A question that has tortured Britney Spears's fans, inspired a series of documentaries and perplexed legal experts, is about to be addressed in a Los Angeles court.
Is one of the most successful pop artists of all time being held captive by her father in a legal guardianship under which she is not in control of her personal and professional life?
In 2008, Spears was placed under a conservatorship following a breakdown that played out in full public glare.
What is a conservatorship?
A conservatorship is a legal arrangement put in place by a US court with the aim of protecting those who cannot care for themselves.
It is typically used to protect the old, mentally disabled or extremely ill.
It lasts as long as the court deems it necessary.
At the time, Spears was twice admitted to hospital for psychiatric care amid a bitter child custody battle with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, during which she was famously filmed shaving her head.
But almost 13 years later, the singer is scheduled to break her silence on the legal arrangement when she addresses the LA Superior Court on Wednesday local time.
#FreeBritney fans waiting for the singer to share her truth
Two years ago, Britney Spears abruptly cancelled a planned second Las Vegas residency and announced she was taking an "indefinite work hiatus" due to her father’s ill health.
Reuters: Steve Marcus
)She later said she was taking some "me time" after reports emerged that she had checked herself into a mental health facility.
She has not performed publicly since late 2018.
Last year, Spears's lawyer told the court his client wanted to remove her father from the guardianship.
"My client has informed me on many occasions that she is afraid of her father," Samuel D Ingham III told a hearing on November 10 in the Californian Superior Court.
"She has also informed me on many occasions that she will not perform as long as her father is in charge of her career."
At a later hearing, the lawyer informed the court that Spears wanted to make a direct address.
Fans of the Grammy-award winner believe it could be the moment the artist tells the world that she is a prisoner of the conservatorship.
"Britney needs to be given a chance.
"She was growing and made some mistakes. And it was like, boom, here you go. Now you're under conservatorship.
"And it's like, how is this a life sentence?"
ABC News: Bradley McLennan
)Rob Layth, another member of the Free Britney Army, agrees.
"I just feel like shaving your head should not equal this," the 24-year-old said.
"I just feel like Britney, as a grown woman, deserves to do what a grown woman wants to do."
The search for 'clues' in Spears's Instagram posts
With the singer no longer performing, fans are left trying to find meaning in the now-39-year-old's social media posts, a pastime comedians Babs Gray and Tess Barker turned into the Britney's Gram podcast.
What began as a light-hearted take on the singer's frequent dancing videos and motivational musings, heavily punctuated with emojis, took a darker turn in 2019 after the hosts received a troubling phone call.
The caller claimed to have worked on Spears's father's legal team and alleged the singer was being manipulated. Barker and Gray have said they spoke to the paralegal separately and found him credible, but the claims haven't been independently verified.
Rob is among many fans who think Spears is trying to communicate through her posts.
ABC News: Bradley McLennan
)"You know, she's always had pictures of herself in cages. She's always loved doing that.
"She's always posted things about getting away to paradise, and she's always posted very inspirational quotes about getting out of something."
Loading
Other fans think they see hidden meanings in the way the singer smiles, where she looks, whether she has written the word 'help' in tiny letters on her hat.
Some believe she is responding to their shout-outs in the comments section to twirl or blink or wear yellow in her next video if she needs help.
Loading
Kevin Wu, 36, a data analyst and ardent fan, said he doesn't get drawn into scrutinizing Britney's Instagram.
"I try not to pay attention to her social media, in terms of … drawing any conclusions from it … because there's just so much we don't know there," he said.
"I would stress that social media behaviour should not have a bearing on whether or not you have civil rights.
ABC News: Bradley McLennan
)"What's at stake is a woman's civil rights, and not just one woman … you know, guardianship and conservatorship abuse is a very real issue."
Experts baffled by legal shackling of Britney Spears
Jamie Spears is currently co-conservator of Spears' estate, along with financial management company Bessemer Trust.
He was initially also conservator of his daughter's personal affairs, meaning he had the right to control decisions about her daily life and health care. He could also choose which visitors she received.
But he stepped aside from that role in 2019 due to his own ill health and was replaced by a professional care manager, Jodi Montgomery.
Britney Spears has asked for Ms Montgomery to continue in the role and made it known she wants her father removed from his role managing her estate, estimated to be worth $US60 million ($80 million).
