The True Story of the Wrongfully Portrayed Britney Spears

Britney Spears has been wrongfully portrayed as crazy since the early 2000s. The media's harsh portrayal of Spears greatly impacted her career, as well as her personal life and she was constantly underestimated as a person and was perceived as unable to take care of herself. 

Recently, the truth about Britney's troubled years is coming out, and I am going to share the timeline of what actually happened to Britney from 2007 onward using my own knowledge and information from the Biography article outlining Britney's conservatorship timeline.

The Biography Article

In February of 2007, Britney was regularly in the headlines of magazines and newspapers because of her public behavior. She was seen holding up an umbrella because of the paparazzi surrounding her, and she also made the decision to shave her head that month as well which caused an uproar from the public.

The media was obsessing over Britney's newfound behavior so much so that people did not notice how much the pop star was struggling. Her mental health was declining because of her personal situation, and in January of 2008, Britney was hospitalized and held for a mental evaluation. 

The article from Biography.com states that she was put under two 5150 holds in the same month, which is a hold that involuntary detains someone for 72 hours. Since it was an involuntary hold, this presents evidence that Britney was forced to participate. 

While Britney was still in her involuntary hold, her father, Jamie Spears went to court and was granted a temporary conservatorship for Britney, which grants him control of her assets and essentially her life. After she was released, her parents released a statement trying to rationalize the conservatorship to the people. They said the conservatorship was to "protect" Britney, as they felt she was in danger. 

Britney Holding Umbrella; Photo from Twitter  

The conservatorship was extended multiple times and was extended again in October of 2008. Almost nothing was heard from Britney herself at this time other than that she agreed not to oppose the agreement. 

A month later, Britney finally spoke out in an MTV documentary and said that her arrangement is similar to being in jail. During this time, the media assumed the conservatorship was because she was unable to take care of herself and that she was mentally unstable because of the previous statements said by the court and her parents. 

A conservatorship is normally used for situations where the person is elderly and has dementia and can no longer make decisions, and Britney's situation was nothing close to a normal case of a conservatorship. 

The biography article also asserts that a couple of years later in 2012, her fiance at the time Jason Trawick was added to her conservatorship by her father, meaning another man is controlling her life while she still cannot. He could not control her assets like her father could, but he could control every aspect of her life such as what clothes she wore and what food she ate. 

Britney's MTV Documentary; Photo from IMDB

In 2016, Britney spoke out and addressed the situation head-on for the first time. The biography article communicates that while Britney filming an episode for The Jonathan Ross Show, she spoke about how a lot of her decisions were made for her and that she had to be strategic if she wanted to do something herself, such as make her album Glory. 

Britney on The Jonathan Ross Show; Photo from Youtube

Unfortunately, they cut these quotes said by the celebrity when the show aired. Three years later right before Britney was about to perform her new show Domination that she reportedly was very excited about, she announced that she was canceling her performances because of family issues. After this announcement, Attorney Wallet resigned who was previously Jamie Spears's lawyer. 

A couple of months later in April, Britney went to a mental health facility for treatment and was picked up by her boyfriend at the time, Sam Asghari when she made the decision to leave. Even though the #FreeBritney movement had already begun, there were still people who protested her release from the mental health facility. People were still against Britney and called her unstable because of the stigma that was made against her in the media. 

On May 10, 2019, Britney attended a conservatorship hearing with her mother. It was the annual hearing for the arrangement, and she requested to end the conservatorship while she was there. The biography article asserts that although she expressed she no longer wanted the arrangement, on August 17, 2020, the conservatorship was extended until February 1st, 2021.

 In September 2020, Britney acknowledges the #FreeBritney movement, and she started to fight back harder than she ever had before.

She filed an objection to her Father for constantly sealing the details of the case, and she asked a wealth management company to serve as her estate's manager. Since Jamie Spears was still her conservator, she searched for ways to sabotage the forced arrangement. On November 10, 2020, she refused to participate in any performances, and her lawyer stated to the public that she is afraid of her father.  

Britney and her Father; Photo from Britney's Instagram

As time went on, the #FreeBritney movement grew and more people began to believe that Britney has been completely controlled by her father for years. On February 5th, 2021, a documentary by the New York Times came out named 'Framing Britney Spears' which sparked the public's interest even more. A month later in April, Britney requested to address the court. 

After waiting two more months, Britney made a plea in court, where she essentially told the entire story of the kind of life she had been living for 13 years. In July, her court-appointed lawyer resigned, and Britney was finally able to hire her own lawyer. 

The biography article mentions that in the same month, the Bipartisan FREE act was introduced inspired by Britney's story. Her conservatorship situation impacted many, and she now had the sympathy of millions. On July 23rd, she asked for the conservatorship to end, and on August 12, 2021, Jamie Spears agreed to step down as conservator because of public pressure.

A #FreeBritney Protest; Photo from Unknown Source

Britney's story is not only unique because of her rare conservatorship situation, but because the media helped cause her downfall only to save her in the end. As we talked about in class, the pop star's unfortunate story was at the beginning told in a harsh light that wrongfully portrayed Britney, making her look like she is guilty herself. 

After people began to notice Britney's concerning behavior and what she said when she spoke out, everyone immediately switched gears and wanted to support her. The way that the media can completely influence society's opinion of a person is horrifying, and it needs to be taken seriously. 

If the media had portrayed Britney's story differently in the beginning, she could have been freed years earlier.

What's Next for Britney Spears