What Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Was Really About
“I’m just grateful…to be able to be independent and feel like a woman”
In 2008, Britney Spears was placed under a conservatorship, governed by her father and many others. Her father’s lawyers had said the conservatorship was “necessary to protect Britney in every sense of the word”. They said: “Her life was in shambles and she was in physical, emotional, mental and financial distress” after she notoriously had a mental breakdown in public. However, what we saw was not an attempt to save Britney and help her navigate her mental health, but rather a grotesque abuse of power from the person that was supposed to love her the most.
The conservatorship ruled her finances, career, her right to see her children, to get married and to have children. Britany has claimed that the conservatorship was “abusive” and it’s hard not to agree. After finally being released she said to the press: “I’m just grateful for each day and being able to have the keys to my car, to be able to be independent and feel like a woman. Owning an ATM card, seeing cash for the first time … It’s the little things.” This statement is bleeding of tragedy. To hear that she is so grateful to finally have cash, her car, and to feel like an independent woman, feels like we are being transported back in time to the suffragette movement. Therefore, Britany’s case stands to symbolise the failure of a corrupt system that allowed such evil to occur. Her constant pleas for help, to be released from the hellish world her father worked consistently hard over the past 13 years to enslave her in, were all ignored up until only recently. A grown woman being treated like a child with the complete loss of autonomy over her life and body is like something out of a Margaret Atwood novel.
To hear that she is grateful to finally have cash, her car, and to fell like an independant women, feels like we are being transported back in time to the suffragette movement
What part of any of this helps Britney’s mental health? Despite being evaluated as mentally unstable, she was still thrust into concerts and tours, under high-pressure environments. While Brittney was only allowed a $2000 weekly allowance (of her own money!), her father was racking in double at $16,000 a month; even when he temporarily stepped aside due to health issues, he conveniently still maintained control of her finances. Coincidence much? It is clear then that this conservatorship wasn’t about saving Britney from herself, because where were the attempts to reform her? While she was made to go to rehab, there is no evidence of psychological treatment. What has been masqueraded for 13 years too long as a desperate last resort to help a psychologically suffering woman, is truly a monstrously evil scheme to exploit a woman out of her money for their own financial pursuit. What dystopian nightmare world is this, because if your own family can do this to you, anyone can.
Image Credit: Reuters
