The public, on the whole, seemed to delight in the "downfall" of Britney Spears. Looking back, the entire circus was ridiculously sexist and misogynistic. But at the time, all I remember thinking was, "Oh, she's losing it. That Mickey Mouse Club totally messes kids up." I know people are attacking Diane Sawyer for her ridiculous questions towards Spears now, but at the time, Sawyer was asking what everyone wanted to know. Spears' team didn't try to protect her, and I don't remember anyone calling out Sawyer at the time.
I'd never heard Britney Spears's side of the story. I did not even know that she was in a conservatorship--let alone for thirteen years--until recently when it all became news. Spears tells a story of an alcoholic father who took control of her life when she was vulnerable in order for him to make money. Her entire family has been unsupportive for what sounds like her entire life. In fact, it seems everyone around Spears did their best to make themselves money with no concern for her wellbeing.
I did not know everything Spears was going through at the time. Justin Timberlake encouraged Spears to have an abortion and then dumped her only a couple of months later. Then he blamed the breakup on her cheating on him and turned her into the scapegoat. According to Spears, Timberlake cheated on her a number of times during their relationship, and she made out with one person. Then Spears has two kids in two years, her husband leaves her, and in the middle of her postpartum depression, she isn't allowed to see her kids. Her response is understandable. But instead of anyone helping her, she is hounded everywhere, and her family moves to secure her body and money.
I couldn't help but compare Britney Spears and Taylor Swift as I read this book. They're both famous, female artists who have had negative press and sexist assumptions made against them. They've both made comments that they've always tried to be "nice" and come across as "nice." I think the most obvious difference between the two, though, is that Taylor Swift seems to have loving, supportive parents.
I also kept thinking of The School For Good Mothers as I read about Britney Spears trying to play the game in order to spend time with her children. The promise of her kids was dangled in front of her in order to keep her under control while she was also constantly shamed for her perceived wrongs.
Michelle Williams did a very good job in reading this audiobook, and I am glad I was able to hear Britney Spears's side of her story. However, it did feel like something of a work in progress. There was not much detail about what actually happened. I wanted to know how Britney Spears lost custody of her kids in the first place. I assume it was all the "partying" the paparazzi was capturing? But did she have a bad lawyer? Was everyone making assumptions about her based on the paparazzi photos? Even if there were concerns about her, why wouldn't there be visits?
In addition, I didn't feel like I got a good idea of what her life was like under the conservatorship. There were certainly infuriating details, but I didn't get a good idea of what powers she had and how it may have changed throughout the thirteen years of her conservatorship. It does seem like she has had, and may continue to have, struggles with mental illness. And she did go to therapists. Were they helpful at all? Or because she was forced into it and the therapists were hired and directed by her father, did they do more harm than good? How does she feel now? Is she in therapy now? Or is she turned off by therapy after being basically involuntarily committed.
I have heard that Spears is getting divorced from the man she was married to while writing this book. It is probably a hard time for her, and I wish her the best. She bore the brunt of a lot of unfair and sexist attitudes. I think society has improved, at least incrementally, since then, but this book is a reminder that there are real people with real suffering behind our misconceptions and assumptions.
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