Britney Spears

[pallisers]

I know it is a story of more US interest (all over NPR and NYT today) but I am really shocked - but not surprised - by the Britney Spears legal action and wonder what others think.

I remember many years ago thinking she was experiencing post-natal depression or whatever as much of her mental health issues arose after the births of her children (very close together if I remember correctly). But since then she has been in a conservetorship - basically her father ran her finances/life/choices etc for the past 13 years. Meanwhile she was capable of earning millions of dollars as a performer in Vegas but not apparently capable of making her own life decisions? It is like looking at a picture drawn by a child of "Patriarchy". Did Robert Downey Jr spend 13 years with no control over his own money? Did any of the many male performers who struggled with addiction or mental health problems?

www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/23/arts/britney-spears-conservatorship

[MaxNormal]

Didn't her father also claim she has a form of dementia? What happened to that, or does it prove he's actually a financially self interested liar?
I find it quite horrifying, like when men had the power to get their wives and relatives committed for life for any pretext.

And I never thought her Instagram was that disturbing, unless being driven almost mad with boredom and frustration counts.

[StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind]

It's hardly that unusual for people to be compelled to take medication for mh issues if there is thought to be a ery significant risk to them if they don't.

I think it's possible that she does need medication. But if this is a woman well enough to continue working and performing, she presumably still has capacity? In this court hearing he spoke about being forced to take lithium and that the meds she was previously taken were stopped. She also mentioned she would like to see her therapist once a week at her home and said she could use a little therapy- I think she recognises that she needs medication and treatment but it doesn't mean that the conservatorship is proportionate.

For something meant to protect someone who is unwell, it sounds like the conservatorship, and the people around her, haven't worked for her best interests.

[StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind]

Because things can be edited to make them look worse than they are, and because you only see a one sided view.

This.

[Oblomov21]

Her boyfriend of 3 years Sam does not appear in the documentary, but he thinks her father is a "dick".

So she has support? Is it enough? If you had a supportive boyfriend/partner could you force a legal battle?

How does she get out of this? Out of the contract with her dad? How can she stop paying him £16k a month?

[DoucheCanoe]

@Horehound, if the person in charge of her social media benefits from her illness then it's not hard to only post things that back up your side of the story.

She doesn't have access to social media so who and why are there accounts in her name?

She may be unwell but this level of control is WAY beyond what we would normally see.

[Horehound]

@Whinge @StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind no you can clearly see she is unwell. Endless spinning, nothing behind the eyes. No photos out for dinner or even dinner in her house just endless dance videos of the same stuff in her hallway
I personally think she is in control of it and that's why it's like that!
I agree it does seem like she knows she needs medication but maybe she doesn't have the mental capacity to understand why the therapist switched her to lithium. Maybe she didn't choreograph the dances..
Maybe it's all on her head! We just don't know.
Whatever the court decides, i imagine will be the right decision. I'm so wary of the freebritney stuff in case people don't fully realise there is something wrong ) if there is and that why the court makes such a decision. People will just say Jamie paid off the judge...

@MaxNormal don't think there was ever proof of dementia. He wrote it down but nothing ever been shown to say she has it. I imagine if everything stays in place as is, then maybe there is something more going on.

[HeadNorth]

You cannot escape the fact that, no matter how mentally ill her conservators claim she is, they kept her working and earning huge amounts of money. That is shady, to put it mildly.

To be clear, she is not seeking to end the conservatorship entirely, but to remove her father. He had little to do with her until her breakdown, when he stepped in and took control. She has made him very very rich.

Macauly Culkin had a terrible drug problem but was able to divorce his parents. he now seems to have turned his life around somewhat. Britney should be able to escape her parents as an adult and should be allowed to make mistakes and do things they don't want her to. Including stop working.

[Horehound]

I also can't believe she was ordered in increase her payments to Kevin federline from 20k a month to 60k a month.

Wtf that is insanity

[StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind]

Clearly unwell but well enough to hold down a Las Vegas residency and go on a world tour, @Horehound ?

[Horehound]

You cannot escape the fact that, no matter how mentally ill her conservators claim she is, they kept her working and earning huge amounts of money. That is shady, to put it mildly.
Exactly and I hope someone asks this question to them. If she is so Ill, why make her work.

