#FreeBritney: When a star is a victim of protectionist abuse
"I was traumatized. I just want my life again.” It was one of the few appeals made by Britney Spears in court to end her father's conservatorship.
The #FreeBritney movement has built a massive online community, protesting outside the courtroom and drawing widespread attention to Britney Spears' battle for conservatorship with her father. The pop star's father has been her protector for over 12 years, supposedly making all of her decisions, big and small. So why should a 40-year-old adult have to live in terrible control for so many years? It all comes from the right of conservatorship in the state of California, USA.
What is conservatorship? Why does Britney Spears need a guardian?
According to the California state court, a conservatorship is a legal concept in the United States that allows a judge to grant a conservator (or conservators) full control over the finances or personal affairs of a conservator. The cases in need of protection are usually the elderly, the sick, adults with mental health problems or an adult who is physically or mentally incapable of self-management.
Mental disabilities include people who are suicidal, mentally disturbed, amnesiac, or disabled to the extent that the person is unable to make legal, financial, and medical decisions on their behalf.
Although born with the purpose of helping and bringing safety to the protected people, having the power to make decisions on behalf of the protected person means that the person is in control of all decisions in his or her life. As in Britney's case, conservators can place strict limits on her, including whether she can marry or even drive a car.
In other words, a conservatorship is the most restrictive form of court intervention. They can take away people's individual rights.
One question raised in the case of Britney Spears when she was stripped of her personal rights after falling into a mental health crisis in 2008 is whether she really has no decision-making abilities or a "mental" image like "crazy people" have been exaggerated by the media all these years?
But since then, she has worked hard, released many albums, performed many tours and earned millions of dollars. Trying to improve her life, she has a boyfriend and even earns money for her and her family's daily expenses. Does it show that she needs someone to make decisions about her life for her? It forces us to question the good that guardianship provides and the real purposes behind it.
When mental health issues are an excuse for abuse.
For the past 13 years, Britney has lived in mental oppression and has remained tight-lipped throughout the legal battle, speaking only through her legal team and by making less sensitive comments over the years.
But today what she shared showed the immense pressure she had to endure.
She does not have the right to manage her property, every week her father gives her a little money to spend – money earned by her hard work – she can't do what she wants, when she is a little tired, she is told there are "oppositional" acts.
She had blood samples taken every week for testing and was monitored until the end of her medication. During the treatment, she was forced to take Lithium, a drug for bipolar disorder - an extremely powerful drug that made her feel drunk and not awake.
Even the right to a medical examination when she was forced to go to the clinic, paparazzi chased and waited to make a parody of her illness. She almost lost all her human rights.
And looking at the way her guardian was doing it, it was clear that wasn't the way they wanted her to actually heal. Noting that in 2019, when her father suspended conservatorship and was replaced by Jodi Montgomery, Britney wanted Jodi to continue her conservatorship later because she was "afraid of her father" and "wouldn't perform again if he did take over." He continues to control her career. Those actions show that she is being abused by her own family.
The conservatorship for people with mental health problems in this case is clearly being abused for other personal gains. Ironically, the right that was applied to "help" people with mental health problems now seems to be the same right that is causing Britney's mental health problems.
The consequences are despite the "aggressive" care team of 6 doctors, psychotherapists, health care workers. Britney continued to suffer from psychological trauma and severe depression over the years. The fact that she spoke in court and asked for her conservatorship to be terminated and even to be jailed shows that her condition is not improving, and even tends to get worse.
People with mental health problems have the right to receive treatment in their own way.
Conservatorship was born to help the weak. But real protection should ensure individual rights. Britney Spears is a sick person, she has the right to be treated according to her wishes – to refuse or accept treatment the way you want.
No one has to endure mental or physical trauma like Britney's.
Moreover, if the patient no longer trusts the therapist, he or she has the right to change the therapist. During the full session, Britney Spears repeated over and over how she felt distrustful of the doctors treating her. This certainly affects the effectiveness of the treatment.
Besides, support and empathy from family and loved ones are extremely important. Do Britney's parents really want to help her get better? We don't know, but we do know that they are always trying to fight to become her guardian, and with it, the right to financial use from the hard-earned money by their daughter since she was 17 years old. If she had a sympathetic family, it probably wouldn't have lasted 13 years.
Britney's suffering comes from being a pitiful victim of media and conservatorship abuse, forcing her to live in control for a long time. We pray for Britney Spears to regain control of her life and find solutions to her own mental health issues.
