I confess, this is something that has somewhat passed me by.
When I was growing up, I remember me and my friend Chrissy were really into Spice Girls and Britney Spears. As I grew up, there were 2 albums that the cool kids were listening to: 'A Present For Everyone' by Busted and 'Oops I Did It Again' by Britney Spears. She was someone we all loved consistently.
One of my all-time favourite songs is 'Toxic' - I love it so much, and when I was at uni, we would be dancing in clubs to 'Womanizer' and 'If U Seek Amy', and then when I was working and we'd go out, we'd dance to 'Til The World Ends' and 'Hold It Against Me'. Britney has been a constant in my life.
But it stops at the audio. I didn't know much about her life really. I knew she was pop royalty - I was vaguely aware she shaved her head, I knew the name Kevin Federline because of her, I knew she had kids. I know she rocked double denim, she dated Justin Timberlake and she kissed Madonna. But the image in my head is more from her early career.
What I didn't realise was everything else going on in the background, and watching the 'Framing Britney Spears' documentary was eye opening, and really quite upsetting. I wasn't sure how I would watch it in the UK, but I discovered it was available on NowTV with the entertainment pass (which I already have). If you don't already have it, I think they do free trials, so you could always dip in just for this (though there is plenty of good stuff on there, so you might end up keeping your subscription - this is not an ad, nor did they sponsor this, just in case you're wondering!)
The first half of the documentary is about her fast and bright journey to superstardom, and her relationship with the papparazzi. They even have a member of the papparazzi who followed her around interviewed on the documentary. The second half is about the controversial conservatorship.
The story told at first is lovely - she's a real girl, and she loves her family and her community. It touched me that she returned to her home town, took out $10,000 in $100 dollar bills and just handed them out on the street. There's something so wholesome about that. She also introduces her mum at interviews - she's proud of where she came from. Conspicuous by his absence though, is her father.
Then comes the female opression. Clear from the very early days of her success. An ageing TV presenter, after hearing her sing at the age of approximately 11 (I think) - and she has a phenomenal voice even at that young age - asks her if she has a boyfriend. That's his response to her amazing talent. If a young boy had performed as amazingly as she had done, would the first question be 'do you have a girlfriend?' - I think it would be praise and amazing etc before asking stupid questions like that of someone so young.
But it just goes on from there. Britney has to toe this line between being perfect - a role model to all young and impressionable girls, and being a sex symbol. It's an impossible line to walk. Proved over and over by so many others, notably (for me anyway) is Miley Cyrus. It's impossible for these young girls to live up to the standards expected of them. They're not perfect - they're human beings, and we can't expect them to be these perfect role models, because no one is a perfect.
The perfect role model for one parent to their children is completely different to another's. Values are different, priorities are different, experiences are different, cultures are different. How is one teenager supposed to embody all of that perfectly? It's an impossible standard, and the only person to be then targeted for falling short is the young woman who "failed". No wonder their mental health suffers and addictions become part of their lives. Breaking out of that metality becomes not only predictably messy, but necessary for them to escape.
There is one interview in particular, where the interviewer quotes the then Governor of Maryland's wife as saying if she had the opportunity, she would shoot Britney. Britney's response? Ew. I don't know how to comprehend someone saying something so awful about someone - something so violent. Britney asked why she would think like that, and the interviewer insinuated that it was Britney's fault for being a bad role model for kids.
Seriously. It suggests that a statement of extreme violence is okay - it is not. There are no circumstances when it is okay to want to shoot someone. That's my personal view - but I certainly don't believe it's acceptable to shoot someone because you think they're a bad role model.
Britney replies that she isn't their kids babysitter. It's not her responsibility to teach their kids anything. She's a celebrity, a performer. This is overlooked in the documentary (I guess there's only so much it could cover) - but this is at the heart of so much about celebrities.
Consider the recent news about Zoella, an influencer, being pulled from UK exams because she started sharing about sex toys and female pleasure. The inference being that she shared things that are important to her and she has developed as she has grown up, but because she has matured, she is no longer fit to be a role model for teenagers. The exam board explained this wasn't the case, but it certainly was from a media perspective. It started a much needed conversation about female pleasure and sex education in schools.
Zoella creator, Zoe Suggs, actually had no idea she was being used by the exam board, and explained that her material was aimed at 25-35 year olds, her demographic has aged with her. She doesn't intend for the material to be for 16 year olds, but is pleased that it is accessible to them, as there should be no shame around sex, especially for women.
Slut shaming is also still alive and well. Britney experienced it when she split with Justin Timberlake and he claimed she cheated on him. The public took his side and slut shamed her. More recently, Taylor Swift has responded to slut-shaming claims, saying "If I could talk to my 19-year-old self, I’d say “hey, you know, you’re gonna date just like a normal 20 something should be allowed to, but you’re going to be a national lightning rod for slut shaming.”"
It's a terrible thing for young women to have to bear - to be innocent enough to sell to kids but also be sexy enough to sell to men. Where is there room to just be yourself?
Back to Britney. She often told interviewers that her dream in life was to get married and have kids. So when she got married and became pregnant, that must have been a dream come true for her. However, her close assistant featured in the documentary and explained that she thought Britney might be sufffering with postnatal depression. Combined with the papparzzi hounding her and the press constantly speculating that she was a terrible mother - she wasn't in a good place.
Whilst she was pregnant with her second, her marriage fell apart and it ended in divorce. Her ex-husband filed for custody of her kids. She lost the battle, and was given vistiation rights. I can't imagine the picture of her as a terrible mother in the press helped her cause. From there she fell apart.
