Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Family management is nothing new in the entertainment industry, especially when it comes to pop stars who rose to fame at an exceedingly young age, but what happens when the parent takes their agency too far? Britney Spears, and her troubling story of familial dictatorship, over the last 13 years, has, this past year, spotlighted the controversial concept of conservatorship and sparked a powerful movement with the mantra: “Free Britney.”
A conservatorship is a legal agreement where a guardian is appointed, by a U.S. judge, as responsible for the financial and personal affairs of a legal adult due to mental and/or physical disabilities. These conservatorships traditionally last for shorter periods of time; every two years the court is required to investigate and report on the status of the situation, and the fitness of both the conservator and the conservatee. In order to extend the agreement over a longer period of time, the conservator, or guardian, must be reappointed by the judge. In 2008, in the wake of Spears’ substance abuse and mental health hospitalizations, her conservatorship, under the appointed protection of her father, Jamie Spears, and her manager Jodi Montgomery, began.
Spears’ lawsuit, which will ultimately decide the validity of her conservatorship and subsequent ability to control herself, her assets, estate, and most other aspects of her career and personal life, comes to a critical point on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, when Spears will communicate with the Los Angeles court first hand.
Spears is expected to publicly address her relationship with her father, and potentially voice her opposition to the restrictive and oppressive agreement. Due to fan-based speculation that Spears is being forced to remain quiet and is held against her will in this legal agreement, but no explicit request to nullify the conservatorship on her behalf, this court-ordered meeting could evoke tremendous impact and wreak potential havoc in both the legal and pop-culture spheres.
