Amid ‘free Britney Spears’ frenzy, singer’s mental health battle and why dad keeps her in a bubble
- When the pop star, now 37, appeared in court this month, fans demonstrated for an end to legal arrangement that gives father control over her life and finances
- People close to Spears point to the double whammy that forced her to pull out of lucrative Las Vegas residency, and say fans don’t understand her mental state
Britney Spears walked out of a Los Angeles courtroom this month wearing a red skirt, black T-shirt and no shoes. Moments earlier, in a closed hearing room with paper covering the windows, her parents and their lawyers discussed with a judge the status of Spears’ conservatorship. The court-supervised arrangement gives her father control over her US$47 million estate and personal affairs, and has been in place since Spears suffered a very public breakdown in 2008.
Outside, a group of fans hoisted signs in front of news cameras: “Free Britney” and “Human Rights Matter! End Britney’s Conservatorship!” For the second time in a decade, the personal struggles of one of the planet’s most famous pop stars have been thrust into the spotlight. But it’s different this time.
In 2007 and 2008, at the height of the Hollywood paparazzi era, Spears’ well-chronicled troubles – the rehab trips, the head-shaving incident, her umbrella-wielding assault on a photographer’s car – were often played for laughs and scorn in the media.
Today, the culture has grown more sympathetic to matters of mental health. But as social media supplants gossip blogs, and mockery is replaced by calls for support, it’s created a frenzy of fan speculation around Spears that some in her camp say may be just as detrimental.
