#FreeBritney Movement.
Written by Preethi Serafina & Nithya Malavan.
Source: Getty Images
The Free Britney (or #FreeBritney) movement is a social media campaign that seeks to free American singer Britney Spears from her ongoing conservatorship, which began in 2008. After claims surrounding Spears' stay in a psychiatric facility surfaced early in the year, the campaign gained traction in 2019.
Britney Spears was placed on three-day psychiatric detention twice in 2008. At the time, she was dealing with personal issues such as her divorce from Kevin Federline, shaving her head, fighting paparazzi, and losing custody of her two sons with Federline. Following the second hold, Spears' father, James "Jamie," petitioned for a temporary conservatorship of Spears, which was later made permanent that same year. Jamie served as Spears' personal affairs conservator as well as co-conservator of her money alongside Andrew Wallet, who took up the job in 2009.
Spears has released four studio albums while under conservatorship, with two of them–Circus and Femme Fatale–earning platinum certification. In 2012, she also served as a judge on the second season of the reality competition shows The X Factor. Spears had a concert engagement in Las Vegas called Britney: Piece of Me from 2013 until 2017. The residency earned more than $137 million. Jamie Lynn Spears, Spears's sister, was appointed trustee of her estate in 2018. Jamie had a colon rupture the following year.
While Spears was originally scheduled to begin her second Las Vegas residency in 2019, the singer announced a hiatus that included the cancellation of the residency in January 2019 due to Jamie's health problems. In March 2019, Wallet resigned from his position as co-conservator after 11 years. Due to stress from Jamie's afflictions, Spears went into a mental health facility that same month.
Source: Reuters
In April 2019, a Spears-centered podcast titled Britney's Gram released a voicemail from an anonymous source claiming to be a former member of Spears' legal team; the source claimed that Jamie cancelled the planned second residency due to Spears refusing to take her medication and that Spears had been involuntarily held in the facility since January after violating a rule that prohibited her from leaving the facility. Following the podcast broadcast, a push to terminate the conservatorship, called #FreeBritney, emerged. Fans demonstrated in front of West Hollywood City Hall, demanding that Spears be released from the psychiatric clinic on April 22. Spears then reassured her followers of her well-being and left the institution later that month. During a hearing in May, Brenda Penny, the case's presiding judge, ordered an "expert evaluation" of the agreement. In September, Federline was granted a restraining order against Jamie following an alleged physical dispute between Jamie and one of his and Spears's sons. Jodi Montgomery, Spears' care manager, took over as her conservator on a temporary basis that same month.
On August 17, 2020, Spears' court-appointed lawyer, Samuel Ingham, communicated to the court Spears' desire to change the conservatorship to reflect her wishes and lifestyle, which included permanently appointing Montgomery as her conservator and replacing Jamie with a fiduciary as her business affairs conservator. Later that month, Penny extended the ongoing agreement until February 2021. Penny approved the family office Bessemer Trust to manage Spears' estate alongside Jamie in November 2020.
Framing Britney Spears, a documentary that chronicled Spears' conservatorship as part of her career, premiered in February 2021. Spears later stated that she "cried for two weeks" and was mortified by her portrayal after viewing portions of the documentary. The New York Times reported in June 2021 that the singer had discreetly worked for years to dissolve the conservatorship.
On June 23, 2021, Spears addressed the court, recounting her experience and calling the conservatorship "abusive." She also declared her desire to choose her own legal representation, marry, and have a child, while requesting that Penny dissolve the conservatorship without further review. Later that month, Bessemer Trust, which had not made any decisions as Spears' estate's co-conservator, resigned due to her objections to the conservatorship. Larry Rudolph and Ingham, who had managed Spears for 25 years and represented her since the conservatorship began, both quit in July. Spears was granted the ability to choose her own lawyer at a hearing later in the month. Penny approved Ingham's replacement with Mathew Rosengart, who said that he would strive to end the conservatorship. Spears used the hashtag #FreeBritney to caption a post on Instagram that same day, after not publicly commenting on the conservatorship for years.
From 2019 through 2020, several celebrities, including singers Cher and Miley Cyrus, as well as media personality Paris Hilton, supported the #FreeBritney campaign. Following Spears' court appearance in June 2021, several celebrities, including singers Mariah Carey and Brandy Norwood, and actress Rose McGowan, openly supported her plea to terminate the conservatorship. Singers Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, both of whom are ex-boyfriends of Britney Spears, have also offered their support. Iggy Azalea, who partnered with Spears in 2015, stated on Twitter that she had "personally encountered the same conduct" from Jamie as Spears claimed.
In July 2021, US Representatives Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Burgess Owens, and Andy Biggs invited Spears to speak before the US Congress concerning her conservatorship. Using Spears as an example, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey Jr. demanded that the US Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice supply them with data on conservatorships so that they may make policy suggestions for the system. After promising to assist Spears in terminating the conservatorship if she so desired, the nonprofit organisation American Civil Liberties Union submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of Spears' wish to choose her own legal representation.
Sources: BBC - Reuters - Bloomberg - Washington Post