‘Framing Britney Spears’ Reveals More Behind The #FreeBritney Movement


Bella Breakdown

The New York Times released their latest project with Hulu and FX for a documentary exploring the conservatorship of the pop star. “Framing Britney” details Britney Spears’ rise to fame and how her father gained control of her estate through a conservatorship.

Jamie Spears has maintained the role of Briney’s conservator for the last 12 years and Britney is fighting to regain some control over her estate by naming a newly appointed conservator.

Britney Spears journey to find fame started in 1992 when the 10-year-old started performing on television and her parents later reached out to a children’s talent manager Nancy Carson. After Carson met Britney in New York, she agreed to represent her despite the challenges of Britney’s family living in Louisiana and Carson’s agency was in New York.

Both Britney’s parents were working-class but Jamie controlled the financial aspect of developing his daughter’s career from a young age. Carson recalls Britney’s mother Lynne as the proud parent and her father Jamie was also proud but focused on how they could manage finances to make Britney’s dream come true.

Caron reveals that she worked out a plan with Britney’s parents that she would travel to New York every couple of months to work while she was there. Lynne would travel with Britney to New York where she could study singing, dancing, and acting as well as auditioning to further her career in the entertainment industry.

Carson explains that Jamie would visit occasionally to justify the cost of furthering Britney’s career that paid off when Britney landed the Mikey Mouse Club audition, Britney’s first big-time job. When her run on the show ended Britney was devastated and went back to high school living the normal life of a teenager for two years.

During this time Britney’s family was struggling to finance the travel needed for auditions until her big break in 1997 when Britney signed a contract for her first studio album with Jive Records. Lynne was unable to travel to New York with Britney but employed a close family friend Felicia to go with Britney and look after her.

Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, wasn’t around too much during Britney’s childhood as he struggled with alcoholism and later went to rehab. Shortly after Jamie is working between several professions including being a chef, working in construction, and attempts to open his own gym business that leads him to file for bankruptcy.

The senior director of marketing at Jive Records discloses in an interview that she never really had any form of interaction with Jamie Spears with the exception of Jamie saying, “My daughter is going to be so rich, she’s gonna buy me a boat.” These early acts show how Jamie was influenced by the financial aspect of Britney’s career.

“Framing Britney Spears” also shows the aspects of Britney’s life that attributed to her emotional breakdown including her private life becoming public interest. Shortly after ending her relationship with Justin Timberlake, there was a media circus blaming Britney for ending the relationship.

Shortly after receiving a lot of media scrutiny over her relationship with Justin Timberlake in 2003, the pop star announced her engagement with Kevin Federline in 2004. The pop star’s personal life was also barraged by paparazzi with magazines making money off her engagement and even more after the announcement of her first pregnancy.

The media attention and paparazzi was too much to handle shortly after giving birth and the media was constantly speculating her ability to be a good mother. Britney’s ability to make choices on her own behalf started in 2006 when she was photographed driving with her baby in her lap and not in a car seat.

In response to the overwhelming media attention, Britney has an interview with Matt Lauer in 2006 addressing the media. Britney explains paparazzi were swarming her car and she was attempting to escape a dangerous situation with dozens of people surrounding her car. Britney goes on to breakdown crying that her only wish was for the paparazzi to leave her alone.

Shortly after the birth of her second child, Lynne wrote a book claiming she believed Britney was suffering from post-partum depression as she has a custody battle while divorcing Federline. After having her second child Britney starts to care less about maintaining her perfect pop star image and chooses to start partying with Hollywood’s tabloid princesses including Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

This was the point when Britney’s mental status was being questioned while she lived through a constant tabloid circus consuming her life and being photographed every moment of the day. After months of being relentlessly followed by paparazzi, Britney shaved her head bald.

Britney went to a hair salon requesting someone shave all of her hair off and everyone in the salon refused so she shaved it herself. Reports indicate that Britney stated she wishes no one to ever touch her again as the reason being shaving her head.

By Febrary 2007, Britney and Kevin have battled over custody of their children for nearly four months. Britney attempted to visit her children at Federline’s house but she was being rejected while the paparazzi filmed everything.

The paparazzi attempted to continue filming Britney but she exits the car with an umbrella hitting the car of a tabloid photographer that had the public question her mental health. By October 2007, Britney loses custody of her children but is granted visitation rights.

At this point, Britney fires her longtime manager while distancing her relationships with friends and family. Sam Lutfi enters Britney’s life as her manager that steers her career in the wrong direction.

In 2008 the court started getting involved in Britney’s life after she refused to give her children back to her ex-husband Federline following a scheduled visit and she was sent to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. As a result of breaking her custody agreement, the courts take away her visitation rights preventing access to her children.

Four weeks after being denied custody, Britney is hospitalized for a second time with a medical psychiatric hold to observe her mental and physical health. During this time Jamie Spears files for a temporary conservatorship of Britney being a unique case because this is typically reserved for elderly people who don’t have the mental capacity to make choices on their own behalf.

While Britney was hospitalized, Jamie Spears was granted as a temporary conservator of Britney Spears and her estate. Though this arrangement was intended to be temporary it has maintained to be a permanent arrangement despite Britney’s plea that she has an independent conservator and is adamant that person isn’t her father.

These choices were a cry for help from Britney but a majority of people interpreted her actions as being crazy which led to the idea of filing for a conservatorship. The ongoing court case for the conservatorship of Britney Spears continues but a legal expert ‘Framing Britney Spears’ has never personally seen a conservatorship overturned but there is hope that Britney can be fairly represented with an unbiased conservator.

Author: Karli Wallace

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