"If I don't work ten hours a day, seven days a week, and no rest, I won't see my kids and my boyfriend." "I was taken to work against my will and taken away all my possessions, credit cards, cash, cell phones, passports..." I couldn't even get out of my own door. ”
"All the staff lived with me, the nurses, the 24/7 bodyguards, and the chef who came to cook for me on one weekday and watched me change naked every morning, middle and evening. I didn't have any privacy and my door couldn't be locked. "I want to be able to get married and have children." But they told me that I couldn't get married, I couldn't have children, and I now had an IUD in my body that prevented me from getting pregnant. ”
Britney Spears with boyfriend Sam Asghari
"I cried on the phone for an hour while my father enjoyed every minute and every second because he loved the feeling of being 1,000% in control of his own daughter, and he loved to death."
The Spears family
"When I tell the world 'I'm fine, I'm happy,' I'm lying. Because I think when this lie is told enough, maybe I can really be happy. Because I kept refusing to accept it, I was shocked and traumatized. "The truth is, I'm not happy, I can't sleep, I'm so angry that I'm going crazy, I'm so depressed, I wash my face with tears every day."
Can you believe it? All of the above comes from the most recognizable person on the planet, "Little Sweet" Britney Spears, herself. Not long ago, Britney attended her first hearing about herself, asking the judge to end her thirteen-year "custody" of her father, Jamie Spears, all from Britney's self-report in court.
Can you imagine? An adult woman in her late forties who has not had any control over her work, life, or property for the past thirteen years. Britney earns $2 million a week from her performances, and she feeds everyone around her on her own, but she herself is limited to $2,000 a week in pocket money.
Why did the last pop superstar of the twentieth century get into such a situation? Earlier this year, The New York Times produced a documentary, "Framing Britney Spears," which you'll learn about what Britney has been through over the years.
She was a small-town girl from Louisiana, and her hometown— Kentwood—was a very small and not-so-wealthy place with a population of just two thousand. If you think about what kind of small place she came from, you can understand that she worked hard from the beginning and really entered the industry step by step.
Britney showed great artistic talent from an early age. She began to learn dance at the age of three, took to the stage in her hometown at the age of five, and later studied gymnastics and vocal music before winning numerous national awards. "I was immersed in my own world... I knew when I was very young what I would do in the future. Britney later said of her childhood ambitions.
When Britney was eight years old, her parents contacted Nancy Carson, a child scout in New York, and Nancy was amazed by Britney's talent and suggested that they move to New York so that Britney could study vocal dance in New York and participate in performances and auditions.
Britney's family wasn't wealthy, and they even took the train to New York because they couldn't afford a plane ticket. But for the sake of her children's future, Britney's mother, Lynne Spears, moved to New York with her daughter and rented a small apartment. Britney's dad, Jamie Spears, would visit his wife and daughter from time to time, "and he was anxious to see if it was all worth it, to judge whether he had spent it or not." Nancy said this in an interview with the documentary.
Of course, all this effort was not in vain. In 1992, Britney successfully starred in disney's teen talent show "Mickey Mouse Club", which was called the child star factory, and most of the child stars who participated in the show later became superstars, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling all debuted here.
The All New Mickey Mouse Club cast (clockwise from the top mid): Nikki DeLoach, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling, T.J. Fantini and Tate Lynche
Britney loved the show very much, unfortunately, in 1996, this variety show ended, Britney was heartbroken, she had to go back to her hometown, back to the life of an ordinary person, playing in high school, playing on the school basketball team... Of course, she still has a great passion for singing.
Such a talented and hard-working girl will be seen one day. And that day came in 1997, when Britney finally got her own record contract. In January 1999, Britney's first album ,... Baby One More Time" was released and became a hit.
《... Baby One More Time》，1999
How hot was Britney back then? It can be said that no one in the pop music scene at that time could match Britney, "... Baby One More Time sold more than 20 million copies and became the best-selling album for teen artists in history, without one. Britney also became the youngest diamond female singer of all time.
Became the youngest female singer to stay on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Overnight fame did not make Britney forget her original intention, she is still humble and courteous. When she first became famous, the first thing she did was drive around Kentwood at Christmas with a $10,000 billion bill to distribute the money to passers-by. When handing out money, she doesn't say "Hi, I'm Britney" to people, but "Merry Christmas."
