They’ve been saying “Free Britney” for years. Now the pop star herself is joining the chorus
Lesson summary
Hi everyone, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. Britney Spears hasn’t been a trending topic in a while, but she is in the news again because she appeared in court to ask a judge to terminate her conservatorship, which is the legal arrangement that allows her father to control her money and her life. In today’s lesson, you’ll also learn how to use the phrase “raise awareness.”
This is lesson 381 of Plain English. JR is the producer, as always, and he has uploaded the complete lesson to PlainEnglish.com/381. The rest of the lesson includes the transcript, translations, fast audio, and a how-to video. In today’s video, we show you how to use the word “almost” to round up to a higher number. That’s all at PlainEnglish.com/381. So, let’s dive into today’s content.
Britney Spears petitions to end her conservatorship
For thirteen years, pop megastar Britney Spears has been living under what is called a conservatorship, a legal arrangement that gives another person control over her finances, all her assets, and even her personal activity. In Britney’s case, a judge put Jamie Spears, her father in charge of everything.
But now, the 39-year-old pop star is asking a court to end the conservatorship and hand control of her life back to her.
Let me take a step back and explain how this all got started. Britney Spears was a child star; her acting and singing career started on television as a Mouseketeer, a teen performer on a Disney variety show called the Mickey Mouse Club. From there, she rocketed to stardom as a pop singer and her first two studio albums were global sensations.
But fame took its toll and a variety of personal struggles played out very publicly. She was photographed driving with her infant son, Sean, on her lap instead of in a car seat, calling into question her parenting. She was caught smoking in front of her son, while the four-year-old played with cigarettes. She got divorced. She shaved her head. She was in and out of drug rehabilitation centers. She lost custody of her children. After one drug overdose, she was committed to a psychiatric ward and was held against her will.
Enter the legal system. A California court placed Britney under conservatorship and appointed her father as the conservator. Under California law, if a person is unable to manage their own affairs, a court can appoint another person—a conservator—to be in charge of that individual. There are two types of conservatorships: financial and personal. A financial conservator is in charge of another person’s income, expenses, assets, and debts. A personal conservator is in charge of what the other person does. This can mean a personal conservator has control over health care decisions, living arrangements, and all personal activities. Jamie Spears is both the financial and personal conservator of his almost forty-year-old daughter, Britney.
Conservatorship is a sad but necessary part of the law. It is most often used with the elderly, who can no longer manage their personal or financial affairs as their mental capacities decline. It can be controversial, but it is a way to protect the vulnerable. For this reason, it is far more common and easier to start conservatorship arrangements than to end them. The arrangements usually last for the rest of a person’s life.
But Britney entered conservatorship when she was 26. Yes, she had had a series of personal meltdowns. She needed help and even protection. But she wasn’t mentally disabled. And she wasn’t elderly. The conservatorship may have been necessary at the time, but there’s no reason to think it would be needed for the rest of her life.
Over the years, fans of Britney Spears have argued that she’s being unfairly controlled by her father. The “Free Britney” movement has been raising awareness of this arrangement and advocating on behalf of their hero, Britney. They argue that she’s been able to tour the world, star in television shows, and release multiple albums since the conservatorship began, and well, that’s hardly the track record of someone who can’t manage their own affairs. Despite working, she’s unable to spend a dollar earned without her dad’s permission. And the conservatorship keeps getting extended year after year, even as Britney’s life has stabilized. The pop star herself, however, has been strangely silent about the conservatorship and its impact on her life over the years.
But now Britney Spears is asking a California court to set her free. That’s her right: conservatorship allows the subject to request that the arrangement be terminated. In the hearing, Britney described the degree to which she has been controlled by her father. She spoke in deeply personal terms. She testified that she has an intrauterine device that prevents her from getting pregnant; she’s not allowed to get married; she’s forced to put on performances that she doesn’t want to do; she’s forced to see a therapist that she didn’t choose; she can’t take a break from performing, and all the money from her performances goes to financially support the very people who are controlling her.
She pleaded with the court, saying that she has worked since she was 17 and just wants to take a break—but she can’t because her father won’t allow it. She said that she feels left out, alone, exploited and that she can’t live a full life. The hearing ended without a resolution. The judge said that Britney was courageous for making her statement and that she could submit a formal, written petition to end the arrangement.
Testimony online
I read her full testimony. It’s available online and I’ll link to it at this point in the transcript at PlainEnglish.com/381.
NPR: Read Britney Spears’ Statement To The Court In Her Conservatorship Hearing
It’s powerful stuff. She’s clearly being controlled, in every aspect of her life, by other people. The stuff that got her into this situation—the drugs, the parenting issues—that was thirteen years ago. People deserve a second chance.
I was also struck by the sensation that I’ve seen versions of this story before. I’m watching the Netflix series about Luis Miguel, the Mexican singer. It’s not the same story, but it’s similar. The Selena documentary portrayed a lot of the same issues. Pop stars get so much fame, so much money, so early in their lives. And they don’t have the right kind of support systems they need. In too many cases, the people around them—parents, mentors, whatever—sometimes just get so greedy and controlling that they become hurtful rather than helpful.
There’s a new documentary online, too, called “Framing Britney Spears,” if you want to hear more about this topic.
Great stories make learning English fun
