At only 16 years old, Britney Spears released the hit single “Baby…One More Time” (1998), which launched her career into pop stardom. Often referred to as the “princess of pop,” she is one of the highest-selling musicians in history with her 2000 album Oops!.. I Did it Again holding the record for fastest-selling album for 15 years. She has amassed well over 100 awards throughout her career, including a Grammy for Best Dance Recording for her music video “Toxic” (2003), and countless MTV and Kids’ Choice Awards.
With her fame came intense scrutiny from the public. The paparazzi grasped at any chance to document the teen pop sensation’s every appearance, the line between entertainment and infringement on personal life became completely nonexistent. Spears’s every move was spoon-fed to the public and dissected as though she were an object rather than a person. The most substantial and intense attack from the paparazzi came from Spears’s enormously publicized mental breakdown in 2007. It is now speculated that Spears was suffering from postpartum depression while going through a custody battle, and grief, all worsened by the constant pressure of the paparazzi.
Rather than feeling sympathy, the press and public made Britney the laughingstock of the media with many talk show hosts using her infamous breakdown as a punchline. Comedian Sarah Silverman referred to Spears’s children as the “Most adorable mistakes you will ever see,” at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, coincidentally right after Spears’s disastrous comeback performance of “Gimme More” after publicly breaking down and shaving her head. People laughed and profited off of her, pasting her picture onto magazine covers and crafting up headlines meant to diminish her image. In 2008, Spears was placed under a conservatorship, with her father, Jamie Spears, taking control of all finances, medical, and personal decisions. The most prominent decision made against her consent was being prescribed and forced to take lithium for her bipolar disorder diagnosis.
In 2020, Spears was checked into a mental health facility, which raised the question of whether it was her choice or not. Later, in 2021, followers of Spears were alarmed by the content she was posting on social media. The #FreeBritney movement gained more traction, with many concerned fans and some skeptical viewers. Spears went through countless legal battles until her conservatorship was officially terminated November 12, 2021
Even after being freed from her legal enclosure, Spears was still acting strangely according to social media. The media continued to criticize her, with notable celebrities like Ozzy Osbourne chiming in that he was “fed up of seeing poor old Britney Spears [dancing] on YouTube every day.” (qtd. in Billboard, 2024). When she’s the topic of conversation all of their pity is disguised as empathy, analyzing her actions as if she’s a work of fiction and not a living person.
With Spears’ recent arrest for a suspected DUI on March 4th, the media has been quick to hop back on her story. Only a week later, a documentary episode was released by IMPACT x Nightline on March 12th, which is a review of conversations that have been continuously happening since the #FreeBritney movement took place. Again instead of recognizing that she is also human and is quite obviously struggling, the media takes every chance to analyze and scrutinize her behavior, as if we aren’t aware of everything she has gone through already. When will the media as a whole recognize that it has reached a point where the line between journalism and gossip has been broken? When newspaper pages are flooded with hearsay and examinations that do more harm than good, it feels more like a high school text thread than actual content.
