Post by Admin on Jul 20, 2020 20:43:54 GMT
Earlier this month, Britney Spears defended her social media activity, insisting, “I get how some people might not like my posts or even understand them, but this is me being happy. This is me being authentic and as real as it gets!!!!!”
It was unclear what specifically prompted this statement, but the pop star’s 25 million Instagram followers have been interpreting her recent posts — which have included solo dance freestyles, workout videos in her nearly burned-down home gym, repetitive fashion runway struts set to downtempo Billie Eilish songs, and blank-eyed selfies against a stark white wall — as coded cries for help.
For instance, when fans have asked her to wear a yellow shirt or upload a picture of doves to signal if she is in jeopardy, Spears has appeared to respond in subsequent posts.
As a result, the #FreeBritney hashtag has recently trended on social media and has flooded Spears’s own Instagram comments, with famous followers like Rebel Wilson, Rose McGowan, Ariel Winter, Paris Hilton, and her Crossroads movie co-star Taryn Manning showing their support in subtle or not-so-subtle ways.
More than 100,000 particularly concerned fans have even petitioned the White House, urging for Spears’s emancipation. But how, exactly, is Britney supposedly not free? From what – or whom – does she need to be liberated? And why is this movement regaining traction more than a decade after the I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman singer, now aged 38, began living under her father’s legal conservatorship?
The complicated situation dates back to 2007, a rock-bottom year for Spears marked by her messy divorce and custody battle with Kevin Federline; a short-lived stint in rehab; a shocking head-shaving meltdown at a hair salon in Tarzana, California; constant harassment by the paparazzi that culminated in the pop star angrily attacking one tabloid photographer with an umbrella; and a disastrous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The following year, after her two 5150 psychiatric holds, Britney’s dad Jamie Spears petitioned the LA County Superior Court for an emergency “temporary conservatorship”; the arrangement became permanent by the end of 2008. Jamie and attorney Andrew Wallet later filed for multiple extensions – and, 12 years later, Britney still isn’t in control of her life, career and $60m fortune.
Among the many things that Britney reportedly cannot do without a conservator’s permission are leave her house, drive a car, spend any of her money, sell her property, make her own business decisions, see her two children, or receive unapproved visitors.
In 2008, Rolling Stone reported her venting in a taped phone call, “I basically just want my life back. … I want to be able to drive my car. I want to be able to live in my house by myself. I want to be able to say who’s going to be my security guard.” That same year, in the MTV documentary For the Record, she said, “Even when you go to jail there’s always the time that you know you’re going to get out. … I think it’s too in control. There’s no excitement, there’s no passion. It’s just like Groundhog Day every day.”
According to various legal experts, this is an unusually restrictive arrangement for someone so young, not to mention for a seemingly highly functioning entertainer who has worked steadily throughout the years, earning millions of dollars. Since 2008, Britney has released four albums, embarked on three international concert tours, starred in a four-year Las Vegas residency, and served as a panelist on The X Factor (a gig that earned her $15m for one season, which at the time made her the highest-paid judge in TV singing competition history).
It was unclear what specifically prompted this statement, but the pop star’s 25 million Instagram followers have been interpreting her recent posts — which have included solo dance freestyles, workout videos in her nearly burned-down home gym, repetitive fashion runway struts set to downtempo Billie Eilish songs, and blank-eyed selfies against a stark white wall — as coded cries for help.
For instance, when fans have asked her to wear a yellow shirt or upload a picture of doves to signal if she is in jeopardy, Spears has appeared to respond in subsequent posts.
As a result, the #FreeBritney hashtag has recently trended on social media and has flooded Spears’s own Instagram comments, with famous followers like Rebel Wilson, Rose McGowan, Ariel Winter, Paris Hilton, and her Crossroads movie co-star Taryn Manning showing their support in subtle or not-so-subtle ways.
More than 100,000 particularly concerned fans have even petitioned the White House, urging for Spears’s emancipation. But how, exactly, is Britney supposedly not free? From what – or whom – does she need to be liberated? And why is this movement regaining traction more than a decade after the I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman singer, now aged 38, began living under her father’s legal conservatorship?
The complicated situation dates back to 2007, a rock-bottom year for Spears marked by her messy divorce and custody battle with Kevin Federline; a short-lived stint in rehab; a shocking head-shaving meltdown at a hair salon in Tarzana, California; constant harassment by the paparazzi that culminated in the pop star angrily attacking one tabloid photographer with an umbrella; and a disastrous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The following year, after her two 5150 psychiatric holds, Britney’s dad Jamie Spears petitioned the LA County Superior Court for an emergency “temporary conservatorship”; the arrangement became permanent by the end of 2008. Jamie and attorney Andrew Wallet later filed for multiple extensions – and, 12 years later, Britney still isn’t in control of her life, career and $60m fortune.
Among the many things that Britney reportedly cannot do without a conservator’s permission are leave her house, drive a car, spend any of her money, sell her property, make her own business decisions, see her two children, or receive unapproved visitors.
In 2008, Rolling Stone reported her venting in a taped phone call, “I basically just want my life back. … I want to be able to drive my car. I want to be able to live in my house by myself. I want to be able to say who’s going to be my security guard.” That same year, in the MTV documentary For the Record, she said, “Even when you go to jail there’s always the time that you know you’re going to get out. … I think it’s too in control. There’s no excitement, there’s no passion. It’s just like Groundhog Day every day.”
According to various legal experts, this is an unusually restrictive arrangement for someone so young, not to mention for a seemingly highly functioning entertainer who has worked steadily throughout the years, earning millions of dollars. Since 2008, Britney has released four albums, embarked on three international concert tours, starred in a four-year Las Vegas residency, and served as a panelist on The X Factor (a gig that earned her $15m for one season, which at the time made her the highest-paid judge in TV singing competition history).