Spears wins fight to break from 'toxic' parental control
As Britney Spears’ conservatorship comes to an end, what’s left is the story of her fight for basic human rights and how communities can prevent that corruption from happening to others in the future. In 2006-2007 Spears had entered a rough spot in her life in which she lost custody of her children, and was dealing with crazy paparazzi and the pressure of being the 2000’s most popular celebrity. Her father, James Spears, took advantage and filed for conservatorship over her. A conservatorship is when someone is appointed as another person’s guardian by the court, where the guardian manages the estate and in some cases the person due to the conservatee being of old age or having certain physical/mental limitations. On February 1, 2008, the conservatorship was granted due to the court believing that Britney Spears was incapable of making financial, medical, and parental decisions on her own. What once was a temporary conservatorship turned into a permanent one on October 28, 2008. About a month after the court made the conservatorship permanent, MTV released a documentary about Britney’s conservatorship called Britney Spears: For the Record. Within this documentary, she said, “I just cope with it every day...It's better not to feel anything at all and have hope than to feel the other way . . . It's bad. I'm sad.” This conservatorship was a disgusting misuse of her as a person. On January 4, 2019, Britney Spears quit her residency in Vegas to focus on her family, more specifically due to health issues Jamie Spears was having. After months of not hearing from Britney after she walked off the stage, allegations of drugging and confinement of Spears came out on top of Kevin Federline claiming that Jamie abused his son. It had been over 10 years at this point of her being under the conservatorship. On September 9, 2019, Britney Spears experienced a small victory in which her father temporarily stepped down as conservator of her person and requested someone else take that position. Spears was finally heard on June 23, 2020, when she told the court about the abuse she endured during her time in the conservatorship. During this court hearing, she told the judge, “I'm traumatized. I'm not happy, I can't sleep." Then later on in the court hearing, after telling the court about everything she had endured, she said, “I want to be heard. I'm telling you this again so that maybe you understand the depth and degree and the damage...I want and deserve changes going forward.” Britney Spears has fought and fought for years for her own freedom in a country where Americans are supposed to be born with it. Finally, on September 7, 2021, Jamie Spears asked the court to end the conservatorship entirely, a monumental win for the pop star. Now the question is, how can this be prevented from happening to others, specifically powerful female celebrities? With the world taking advantage of women through the movie and music industries, it is worrisome that what happened to Britney Spears could happen again. People need to be more aware of how severe these conservatorships impact a person. The Free Britney Movement did not only fight and protest for ending her conservatorship, but also to end the abuse of conservatorships completely. The fight isn’t over, but for now… it's Britney b*@!h.
by Jasmine Travis
Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue 2
November 1st, 2021