It’s a disturbing time for Britney fans at the moment.
It was reported by her team a couple of weeks ago she had voluntarily checked herself into a wellness centre, as a means to cope with the grief she’d experienced following the ill health of her father (who recently suffered a ruptured spleen, but has since been in recovery). This medical incident was cited as the reason her new Las Vegas residency had been cancelled, and that she has since been focusing on her ailing father, and receiving therapy for the emotional distress that had caused her.
However horrifying reports have just begun to surface that contrary to these claims, she’s actually been held in a mental health facility, against her will, since JANUARY. It’s been alleged (by a paralegal associated with the firm handling her conservatorship) that her new show was cancelled, and that she’d been committed to this facility, without her consent, as “punishment” for failing to comply with the demands and restrictions placed upon her by her conservators. This includes being forced a cocktail of prescribed drugs she doesn’t want to be taking.
The story is still developing, and it’s difficult to identify the truth from the rumours, which are rapidly gaining momentum. I think speculation about someone’s private mental health information is gross, but it’s left a lot of people feeling helpless and deeply concerned that this 37 year old woman is being controlled and held captive, with no foreseeable end in sight, and with no one fighting for her. Since yesterday, the #freebritney movement has ignited, to bring attention to what is potentially a truly heartbreaking, deeply disturbing reality. These concerns are now beginning to break in mainstream media.
I feel so conflicted even sharing all these details, as the woman deserves her privacy, and to be honest, it’s nobody’s business but hers. But, as someone who Britney has given so much joy to over the years, the least I can do is raise my (small) voice, in the hope it helps spur on this movement. I acknowledge there’s more to every story, and that no outsider has the full picture. But what I do know, as a long-time Britney fan, is that one of her favourite things to do is simply just to drive. This basic freedom, that many of us take for granted, is one of the things that’s been largely denied to her, since being placed in a conservatorship, over 11 years ago.
I felt an impulse to draw this image of Britney last night – hand on the wheel, eyes on the road, taking charge of her life. Delighting in her independence, agency, and freedom.
Britney, I hope you get it soon. X
jacobvanloon
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
titsay
stormborns
