Stella Manning
The #FreeBritney Movement flooded pop culture with seas of baby pink and waves of support for pop star Britney Spears. Unbeknownst to many, the movement originated well before recent months. The celebrity was forced into a psychiatric facility after a highly publicized apparent mental health breakdown at the age of 26. One day later, a ruling put Spears into a conservatorship in which her father, Jamie Spears, became the foremost controller of her life. She struggled for thirteen years in the same constrained state. What was meant to be a temporary recovery for Spears extended into a years-long struggle to silently fight for control over her life.
Many fans expressed skepticism on Twitter regarding Jamie’s motives—did he intend to help his daughter or profit off of her?
Judges on the conservatorship case initially believed that Britney was unable to take care of herself given her alleged mental health issues and past drug use. The “Britney vs. Spears” documentary reveals that ulterior motives—rather than concern for Britney’s health—dominated her father’s motivations for control.
According to the New York Times, Jamie Spears was paid $18,000 a month by his daughter and earned 1.5% of gross revenues from Britney Spears’ Las Vegas residency—“Piece of Me”—which made $138 million. Although Spears was capable enough to creatively direct an entire tour, she was deemed unfit to care for herself by the law.
Systematic judicial issues prevented Spears from being able to remove her dad from the conservatorship. The pop star requested the removal of Jamie Spears as her conservator in 2014 due to his abusive tendencies. These were well-documented by her mother, and Britney’s lawyer eventually used the files to show Jamie’s incompetence.
The courts understood her alleged mental illness absent its causes: the debilitating media pressure and her abusive father. They gave the very person contributing to her state full control over her life. Not only did the courts oversimplify her mental health issues, but they locked Britney into her legal situation.
Spears revealed that she was never informed she could petition to end her conservatorship—a fundamental right the justice system should guarantee all conservatees. This and fear of her father trapped her in a legal cage. When she became aware of her ability to petition the conservatorship after 13 years of suppression, she finally filed for one.
On November 12 of 2021, Britney Spears was released from her long-standing conservatorship. In an Instagram post, she reflected, “I mean after 13 years. . . I think I’ve waited long enough.”
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