She is also a person who knows exactly what she wants. Britney's former dance and tour director said of her – "She was very creative, she was a person who knew exactly what she wanted, and she would bring ideas to life or let her team help her come to fruition." ”“SHE WAS THE BOSS.”
In September 2001, Spears was personally invited by Michael Jackson herself to appear at the 30th anniversary concert of MJ, whose team was looking for Christina Aguilera or Beyoncé, but MJ said: No, I want Britney. That year, Britney was 19 years old, and she had just entered the public eye for three years.
By 2002, 20-year-old Britney was the world's most profitable female singer.
Britney seemed to have everything, looks, talent, fame, and love; she and Justin Timberlake were considered a match made in heaven, but it also pushed her to another cusp.
Despite the great success of her career, Britney is still a traditional girl who longs for a family. Britney once said in an interview that singing and dancing is just her hobby, not the whole of her life, "I expect my future to be with my husband and children, and the music career is secondary." 」 ”
So, there was a very "love brain" of her later. In 2004, Britney and Jason Alexander married in Las Vegas, but the marriage lasted only 55 hours; the same year, Britney became engaged to Kevin Federline, a dancer she had known for only three months, and quickly married and had children.
In the early 21st century, when gossip tabloid culture reached its peak, magazines had ample picture budgets, as an exclusive photo of a celebrity embarrassment often meant high magazine sales. At that time, a single photo of Britney could sell for $1 million. Imagine how many paparazzi would appear in Britney's life every day under such a lure of profit? To share a fun fact: two of the most photographed women in history, Princess Diana and Britney, were once surrounded by more than 70 paparazzi every day.
After Britney gave birth, the paparazzi became more and more crazy, so everyone could see Britney's every move in the gossip tabloids, and Britney became the focus of criticism. Everyone said she was an incompetent mother.
Britney's mom, Lynne, later wrote in her book that she thought her daughter was suffering from postpartum depression. If you think about it in Britney's shoes, you'll see that it's entirely possible: you gave birth to two sons in quick succession, and soon after the second son was born, your marriage went wrong; there were more than 70 people chasing you day and night every day, you wanted to protect your young children from harm in the crowd, and the whole world was accusing you of being a first-time mother, just 25 years old, a bad mother.
Then came britney, who was getting more and more "crazy": singing with the "bad girls" night and night, running out after a day in a drug rehab, shaving her hair, and smashing paparazzi car doors.
However, everyone still only saw what she did, and did not understand why she did it. She shaved her hair because she was fed up with everyone touching her, and on the day she smashed the paparazzi car door with an umbrella, she twice went to her ex-husband's house to ask for a visit to her son, but was denied, and had repeatedly told the paparazzi not to shoot again.
Later, she lost custody of her two children, but Britney, who regarded the children as everything, refused to return her two sons; she was then forcibly admitted to a psychiatric center, and her father Jamie applied to the Los Angeles Superior Court to become Britney's guardian.
Let's first explain what a "conservatorship" is. This is a special legal arrangement, usually the wards are mostly elderly people who do not have the ability to take care of themselves and are not conscious. The court gives the guardian the right to make decisions on behalf of the ward and to help manage the ward's life and property. I recommend that you go to see the movie "I Care A Lot" starring Pei Chunhua, which shows the problems and loopholes of the Guardianship with a specific story.
So there is the current state of life of Britney that we saw at the beginning of the article. "I should have a life of my own!" I've worked all my life, and now I feel bullied and snubbed, and I feel lonely. I'm tired of feeling lonely. ”
When it comes to Britney, everyone says, "She was beaten badly with a good hand." But whose fault is this?
The gray-haired male host asked 10-year-old Britney, "How beautiful are you, do you have a boyfriend?" "Justin Timberlake publicly teased him about britney's sex life on the show." For a lot of people, you're a contradiction. On the one hand, you look sweet and innocent; on the other hand, you are a sexy creature in underwear. That's a question Britney has been asked by the host on public shows.
Her sexy appearance, her sex life, her failed marriage, and even her failed life are all topics that the media constantly ridicule openly. How many people saw the discrimination and objectification of women that we can clearly see today 20 years ago? Britney's tragedy was never caused by her alone, or even entirely by her lustful father. Society as a whole should be inspired by Britney's story: We can do better.