[WhoNeedsaManOfTheWorld]

I followed the last court case which she lost and, at the time, I was thinking this wouldn't have happened to a man
Even if she needed help with some decisions its mind blowing that her father was given so much control. He wasn't even in her life and she had support around her. I think it was her aunt or someone who thought they would be her support
He came along with a shit hot legal team, won his case and sidelined the other people in her life
He only seems to be involved for financial reasons

[Horehound]

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind I know. I don't agree with it but what do we know about her? Maybe all she can do is sing and dance like a ten year old would. But I definitely do not agree with them making her work if she is Ill. It's horrendous.

[StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind]

If she is unwell, she needs to receive appropriate help/medication/therapy- and from what she has suggested, it doesn't sound like she is unwilling to engage with this. What is currently in place doesn't seem appropriate at all.

It makes no sense to me that if she is that unwell, those around her would deem it in her best interests to still be performing. It really doesn't sounds like it was her choice to carry on working.

[Whinge]

Exactly and I hope someone asks this question to them. If she is so Ill, why make her work.

I think the answer to this is obvious. Money.

[Horehound]

@Whinge

Exactly and I hope someone asks this question to them. If she is so Ill, why make her work.

I think the answer to this is obvious. Money.

Yes, but it needs to be outed once and for all. See them wriggle and squirm and try and justify it.

[Whinge]

Yes, but it needs to be outed once and for all. See them wriggle and squirm and try and justify it.

They'll just claim it made her happy, it was what she wanted etc etc.

[Horehound]

And it does also sound like she wants help and self care yet over lockdown she was denied this.
Denied massage and nails and hair etc...which can make a huge difference to how you feel in body and mind. That level of control is mind blowing.

[RufustheBadgeringReindeer]

You cannot escape the fact that, no matter how mentally ill her conservators claim she is, they kept her working and earning huge amounts of money. That is shady, to put it mildly.

To be clear, she is not seeking to end the conservatorship entirely, but to remove her father. He had little to do with her until her breakdown, when he stepped in and took control. She has made him very very rich

This

There is something very very wrong when a woman is apparently this ill…but not ill enough to stop working

[anon12345678901]

I think her father needs to be stripped from it, from the looks of it all her family take advantage of her money. Forcing her to have an IUD is completely and utterly wrong, no one can defend that. Now this is being done publicly I'm hoping for a better outcome for her, before this it had been sealed so no one could hear her speak, now they have and I think the courts will find it hard to justify keeping a woman under such strict ruling as this.

[Whinge]

I think the courts will find it hard to justify keeping a woman under such strict ruling as this.

You would hope, but if I remember correctly this isn't the first time it's been to court.

[dontknowwhattpputhere]

m.youtube.com/watch?v=iVrhKBhMrEI here is the full leaked audio of her testimony. She sounds nervous at times, but is very coherent.

[wherethewildthingis]

Endless spinning and nothing behind the eyes - this is a woman who has spent her life performing and seemingly has had all other entertainment taken away from her - yes it's likely she spends a lot of time dancing. As exercise if nothing else! She can hardly go out for a run, can she?
Nothing behind the eyes is your perception, and not evidence of psychiatric illness. Again, having spent her life performing I would expect her to be good at putting on a blank face. Dancers are literally taught this from childhood.
She may still have mental illness - or may not. She would have to be extremely unwell and a risk to herself or others to justify this kind of deprivation on her liberty. That seems unlikely while she is apparently capable of performing!
Anyone believing this could still be in Britneys best interests clearly has no understanding of the history of psychiatry and how it has been used to oppress women since it came into existence.

[Horehound]

Of course it's not evidence of psychiatric illness...I'm not a doctor and have never claimed to be. But she looks unwell in my opinion. But I also don't think she should be under this conservatorship. I hope it's ended and she surrounds herself with people who truly want to care for her.

[NiceGerbil]

What has been done to her is an absolute disgrace.

And I haven't even seen her testimony yet.

[Whinginadeville]

Britney has been trying to remove her father from the control for quite a while now. He's benefitting enormously from it and she wants someone else, her sister I think? to take charge. Her father has fought to keep control of her. It's hard to imagine a male in this situation her sex is the root of her oppression. If there's a need for this utterly unprecedented and incredibly lengthy conservatorship then control needs to wrested from her father.