However, besides the catchy tunes, the scandalous music videos and the enigmatic aura that she continues to exude with her pop stardom legacy, Britney Spears has been prevalent recently for reasons that one can experience, “pop star” or civilian.

This Support Space article is here to tell you that even the biggest stars in the world can face similar challenges as you.

TW: This Article will discuss domestic violence, particularly, financial domestic violence and familial abuse. If there are any struggles raised in this support piece that relate to you we encourage you to seek the relevant support available to you. If you are comfortable, keep reading.

What is the #FreeBritney movement?

The Free Britney (or #FreeBritney) movement is a public movement, predominantly amongst fans and the greater, “virtual” world, that has the aim of providing Britney with autonomy from her ongoing conservatorship which began after her most-publicised “breakdown” of 2007 – 2008.

If pop culture and celebrity fandom is not your “thing”, Britney experienced a heavily publicised media sh*tstorm in 2007 – 2008 focusing on her perils of becoming a new mother in the lights of Hollywood.

Motherhood is not easy.

I’m not sure about you, and I’m not a Mother myself, but I come across clients every day who find the transition to motherhood a journey full of uncertainty, stress and depression.

Parenthood is something that understandably, can be a difficult transition period for many. Each person experiences this adjustment in different ways.

Imagine if life, just how you knew it, was instantly subverted because of another living being that popped outside of you that suddenly you need to raise, feed and grow, many times, on your own or with little assistance from others.

Now imagine that with your constant move surveilled and watched by the public gaze, every single minute.

Every. Single. Minute.

On television screens, news channels, Youtube, on the stage, on magazine covers, by other so-called “critics” who mind you, should not even be critiquing your parenting style in the first place.

The reason why I raise this is because Britney is rumoured to have fallen victim to Post Natal Depression. Post Natal Depression, or PND, is the term given to depression that developments after the birth of a baby. It affects about 1 in every 7 women who give birth in Australia every year.

For more information on Post Natal Depression, visit the organisation PANDA’s website here.

After Britney gave birth to her first child, Britney who was reported to have been experiencing PND at the time, was forced to have every facet of her parenting style criticised by mainstream media, assisted by the mass paparazzi bombarde that she had to endure, simply due to her celebrity status.

Britney was also in the middle of a separation with her then-husband, Kevin Federline.

The divorce was highly publicised and Britney was plastered on the front of numerous magazine covers for her “slip-ups” including tripping over a footpath with her son in her arms (surrounded by paparazzi) and driving with her child in her lap in her car (again, snapshotted by paparazzi).

Soon after, Britney began to experience the perils of fame, having her every move exploited by the media in an attempt to cancel her, including, dying her hair black (who knew this would be such a bad thing?), shaving her head (again, it’s her hair), fumbling on the MTV VMAS stage during her performance of her Blackout debut single, Gimme More (immediately after being ridiculed by the HOST on stage) and her infamous breakdown wherein she locked herself in a bathroom with her children crying with an ambulance collecting her from her Los Angeles residence and placing her on a psychiatric hold.

Yes, the paparazzi were outside her home at the time and there are pictures of Britney on a stretcher. That in itself is highly concerning.

After being placed on a psychiatric hold, Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, who undoubtedly and publicly stated by Britney herself, had minimal existence in Britney’s life prior to 2007, filed with the Californian Courts to be Conservator of Britney’s person and estate.

What does this mean?

In the United States, conservatorship is  the appointment of a guardian or a protector by a judge to manage the financial affairs and/or daily life of another person due to old age or physical or mental limitations. This would make Britney the “conservatee” and her father the “conservator”.

The closest thing to a conservatorship in the Australian law would be an Enduring Power of Attorney for financial affairs and an Enduring Guardianship for personal affairs.

Anyhow, Britney consented to this on the premise that it was temporary. Jamie Spears might very well have feared for Britney’s life, as anyone would in such a circumstance, and decided that this was the best intervention method. This is a point of argument amongst many individuals, Britney fans or legal professionals. It’s no doubt however, that Britney’s transition to parenthood and suffering from Post Natal Depression was exacerbated greatly by the mass paparazzi presence that she endured at the time.

Leaked Court documents have illuminated that Britney was placed under the conservatorship due to “dementia”.

This then ignited a period of transition for Britney – from falling pop star and “bad mother” close to the brink of death to a comeback that would signify her phoenix-like rising from the ashes.

After the conservatorship was in place, Britney was forced to work hard to reclaim her comeback. Less than a year later, Britney was back in the media with her new album “Circus” and accompanying music videos such as Womanizer (which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 1000), album-single Circus, If U Seek Amy and Radar, the critically-acclaimed, worldwide Circus tour and significant media appearances all over the world.

Less than a year later after being placed in a psychiatric hold, Britney was forced to be plastered on the very same medium that created her downfall.

There is actually a leaked audio of a phone call that Britney made soon after the conservatorship was ordered, wherein she raised concern as to the impact of the conservatorship on her “custody” with her children.