The #FreeBritney movement
Britney Spears is in an unusual position, and not just because she’s a famous pop star. Since 2008 — when she was 26 and in the midst of a public breakdown that dominated the tabloids — she has been in a conservatorship, a complex legal arrangement usually reserved for people who are old or sick.
As a result, she cannot make many decisions — personal or financial, including mundane purchases, like a Starbucks coffee — without the oversight of guardians appointed by the court. One of them is her father, James Spears.
The singer’s fans have grown increasingly critical of the restrictions, using the hashtag #FreeBritney. They point out that Spears is behaving like a functioning adult: She has toured, released albums, appeared on television and performed a greatest hits show in Las Vegas. Some fans have taken to YouTube and Instagram, arguing that the pop star is exploited.
Spears, who’s 39, had rarely commented until last year, when she began seeking substantial changes in court. In November, a judge declined her request to remove her father as the head of her estate, although future hearings are likely.
The New York Times
