For the love of Britney
Emily Yahr provides a quick guide to upheaval surrounding the pop star.
The battle of Britney Spears continues. Last year, the pop star made headlines when she cancelled her Las Vegas residency and a few months later reportedly checked into a mental health facility. Rumours spread that the stay wasn’t voluntary, and a #Freebritney online campaign went viral.
Spears has been in a conservatorship since early 2008 after suffering a public breakdown, meaning a court-supervised arrangement gave a guardian control over her personal decisions and finances. In Spears’s case, her father is in charge of her US$47 million estate, according to documents obtained last year.
This summer, observers became concerned again after Spears posted several odd Instagram videos and photos, and some fans started speculating that she was sending coded messages asking for help. #Freebritney took off again.
Last week, Spears’s lawyer submitted a court filing asking that the conservatorship be “substantially” changed — and said that Spears “strongly opposes” her father, Jamie Spears, in the role of conservator. But a
California judge extended the conservatorship — which was set to expire Aug. 22 — until February and, according to The Blast, asked that Britney’s lawyers file their petition to remove Jamie Spears by Sept. 18. On Tuesday, The Blast reported that Britney Spears’s sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, was named the trustee of SJB Revocable Trust, which was set up by Britney in 2004 to protect her fortune and provide for her children’s future.
Here is a brief guide:
#FREEBRITNEY BEGINNINGS
The phrase “Free Britney” first appeared on a fan site in 2009, shortly after she entered into a conservatorship controlled by her father and an attorney. She entered the arrangement not long after a series of alarming public acts, including shaving her head. She made trips to rehab and lost custody of two sons she had with ex-husband Kevin Federline. (They now share custody.) Last year, the #Freebritney campaign caught on after a wave of people and a Britney-centred podcast, Britney’s Gram, speculated that she was unwillingly forced back into treatment.
STATEMENTS BY SPEARS’S FAMILY
When Jamie Spears asked to temporarily step down as conservator last fall because of health issues, the court appointed Jodi Montgomery, Spears’s care manager, to take over. At the beginning of August, the same month Montgomery’s role was supposed to end, Jamie Spears gave a rare interview to the
New York Post, saying that the #Freebritney movement had led to stalkers. Her mother, Lynne Spears, has not been involved in the conservatorship, but in July, she reportedly filed documents asking the courts to be involved with Spears’s finances.
INSTAGRAM POSTS
In July, the #Freebritney movement went viral again when fans theorized that certain Instagram and Tiktok posts by Spears were secret calls for help. In one example, fans spotted people in the comments saying things like, “If you need help wear yellow in your next video.” They saw her posts in a yellow crop top in July and August as a sign.
CURRENT LEGAL BATTLE
Last year, Jamie Spears said he and his daughter have a “strained” relationship. Now, Britney’s lawyers say the singer “strongly prefers” that Montgomery remain in the role instead.