The names in recent entertainment headlines have many of us flashing back a few decades.
One of the many 2000s superstars all over the news is Britney Spears.
While I was probably a little young to fully appreciate her superstardom, I clearly remember just how iconic the singer behind “Oops… I Did it Again” was.
The song was one of the tracks on the first CD I ever had: a dual record with Britney Spears and NSYNC. I knew all of Britney’s lyrics and dance moves just like pretty much any girl around my age.
20 years later, it’s not her musical fame that’s garnering attention.
Even if you’re not following it closely, it’s been impossible not to hear news surrounding the battle Britney Spears has been waging against her conservatorship and, more specifically, her father.
In 2008, after a very public mental health episode, Spears’ father was named her conservator and granted full control over her finances and her person.
After years of relentless criticism and scrutiny, I’m sure Spears needed and deserved help improving her mental health.
Without the opportunity most of us have to experience our struggles privately, it’s probably true that Spears could have benefited from having an advocate that would stand up for her, protect her and help her find healing.
She has insisted that the conservatorship has done anything but that.
In recent court hearings, Spears said she has been forced to take drugs against her will, prevented from marrying or having more children and forced to perform when she didn’t want to.
She explicitly called her conservatorship abusive and pleaded to have her life back.
Very few know the full reasoning why Spears’ father was granted control over his daughter’s life.
With medical records sealed, the details of most conservatorships or guardianships are not made public – for good reason.
Regardless of the massive interest surrounding her case, we really don’t deserve to know the personal, inner workings of Spears’ life and health.
Still, even a necessary level of secrecy naturally restricts the degree of oversight.
I would like to believe that most conservatorships operate the way they were intended to and truly help their subjects live happier and healthier lives.
But shouldn’t we believe the people inside of them when they say otherwise?
Spears has become the posterchild of what can happen when potentially malicious characters are granted control over another person.
Her situation is extremely unfortunate, but I do think she is lucky in that a large group of motivated people are campaigning on her behalf.
Without documentaries, podcasts, blogs and hordes of people chanting “Free Britney” outside courthouses, I’m curious how inclined judges would have been to lend credence to her claims.
If we’ve already deemed someone incompetent, it seems that we’re taking not just their autonomy but their credibility.
The judge overseeing Spears’ case suspended her father from her conservatorship this week.
While the arrangement is still in place, it seems as though Spears is one of the few who may actually be granted a request to control her own life again.
I know her situation is not the same as many others in conservatorships or guardianships.
But I hope it reminds those in power of why they were created to begin with: doing what is truly best for people in need.
-Kayleen Petrovia is a reporter for the Journal-Tribune.