By Jillian Miano

Britney Spears was born on December 2nd, 1981, in Kentwood, Louisiana. She’s known for her hit songs such as, Baby, (Hit Me Baby One More Time), Oops I did it again, I’m a Slave 4 U, etc. She is referred to as “The Princess of Pop.” Growing up the American singer had a rough childhood. Her father was an alcoholic, had failed businesses, and couldn’t provide for his family at times. Lynn Spears, Britney Spear’s mom was a schoolteacher. As times got tough, Britney would go into the woods and sing just to escape the hardships of her family. She had an older brother named Bryan and a younger sister named Jamie-Lynn. As a child, the young singer went on a show called Star Search, which was a show like American Idol or The Voice. Spears won the first round that she competed in. Then came the second round, but she lost to a young boy. She went back home to Louisiana and lived a kid life for a little bit. Opportunity knocked when she went on an audition for a Disney show called The Mickey Mouse Club. She winded up booking the job as well as other well-known artists during that time. The show had the cast of Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and herself.

After the show ended, she decided to live a teenage life in Kentwood. Britney had gotten a phone call asking to come to New York City to perform in front of record executives. She was then signed to Jive Records and created her first album. She had
number one hits such as, Baby (Hit Me Baby One More Time), Sometimes, From the Bottom of My Broken Heart, etc. She had won so many awards for that album and immediately went on tour. At the time she was dating Justin Timberlake. They were both working at the time. Justin was in the boy band *NSYNC and Britney was a solo artist. During the time of their relationship Justin was unfaithful to Britney. He was with girls while he was out on tour or while Britney was working tremendously. They had their ups and downs in their relationship. The biggest down that happened was Britney had become pregnant and Justin wasn’t ready to become a father. He made her have an abortion at home by taking a Plan B type pill. She wasn’t brought to the hospital due to the public and paparazzi. As she was crying of pain by the toilet, Justin thought it would be a good idea to strum on a guitar while she was going through this experience.

After the two broke up Justin became a solo artist and came out with his hit song Cry me a River, which happens to be about Britney Spears. He made the songs message to say that she was unfaithful when she only cheated on him once. She was the
number one pop star at the time. He even had someone dressed up as the pop singer in his music video to illustrate that she was the unfaithful one. When the song came out Diane Sawyer immediately wanted to interview Britney, which turned into a shame Britney and defend Justin interview. In that interview, Diane Sawyer had the young singer in tears.

As she was working, she started dated, married, and had two sons with Kevin Federline. Federline became some kind of rapper and was working on his own music. When he saw his rise to fame Kevin started pushing Britney away when she was
pregnant with her second son Jayden James. Her first son Sean Preston was still very little at the time. During the year 2007, the paparazzi deemed her as an unfit mother and were constantly following her wherever she went. In that same year she had gone through her mental breakdown that she shaved her head and used an umbrella as a weapon.

Kevin had taken the kids away from Britney during a custody battle. She was so adamant about not letting go of her kids, she locked her and her son Jayden in a bathroom while being in the house. After she gave Jayden to Kevin an ambulance took
Spears to a mental facility in California. During her time in the mental facility Jamie Spears (Britney’s father) formed a
conservatorship that he was in charge of as well as a new management company. She was like a prisoner.

She was monitored with everything that she did. She had an allowance of $2,000, couldn’t drive her car, wasn’t allowed to have desserts, or even go out freely. This conservatorship lasted for 13 years. As she was in the conservatorship Britney still worked to support her family’s needs and wants. She was still doing tours, making albums, and doing a 3-year Las Vegas residency. During the Las Vegas residency she asked if she could add new numbers or remixes of her songs. She was told no. her family had her life in a prison cell. Britney had her phone calls and text message being read and even had her house bugged by her own family.

It wasn’t until she found the woman in herself when she was in yet another facility against her will, she had found a new lawyer and began to plea her case of conservatorship abuse against her father. That was when the #FreeBritney movement became huge. After 13 years of being a prisoner under her family’s thumb. She was granted freedom. She remarried again, but the two suffered a miscarriage. The two are now divorced, but she is living her life the way a woman should without restrictions.