Knowing what we know now - how much more we talk about mental health and the fact that it's become normalised, it's clear Britney wasn't well. She needed help and support, but instead she was under continued scrutiny for everything she did, and her ex-husband stopped allowing her to see her children. I can't imagine how that feels, for a woman whose lifelong dream was to be a mother.
Then we move on to the conservatorship. It's appauling. I can't believe this is something that exists. I don't think we have it in the UK, but it's kind of like power of attorney I guess? In that the person under conservatorship is deemed incapable of making decisions for themselves, and it puts someone in charge of them.
If someone was so ill they couldn't make decisions for themselves, how did she continue to work so gruellingly? She kept working at a pace that someone in the circumstances she was in probably shouldn't have been.
Shortly after the conservatorship, of which her father was placed in charge of, she appeared in an MTV documentary about her life. They managed to get her alone and ask her how she was really doing. Her response was "I'm sad". At those words, it felt like my heart actually broke. I wanted to give her a hug. I wanted to tell her it would be okay. I wanted to do something for her. It was really moving.
There was a point where the conservatorship was discussed and a petition to make it into a business was entered as she was going to be working even harder over the coming year (I'm not sure what year this was, apologies) so the income of those running the conservatorship should benefit in kind.
Think about that a minute. The people who are in charge of her care, her wellbeing, want to turn her into a business. Make money from using her. Does this not sound like a pimp? She does all the work, while they line their pockets? All the while offering her "protection"? It reminds me of Amy Winehouse's father, who turned her into a cash-cow. Not caring that she was unwell, that she was battling addiction. All he cared about was how much money he could make from her. She was dead at 27.
Fortunately, the courts rejected this proposal.
At the time of writing this, Britney is still under the conservatorship, though her father is now no longer part of her personal life, he is still responsible for her finances under it.
I highly recommend the documentary - especially as someone who has loved her music over the years, but not seen her life and the effects of fame on it. I was completely oblivious, and in 90 minutes I became completely outraged and heartbroken on her behalf.
We shouldn't be surprised she ended up this way - we as society pushed her here.
The funny thing is (or should I say the sad thing?) that the film we had chosen to watch for the evening before I watched the Britney documentary was 'Judy' - the film Renée Zellweger won the best actress for her portrayal of the late great Judy Garland. (Which is also currently on NowTV... seriously, this isn't an ad!)
I've wanted to watch this film for a while, but I didn't know what period of her life it covered. I've seen both her daughters perform live - I adore Liza Minelli and I was follow spotlight operator for Lorna Luft - and The Wizard of Oz was my childhood obsession, much to my father's delight (it's one of his favourite films too).
I didn't know just how sad Judy Garland's life had been - by modern standards, she was groomed from a young age to be the performer she became. There was psychological abuse and a gruelling work schedule. To be Judy Garland was to be denied everything "normal". In all honesty, it's a surprise she made it to the age of 47 before she died of an overdose.
The life portrayed in the film was desperately sad - she wanted to be seen, to be remembered, by anyone. The story is set approximately a year before her death and ends 6 months before she dies.
My mum pointed out that what she really needed was a friend - a real friend who would be there for her. At 47, she'd been married 5 times - we see her final marriage in the film - but her new husband quickly turns out not to be quite all he seemed. He was not the supportive and loving husband she thought he was and she is left once again without any support or friendship.
There are so many parallels to the life of Britney Spears - they both entered the spotlight extraordinarily young (Garland at the age of 2 and Spears at the age of 8), both were deprived a normal life, neither had a solid support system and both struggled with the reality of their fame.
As an aside - after watching the documentary, I did my lent bible reading for the day. It's been in Exodus for a couple of days now, but the message of the day was about the ten commandments. For those of you who don't know the Exodus story, in a nutshell the people of Israel (God's people) were slaves in Egypt. Moses is the chosen one by God and asks Pharoah to let his people go. There are several plagues inflicted on Pharoah by God to convince him to release the Israelites. Eventually he does... but then changes his mind. Which is when Moses (with the help of God) parts the Red Sea to escape.
After this, God is taking his people (lead by Moses) to the promised land. On the way there, they stop, and Moses is given the 10 Commandments. Now, I've never thought about it too much, but when it's in a brief synopsis like this it kind of makes you pause, doesn't it?
The Israelites ran from Pharoah where they were kept as slaves, to a God who then gave them a bunch of rules. Out of the frying pan into the fire much? But as we see with Britney and Miley and Judy Garland and Amy Winehouse and Demi Lovato etc that going from loads of strict rules to nothing is a recipe for disaster. It usually ends in addiction, rehab, self-destruction or death.
Our mental health is at it's best when there's a routine - when there's something that is safe and comfortable that is recognisable. Rules like the 10 commandments are for our benefit. They are to keep us safe. Like a loving father telling us not to touch the hot oven, something I repeatedly tell my puppy, but she doesn't understand human, so I physically hold her back and she gets upset. It's a command that keeps us from burning ourselves.
My puppy really wants the food in the oven - it smells really good to her and she doesn't want to wait. What she doesn't know is that she'll get severely hurt before she gets anywhere near the yummy food. If she follows my commands, she'll probably get to eat some when we get it out the oven (unless it's toxic to dogs, in which case she'll get a treat instead).
Much like the Israelites (and my puppy), we don't always understand the commands we're given by God, and they sound really restricting and rubbish, but they are thousands of times better than what went before (in the celebrity examples above, the restrictive and difficult childhoods that are impossible to meet the expectations laid out), and will result in something so much better than we can ever imagine (all God expects is for us to love Him and to love others - which is all any of us [including celebrities] really need).