ABC News: Bradley McLennan
)The legal shackling of Britney Spears is certainly baffling, all the more so because in the 13 years she has lived under the conservatorship, she has continued to work.
She has released four albums, performed close to 250 shows during a Las Vegas residency and gone on four world tours, including to Australia in 2009, where she faced a backlash over lip-synching.
What has also puzzled legal experts looking at Spears's legal arrangement is that she was just 26 years old when the ruling was made.
Sarah Wentz, a partner at the legal firm Fox Rothschild, who works on similar cases, says "it's incredibly uncommon" for someone so young to be put under a conservatorship.
"When it does happen it's usually because there's some sort of disability that would cause the person to not be able to manage their financial or personal wellbeing," she said.
The lawyer believes there must be significantly more to the case than what the public saw through the paparazzi lens.
"We're all allowed to make really dumb mistakes in life," she said.
"I don't know that that should be enough cause to really remove your rights as a human being."
ABC News: Bradley McLennan
)Ms Wentz said the court must have been presented with compelling evidence showing Britney Spears was not able to manage her affairs.
"I think there had to be [some sort of devastating evidence]," she said.
"If not, then we have a problem in our judicial system because it's not okay that somebody loses their rights to act on their behalf."
Documentaries spark apologies over Spears' media treatment
Spears launched her international career with her first single, "… Baby One More Time", while still a teenager in 1999.
It topped charts worldwide, including in Australia, where it went triple platinum and held the number one spot for nine weeks.
That level of fame came with constant media intrusion, depicted in a New York Times documentary released this year titled Framing Britney Spears.
Reuters: Mike Blake
)It highlights the pressure the star was under in the time leading up to the imposition of the conservatorship, and explores whether Spears was held to different standards than male celebrities.
One of the film's most sobering moments is an excerpt from a 1992 talent contest.
A 10-year-old Britney Spears from small-town Louisiana gives a goose-bump-inducing performance, only to be told she has pretty eyes and asked by the almost 70-year-old host if he can be her boyfriend.
A young boy competing against her is asked about life on the family farm.
There is also the ABC interview where Diane Sawyers asks then-21-year-old Spears to respond to a comment from a state governor's wife saying she would like to shoot the singer.
The host appeared to sympathize with the view that Spears's sexualized music videos make parenting young girls hard.
Spears also faced frequent questions about her breasts and sex life, and her travails were easy and frequent fodder for talk-show hosts.
She was relentlessly hounded by the paparazzi and famously attacked the car of one photographer with an umbrella.
The documentary's release renewed interest in the conservatorship case and provoked a series of apologies.
Glamour magazine said sorry and so did Spears's ex Justin Timberlake and blogger Perez Hilton.
Loading
"People, I think, for the first time, saw her as a human and not just this, you know, pop star," Junior, who participated in the film, said.
"It got the world to apologise to her."
But Britney Spears appeared unimpressed by the film and in a rambling post wrote:
"I didn't watch the documentary but from what I did see of it I was embarrassed by the light they put me in," she said.
"I cried for two weeks and well …. I still cry sometimes !!!!"
The singer also lamented in the post that her life, "has always been very speculated … watched … and judged".
Loading
Will this be Britney Spears's moment?
Spears is not due to attend the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in person, but to address the hearing remotely.
That won't stop the Free Britney activists gathering outside court to protest and try and understand what is really going on for a woman they say changed their lives.
ABC News: Bradley McLennan
)"She never cared about the critics, she went from doing the most scandalous thing to the next scandalous thing and thinking nothing of it," Rob said.
"And to me as a gay guy, I was like, 'everybody thinks that that's scandalous'.
In an Instagram post from last week, Britney Spears said she had "no idea" if she would ever perform again, but she said she was "having fun right now" and was in a period of transition.
Loading
It's not at all clear what that means and what exactly Spears will tell the court, but Junior thinks this is the beginning of the end of the conservatorship.
"I've followed Brittany pretty much daily since I was 11," the 33-year-old said.
"I've seen this conservatorship come and I'm going to see this conservatorship go.
"I'm just happy that the world is watching right now, they're paying attention."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiY2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTA2LTIzL3RoZS1tb21lbnQtZnJlZS1icml0bmV5LWZhbnMtaGF2ZS1iZWVuLXdhaXRpbmctZm9yLzEwMDIzMTE5NNIBKGh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMDAyMzExOTQ?oc=5
2021-06-22 19:24:01Z
52781682175329
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar