So back in the day, for reasons known only to history, I was very much Team Christina (Aguilera if you’re too young to know who she was being compared to) and honestly I have no idea why? Maybe bc Christina was the “underdog” - I don’t know. But you have no idea if you weren’t old enough back then, to understand the freaking pressure Britney Spears was under. She was front page of every gossip rag and in the days before social media, there was no way for her to control the narrative the way today’s young female celebrities. She didn’t get to control her growth or change her image from that sex kitten in a school uniform without a team of god damned publicists who put her in those knee-high socks to fucking begin with.
And when she melted down, I’m not going to lie, we all grabbed the popcorn. I honestly feel guilty about it now. She was a product to be consumed, a flat, one-dimensional image in magazines and television and when she melted down, people lapped it up because the “perfect” Britney (which she never claimed to be, but that didn’t matter) was knocked off her pedestal. And now, with the benefit of time, age, and 20/20 hindsight, I feel fucking guilty.
And honestly, even now the memes about her meltdown and resurgence sometimes get to me because they’ll treat her like she’s a different person or something. But she spent YEARS of her life working with the courts and her dad (it’s her dad right) to come out of the other side of this a good mother and good person who controls her own destiny. And while I wouldn’t usually approve of a long-term guardian ad litem (or whatever is the exact legal set up) for an adult, it has given her the freedom to be the relatively normal human she was never given the chance to be as a child and young adult. She doesn’t have to be the one fighting Kevin Federline about whether $30k/month is enough child support for the boys. She doesn’t have to be the one dealing with the bottom feeders who will inevitably try to take advantage of someone with her history. For the first time, she has the bubble of protection that we should all have and (mostly) had growing up.
And look, she’s flourished. She seems genuinely happy. And you know what I learned from all this, looking back…don’t pick teams.
You can be Team Ariana and Team Demi. The success of one woman doesn’t detract from another. That narrative is damaging to everyone involved. And I love that these younger stars seem to genuinely know that; they may not all be best friends and they get into petty spats, but mostly they control their own narratives and that’s a beautiful thing. So you can say what you want about the “Instagram” models or how celebrity is different now but god damn yes it is and thank freaking god for it. Because the old model sucked.
So, like the celebrities you like, like the music you like, stan for your fandoms, but please, remember Britney Spears. Don’t stan so hard for anyone that you end up contributing to breaking them.
gummygunk
kianamaiart
