What Happened To Pop Princess Britney Spears And Why Couldn't She Spend Her Own Money Without Permission?

Britney Spears had a guardian for 10 years but managed to record three new albums and be an X Factor judge.

Miriam Rumanková

August 28, 2020, 3:13pm

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Britney Spears has once again become the centre of attention in recent weeks and is once again the talk of the town. In this case, however, it's not about a new album announcement, a planned world tour or yet another scandal.

The pop princess with the iconic voice was stripped of her legal rights a decade ago after she suffered a mental breakdown following her failed and tumultuous marriage to dancer Kevin Federline in 2007. She has two sons from the marriage, even access to them was taken away from her by the authorities at the time.

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A post shared by ✨ Free Britney Los Angeles ✨ (@freebritneyla) on Aug 19, 2020 at 9:24am PDT

Child star from Louisiana

Britney started taking dance lessons at the age of three. Her parents' relationship was reportedly not ideal and as a family they did not have enough money. However, they invested the last of their money in Britney. When she was five years old, in addition to dancing, she started gymnastics and singing lessons. Her career was kick-started by appearing on the children's show The Mickey Mouse Club, where viewers could see her on screen alongside Christina Aguilera or Justin Timberlake. She and Justin later formed a couple. Other marriages were to be entered into by Britney only to make Justin jealous. Justin Timberlake wrote the famous song "Cry Me a River" two hours after their breakup in 2002 and no doubt dedicated it to her. He has admitted in interviews that the singer has cheated on him multiple times.

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake just had an interaction on Instagram! I CANT!! 2020 you are doing the most! pic.twitter.com/xtdw1rIT2h
— Christina Jovanna Olivarez (@ChristinaSBG) April 16, 2020

The seventeen-year-old Britney released her first album in 1999, Baby One More Time. It was a worldwide success and won her two Grammy awards. In that year she became a star and the whole world got to know her. Britney has a total of nine studio albums to her credit.

Mental breakdown, drug addiction, treatment and incapacitation

She was stripped of her independence after incidents and collapses in public when she shaved her head or used an umbrella to attack a car in which a paparazzi was sitting. All this was preceded by mental problems, drug addiction, pressure from the media, her family but also from the producers.

After several scandals, the verdict in court was that the singer could not take care of herself. The authorities stripped her of her legal capacity and took her two children away from her. They assigned her to two guardians, one of whom was her own father, Jamie Spears, and the other was a lawyer, Andrew M. Wallet, who was to look after her needs and interests.

When a court strips a person of his or her legal capacity in the United States, the person has absolutely no control over his or her decisions or assets. In most cases, these are elderly people, people with serious disabilities, or patients who are lying in a coma. The court removes the person's legal capacity and assigns a guardian or conservator.

As a result, Britney has been unable to make any decisions on her own for the last 10 years, she cannot handle her own property, she has no control over contracts and so on. However, a month after she was deprived of her legal capacity, Britney was back to full work. She appeared on How I Met Your Mother, was part of the opening of the MTV Video Music Awards, filmed an entire documentary and recorded an album.

Britney at the opening of MTV Video Music Awards

Britney in How I met Your Mother

Life without her two sons

Britney Spears gained access to her children in 2017, and she and their father took turns caring for them. However, Kevin Federline asked the court in 2019 to cut Britney's custody, then aged 13 and 14, to 30%. The court ruled in his favor.

Federline did not seek a change in custody for anything caused by his ex-wife. Kevin was responding to an incident where he had her father, Jamie Spears, physically assault their son Sean. Sean said he didn't feel safe at his grandfather's house and locked himself in a room. That night, Britney took the children away from their father, but Kevin still insisted that he didn't want the boys to see Jamie Spears any more than necessary.

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Great time at Disneyland today .... but I don’t remember ever getting that wet on splash mountain !!! Geeez .... anyhow my boys are older now, so they don’t like their picture taken ever... so I was thrilled today when they said SURE !!!!! Such a great place !!!!!

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Aug 4, 2019 at 10:40pm PDT

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A post shared by #FreeBritney (@freebritneymovement) on May 12, 2019 at 11:51am PDT

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A post shared by #FreeBritney (@freebritneymovement) on May 12, 2019 at 8:44am PDT

#freebritney

This hashtag has started to appear more and more often on social networks lately. It is used by die-hard fans of the pop princess, but also by famous celebrities. However, not many people know that the movement has been around for more than a decade and was founded by her great admirer Jordan Miller on his fan site. He didn't like the situation that arose around Britney after her mental breakdowns and started a huge campaign in her honour.

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A post shared by FREE BRITNEY JEAN SPEARS (@freebritneyjeanspearsnow) on Jul 28, 2020 at 7:11am PDT

This initiative did not sit well with her father, who contacted him several times asking for it to be cancelled. Britney's father's attempts were futile and fans were even more interested in why he was trying to cancel the campaign.

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A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Aug 24, 2020 at 6:16pm PDT

For most of the time since Britney's incapacitation, her father Jamie Spears has managed her entire estate, for which he receives $100,000 a year. Last year, however, he temporarily stepped down for health reasons and was replaced by Jodi Montgomery, Britney's manager. The pop singer rebelled against the guardianship this year and filed a petition to have it revoked. The judge ruled that the verdict won't come until 2021 at the earliest, and until then, the guardianship will continue.

While it's not entirely clear why Britney applied to have the guardianship revoked, a court ruled earlier this year that the singer is not yet capable of making her own decisions. On the other hand, she was able to play 248 concerts between 2013 and 2017 and was paid $500,000 for each one. According to some court experts, it is unusual for someone so young and hardworking to be subject to guardianship and under constant scrutiny. Every purchase Britney makes is recorded in court documents. Even a routine coffee purchase.

The growing #freebritney movement believes the singer is being exploited and is trying to help her. Her father is fighting back against these claims, saying he cares about his children and family. For Britney and her fortune worth 59 million (2018 figure), he reportedly wants only the best for her. He urges the media to stay out of matters concerning his daughter as it is a private matter.

The initiative has now taken off, especially since Britney has once again found herself in treatment. Supposedly because she has to cope with the stress that her father's illness is causing her. Many fans don't believe this theory and even chanted and protested with #freebritney signs outside the sanatorium where she was staying.

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A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Jul 14, 2020 at 4:43pm PDT

Fans are also worried about her mental health due to her strange social media posts. In one video you can see her practicing yoga, in another she was celebrating a flower arrangement or pacing back and forth in one place for two minutes. In one of the dozens of bizarre videos, she walks through a door frame and pretends to walk on a red carpet. Fans ask her in posts if everything is okay and if she needs help.