OKC #FreeBritney advocate says doc ‘Framing Britney Spears’ has given movement momentum
Yes, Megan Radford is a Britney Spears fan. But the Oklahoma City resident’s longtime involvement in the #FreeBritney movement is about more than music or videos.
It’s about freedom and family.
“When the conservatorship first got put in place in 2008, I actually knew a little bit about conservatorships — which in the state of Oklahoma are called guardianships — because my brother has special needs and my parents were his guardians. So, it just seemed like wildly inappropriate. Because my brother can’t make basic decisions for himself, but obviously, Britney can. ... So, that kind of sparked my interest initially,” Radford said.
Radford appears in “Framing Britney Spears,” a “The New York Times Presents” documentary that debuted in February on FX and Hulu.
“We had no idea the film would go viral. The momentum we have as a movement is higher than it’s ever been,” said Radford, who helps run one of the biggest #FreeBritney social media accounts, @freebritneyla on Instagram.
“I believe #FreeBritney is a civil rights issue, a human rights issue, a women’s rights issue. There are just so many reasons why I stand behind it.”
Reframing fame
“Framing Britney Spears” — which does not include an interview with the titular subject — chronicles how the “... Baby One More Time” hitmaker, now 39, rose to fame as a teenage pop star, how her mental health and marital woes played out publicly due to unrelenting media coverage and how she has spent the last 13 years under a conservatorship, which has been largely controlled by her father, Jamie Spears.
The documentary reexamines media coverage of Spears’ career with a critical eye, including interviewers’ probing questions about her virginity, clothing choices and romantic relationships.
By the early 2000s — when the performer married and split from two husbands, had two sons and became embroiled in an intense custody battle — the coverage from the paparazzi, celebrity blogs and late-night TV hosts had become incessant.
“People always think of Britney shaving her head, or the paparazzi umbrella incident or her kid (while she’s) driving on her lap. But then, to hear some of those stories be reframed with what was actually happening at the time, I think is really powerful,” Radford said.
“I think about Charlie Sheen, and what he went through, and Justin Bieber when he went through his phase of beating up paparazzi and things like that. All these different men have behaved very badly and are still in control of their person and their finances. She literally is not considered a legal adult in the court system — she has the rights of a minor — and I don’t think that that would have happened to a man. ... It sure as heck wouldn’t have happened if she wasn’t a multimillionaire.”
Conservatorship concerns
Although the laws vary from state to state, a conservatorship or adult guardianship is a legal concept that allows a judge to appoint a guardian or guardians full control over an adult’s finances and/or their person — their living arrangements, health care and more — if that individual is physically or mentally unable to manage on their own. These arrangements are usually applied to adults with special needs and elderly people.
But since conservatorships limit people’s rights and give control of their finances and lives to others, the potential for abuse is cause for concern among many advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Far too often, people with disabilities are stripped of their civil rights — often permanently and with no consideration on alternatives — under a conservatorship. Conservatorships, like the one Britney Spears is under, should only be used as a last resort, if there are no other alternatives available. All people with disabilities should have the right to lead self-directed lives and retain their civil rights,” said Zoe Brennan-Krohn, staff attorney with the ACLU Disability Rights Project, in a statement to The Oklahoman.
Lawyers for Spears’ father have argued that the superstar is not ready to resume running her own life and career and that as her conservator he has greatly improved her financial estate, now worth around $60 million, according to USA Today.
“Jamie is not suggesting that he is the perfect dad or that he would receive any ‘Father of the Year’ award. Like any parent, he doesn’t always see eye-to-eye on what Britney may want. But Jamie believes every single decision he has made has been in her best interest,” Vivian Lee Thoreen, Jamie Spears’ attorney, told CNN shortly after “Framing Britney Spears” debuted.
In a court document filed Monday and obtained by People, the pop star’s mother, Lynne Spears, objected to the four-month fee of $890,000 from Holland & Knight, the firm representing Jamie Spears, stating that several of the fees requested by his attorneys were “procedurally and substantively improper” and were for services not “performed in good faith for the benefit” of their daughter.
Creating the ‘Framing’
Radford, the Oklahoma City #FreeBritney advocate, first protested the Grammy winner’s conservatorship in 2009 outside one of Spears’ concerts. But she said the initial movement quickly lost momentum.
Radford said it began to gain traction again around early 2019 after a series of “red flag” events: Spears abruptly suspended her Las Vegas residency, citing her father’s health issues; Andrew Wallet, then co-conservator with Jamie Spears, received a hefty raise; and the “Britney’s Gram” podcast played a damning anonymous message from a person claiming to a be paralegal privy to the singer’s case.
“I convinced myself that everything was OK and just kind of moved on with life. And then, all of a sudden, 11 years have gone by, and she’s still in the same situation. Not only that, but this goaround, I realized that thousands of other people across the country are affected by conservatorship and guardianship abuse. So, it just seemed like it deserves my time,” Radford said.
A member of the #FreeBritney Los Angeles planning committee, Radford said “Framing Britney Spears” director Samantha Sparks first approached her last August at a rally outside Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Since she keeps her trips to L.A. short because of her family obligations in OKC, she wasn’t able to be interviewed for the film.
“I continued seeing the director and film crew at rallies, and in November 2020, they asked to mic me up for the day. None of my participation in the film is staged — it was all just me going about my rally-day activities. I am honored to be included,” said Radford, who has also joined an advocacy group for probate court reform separate from #FreeBritney.
The week after the documentary debuted in February, she said the committee hosted a virtual rally that attracted 1,000 attendees and maxed out its Zoom license. Last month, the first in-person L.A. rally since the film came out drew about 150 people, compared with around 40 last October.
“That was definitely our biggest, and it was a cool energy. There were more people who weren’t (Britney) fans who were there just because they learned about it since the documentary and they think it’s not right,” Radford said.
“My hope is for more people to learn that it’s a real issue that we need to address in our country. Especially as Baby Boomers continue to age, we’re going to have more and more elderly people, and conservatorship abuse normally happens to elderly people. ... And I’m hopeful that we’ll see change in her case, specifically, as well.”