From a very young age, Britney has lived her life in the spotlight, due to this, Britney has had to endure things like a lot of her personal business being made public, being sexualised from as young as 16 years old, being bullied and humiliated by the media (Perez Hilton mocked her and expressed how he wanted her to die), being used and let down by those closest to her during her darkest days, having 20+ paparazzi cameras forced into her face when she was doing simple, everyday things such as going to Starbucks or the gym (She was even followed by the paparazzi when she went to the bathroom) and the extreme pressure to be perfect.
Today, Britney, a 37 year old woman, is under a conservatorship that does not give her the right to vote, get married, drive a car without a controller, and manage her own hard-earned money. It does not make sense to me how Britney is deemed too 'mentally unstable' to do those things, yet she was fine to tour the world multiple times, release 4 amazing albums, sign endorsement deals, have a 4 year long Vegas residency and do meet and greets after her concerts. Britney's conservatorship was issued on the 1st of February 2008 and was supposed to end in 2009 - So why are we here 10 years later? I personally believe that in terms of what Britney is able to do, she is only allowed to do things when it suits her conservator best (Financially). Britney's constitutional rights have been unfairly taken away from her which, as her biggest fan, is absolutely heartbreaking to me to even think about. My frustration is triggered by the sad fact that many idiotic people I know and the general media have hardly shown any support for Britney in terms of the #FreeBritney movement, and I know that it would be breaking news if this was happening to somebody else, such as Beyonce or Ariana Grande, or even that mediocre, guitar strumming bore, Shawn Mendes. Civil Rights should not be something that someone hopes to achieve, Civil Rights should be something that EVERYONE EXPECTS.
Furthermore, the world really wanted to see the great downfall of Britney Spears, her struggles with mental health reached it's unfortunate peak during 2007/2008, when the infamous head shaving incident occurred, when she lost custody of her beloved children, when she was portrayed as a hardcore partier and when she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after being deemed a danger to herself and those around her. The tabloids fed off her pain and suffering like it was a drug. Her personal problems were public to the world, and nobody cared. She was unfairly humiliated, which makes me question how those who mocked her would have felt if they were in her shoes? If what happened to Britney back then, happened now, would the general public have reacted differently as people seem to have such a different outlook on mental health and tend to be more sympathetic to those who are going through a hard time?
"I'm sometimes in denial to the fact that I'm a celebrity. Deep inside I wish to be very private, which I believe I am. All this fame is way too much for me, as it's really hard to grasp its magnitude." is what Britney said in 2017, which highlights the fact that Britney considers herself to be a private person, therefore having her personal problems public to the world was probably her worst nightmare. The fact that she is in denial about being famous is kind of ironic since she has lived the majority of her life in the public eye, yet it shows how humble Britney remains, after a groundbreaking 20 year old career. Britney also followed that statement with "I have these moments where I just want to dress up like a normal person and walk in the street. It goes through my mind quite a lot" which makes me feel so sad to think that something so simple and normal such as walking in the street is seen as a luxury to someone so genuine and authentic.
To me, Britney is an icon of true strength and hope, it pains me to even imagine some of the things that has never been brought to light. No matter how cruel the world was to her and wanted her to fail, she didn't. She suffered through so many emotional hardships yet she rose above the pain and the humiliation, and created an amazing legacy that will forever be remembered in pop culture. She picked her reputation up from the ground and is somebody that I will forever respect and adore. She is not (And was never) the attention seeking fame whore that the tabloids tried to portray her as.
She is Britney, and she is the greatest.
