Addressing an open court for the first time, from a remote location, the singer—who, at 39, has now been under conservatorship for a third of her life—stated in no uncertain terms that she wanted that arrangement, which she described as “abusive,” to end immediately.
“I’ve lied and told the whole world I’m OK and I’m happy,” Spears, who often posts upbeat messages to social media, confessed to the court.
While there have been several shifts in personnel in the intervening years, the urgency of the situation seems to have intensified since January 2019, when the singer abruptly canceled a Las Vegas residency and announced an “indefinite work hiatus.” That September, Jamie Spears temporarily relinquished his role in his daughter’s affairs due to health issues.
While Tuesday’s report contains more new information, the feature doc, also produced by the Times, effectively summarizes a saga that dates back to the late ’90s, from the ridicule and objectification Spears endured as a teenage pop star to the restricted life she currently lives as a grown-up artist, mom and multimillionaire deprived of the legal power to make even the most basic decisions for herself.
Particularly after #MeToo, which raised popular awareness of the rampant sexual misconduct and generalized misogyny women in the entertainment industry tend to endure, the conclusion that Spears has been a victim of trial by media was probably obvious to anyone who bothered to think much about her predicament.
In March, a caption accompanying an Instagram video of Spears dancing to Aerosmith’s “Crazy” alluded to Framing and lamented that she had been “watched… and judged really my whole life.” Yet her situation was so opaque that it was impossible to know whether she was objecting solely to the film or to publicity of any nature—or even whether she had written the caption herself, as a genuine expression of her sentiments.
Lest we in the media be too quick to congratulate ourselves for correcting past wrongs—efforts that may turn out to be too little, too late—it’s important to acknowledge that it was the fans who got this story right first.
Out of all the crushing things Spears said in court on Wednesday, for me, the most heartbreaking was her explanation of why she didn’t speak out earlier: “I honestly don’t think anyone would believe me… That’s why I didn’t want to say any of this to anybody, to the public.