Slave 4 U: Behind Britney Spears’ conservatorship and #FreeBritney explained
The rights and freedoms of one of the world’s most famous faces have been severely limited and controlled under a strict conservatorship agreement.
For 12 years, pop icon Britney Spears has been locked into a contract that means her finances, estate and career are managed by her father and a legal representative.
The agreement came into effect in 2008, after Spears suffered highly publicised mental breakdowns in 2007, culminating in her infamously shaving her head.
With the conservatorship agreement up for review on August 22, fans and celebrities are rallying behind the 38-year-old to push to have her freed from the controlling conditions.
More than 134,000 people have signed a petition demanding Spears to be given full control of her assets.
Conservatorship: Stronger than yesterday or toxic?
A conservatorship is a form of legal guardianship that allows a third party to control significant or important aspects of a person’s life if they are unable to do so themselves.
Conservatorships are generally reserved for cases of serious mental illness, old age or disability.
Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, is speculated to have controlled the singer’s spending and finances, access to medical care, career decisions and monitor her daily activities.
Rumours dating back to 2009 also suggest Spears is unable to use social media unsupervised, has been held against her will, and needs permission to leave her house.
Why is #FreeBritney on my radar?
A series of odd Instagram images and videos posted by Spears have sparked theories that the singer is trying communicate with fans through coded messages.
One video showed her answering questions from fans, but her jumpy and jittery body language prompted users to share their concern in the comments.
“Pretty sure the most asked question is: ‘Are you OK?’,” one user wrote, while another asked if viewers thought Spears looked like she was being held hostage.
“Anyone else feel like they just watched a hostage video?”
In another instance, one fan urged Spears to wear yellow in her next video to signal she needed help.
In the following video, Spears was seen wearing a yellow top, holding a bouquet of flowers and bizarrely moving in and out of the frame.
https://twitter.com/abbymatejkaaa/status/1282822727615893506
Of course, despite what Brit-spiracy theorists say, this might be just a coincidence.
Harder to explain away are the letters, allegedly written by Spears to her former photographer and friend Andrew Gallery in 2009.
Gimme, gimme more proof …
Gallery took to social media site TikTok to share a series of videos revealing what he claims are old letters from the singer.
Gallery reads the lengthy letters, which are written in third person, and shows screenshots of them detailing Spears’ mental breakdown in 2007.
“No one knows the truth,” Gallery read.
“Her behaviour when her children got taken away [because] of her locking herself in the bathroom is understandable considering her friend at the door kept telling her, ‘The cops are leaving. Don’t worry stay in the bathroom’.”
“She was lied to and set up, her children were taken away and she did spin out of control which any mother would in those circumstances.”
The supposed Spears letters mentioned her ongoing battle against her conservatorship, claiming “as long as the people are getting paid she has no rights”.
“Britney has been silenced to speak about anything that’s really going on – the people controlling her life have made $US3 million this year.
“She would love for new eyes to see her situation, but if she brings it up she is constantly threatened that the conservators will take her kids away.”
