"Framing Britney Spears", a new documentary produced by the New York Times, looks back on her career and her being put under guardianship by her father. Free Britney!
If you are between 25 and 35, Britney Spears is THE star of your childhood, who followed you into your teens. The American began her career at the Mickey Mouse Club at age 11, along with Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake. Not content with dating the latter, a feat for many young girls of the day, she launched her career as a solo singer at age 17. Baby one more time is a worldwide triumph and we discover all around the globe this young blonde girl with an ultra-bright smile and sexy choreography. The success is dazzling. In her twenties, like many stars of the 2000s, she was chased by the press, and her panteless outings with the heiress Hilton were flashed by paparazzi. Until that evening in February 2007 when the singer stuck in the stretchers and literally freaked out. Pictures of Brit-Brit shaving her head are going around the world. Some of his fans take his defense, including internet user Chris Crocke, who will become famous for his tragic "Leave Britney Alone!", shared on the Web.
It is the start of a descent into hell for the star, who loses custody of her children and is placed under her father's care due to a then-secret psychiatric disorder. This is what the new American documentary Framing Britney Spears relates: the taking of power of the star's relatives over his life. In fact, this severe supervision was supposed to end in 2009. It has been extended and it seems to have been reinforced over the years. So much so that a movement demanding his release came together in 2009 on social networks. Supporters of "Free Britney" are even backed by the ACLU, America's powerful civil rights association. We understand better the title of the docu, which can be translated as "Drawing up the portrait", but also, "Trapping Britney".
"The way she was treated is disgusting"
Why this legal battle around the star? How was it and is it still treated today? One of the analysts interviewed in this documentary, among those close to the star who is never heard of, simply describes her fate as "disgusting". It must be said that since her beginnings, the one who is an outstanding performer and a businesswoman has been considered a nice, rather silly blonde. From the moment she rebels, those around her take advantage of her psychological troubles to take control of her life. Her bodyguards allow the paparazzi to take pictures the night she shaves her head. One of them will even invent a story of sexual harassment on the part of the star to extract money from him (the courts will dismiss Fernando Flores, calling him an opportunist). Her father, who manages the guardianship, takes back control of his daughter's life, putting her career and image back on its feet, securing contracts to perform. Britney goes on to concerts, releases several albums and once again seems to be the mistress of everything related to performance. But still not in his life!
Because the star has no control over his fortune, no more than over his daily life: his father validates until his outings and his discussions with his doctors. However, no official diagnosis of illness or serious disorders justifying such supervision has been made on the star. Britney remains a minor from a legal point of view, but is this consistent in view, in particular, of her current career?
The singer has tried to get rid of this tutelage, but justice has so far always sided with her father. The star's lawyers, however, highlight the deterioration of relations between the father and his daughter. The truth revealed by this new documentary is that of real psychic troubles, but instrumentalised, magnified, to keep control over Britney Spears. His bullshit is far away, and finally understandable after such intense media pressure at his age. It is possible that in addition to wanting to maintain control over her fortune, her relatives intend to prevent any change in the singer's marketing image and the emergence of loopholes. But isn't that what makes her so damn touching?