Images

Ever thought about how different life can be for one of the biggest pop celebrities? In her youth, Britney Spears was a very popular solo song artist and by 2004 was one of the biggest selling in her age group. Even though she was very successful during her career, there were many obstacles that slowed her down, the biggest challenge being her conservatorship, which Netflix showcased in a documentary titled “Britney Vs. Spears”. In the documentary, it is explained that a conservatorship is a choosing of a person by a judge to manage someone else’s lifestyle and/or their banking transactions due to being of an older age or mental or physical restrictions. This caused her to act out, such as shaving her whole head and attacking paparazzi with an umbrella. This behavior occurred at the same time as of her divorce and child custody case. Recently Twitter and other social media apps have seen the emergence of #FreeBritney has sparked a lot of commotion. Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, petitioned the California probate court for a new legal disposition. This began on February 1, 2008 by court placing her under a temporary conservatorship. However, her father continued to control Britney’s life for many years, and still has authority over some aspects of how she lives. Jamie’s reasoning for getting one is due to the idea of Britney having mental health and substance abuse problems. “I have and will continue to provide unwavering love and fierce protection against those with self- serving interests and those who seek to harm her or my family,” Jamie Spears after months of not speaking with his daughter said. In the midst of her conservatorship, Britney had two kids with her backup dancer whom she was married to for three years, adding more conflict to the the situation. Not until around a year after her divorce, she had fifty- fifty custody of her kids. One regulation was that Jamie got to decide how much time she got to spend with her kids. “…They spend most of their time at their dad’s house and have very few visits with their mom, especially overnight ones…They are teenagers now and want to be with their friends, not their parents,” An inside source close to the family reported in the documentary. “It’s nothing against Britney; they love and idolize her, and Kevin trusts her. It’s just that they’re getting older, so when they’re not at their main home with Kevin, they’re usually out doing things with friends.” On June 23, 2021, Spears addressed the court directly and said she wants her conservatorship to end. “This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I deserve to have a life. I’ve worked my whole life,” Britney said. “I deserve to have a two- to three-year break and do what I want to do…. I’m tired of feeling alone. I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does by having a child, a family, any of those things, and more so.” On September 7, Jamie asked to be taken off the ruling for her conservatorship. However his case still has a few issues to sort out. There are two upcoming hearings that are scheduled for later in this year. On November 12, there will be a hearing about letting her control her own finances. On December 8, the second hearing was to solve banking issues that include 1 million dollars in legal fees billed to the estate, Jamie Spears.