You're not supposed to say it – but her recent Instagram videos are cause for concern
Her series of erratic Instagram posts this week, in which she dances provocatively in front of the camera in scant clothing and smudged makeup, can no longer be explained away as her “having fun” or expressing herself.
They have been described by various media outlets as “bizarre” and “cryptic”; headlines have coyly commented on her “nip slip” and “rock hard abs”. Where is the humanity? The first step is to stop skirting around the point and tell the truth: these videos are disturbing and worrying, and the fact they are being posted at all, to her 42 million followers, is evidence that Spears does not have sufficient mental health support in her inner circle. Why are her team – or her friends, for that matter – not intervening? Well, perhaps for the same reason that we are not allowed to talk about it: because previous attempts to help her turned out to be covert methods of control. In 2008, after a public breakdown the previous year, she was placed under a conservatorship at the hands of her father – a legal mechanism in the US that is ostensibly supposed to protect those not of sound mind.Over the 13 years that the conservatorship was in place, it became clear that in Britney’s case, she had little power over her money, her body, her career or her life – and in 2020 became the subject of a huge online campaign to “Free Britney”, which culminated in a court case that lifted the contract in 2021. This was undoubtedly a victory. But so strong was the public’s feeling about her right to be her own woman that it has become taboo to say – or even think – that her behaviour is anything other than a totally innocuous expression of that newfound freedom. When some fans expressed concern last year when she danced in front of the camera with knives, others doubled down. But I think I speak for many fans and onlookers when I say that the recent videos, where her hair hangs matted, her eyes wide, in which she accidentally exposes her breasts and grimaces at the camera through smudged lipstick, demonstrate that she might be as at risk of harm without intervention as she is with it. We all seem to have forgotten that there is a middle ground between a harmful, exploitative conservatorship and turning a blind eye. Fans find themselves in a deeply uncomfortable position. Britney is – and was in 2007 – subject to the cruelties of a judgmental, surveillant celebrity culture. Yet in trying to counteract the extremes of the 2000s tabloids, celebrity culture in the social media age has become a bundle of contradictions.“Be kind” maxims abound to counteract judgement and exploitation – but here we all are, simultaneously caring like celebrities are our friends and gawping like they’re animals in a zoo. Comments are turned off on Britney’s recent videos, but hundreds of thousands of people have liked them. On Reddit, fans war over whether she is living her best life or in urgent need of help.Of course, we don’t really know her, and of course, we are only seeing what she chooses to post on social media. But can we not all use our common sense? This is a star whose story is well worn: astronomically famous since her teen years, sexualised and objectified more than any other star in history before she turned 18, under the immense scrutiny of early 2000s paparazzi culture, financially exploited by her own family, with alcohol issues and multiple divorces, estranged from her children. This is all before we recognise the fact that just a few weeks ago she sold the rights to her entire musical catalogue for $200m. The least we can do is acknowledge the reality of all that and what we are now seeing. If the Free Britney movement proved anything, it’s that public awareness and compassion can go a long way in helping. Social media has been revolutionary in enabling celebrities to tell their own stories. This self-ownership serves as armour, and helps us to see them as human beings, not objects – suddenly we are not commenting on an abstract image inmagazine but on somebody standing right in front of us. But the idea that we mustn’t judge has also become an insidious excuse for detachment and dispassion.This is a point of tension when it comes to body image and the current Ozempic epidemic in Hollywood – we are not supposed to say when Ariana Grande or Emma Stone look shockingly thin, because that would be “body shaming”. Take Katie Price, for example, who posts often on social media looking incredibly thin and unwell. There are plenty of people being cruel, a few expressing concern – yet the top comment on her pinned Instagram post in which she shoves her overly augmented breasts to the camera says: “The people slating this woman for HER choices … surely you should be asking yourselves is it ok at your big old age to be saying nasty things to people on the internet?” “HER choices” – this is the part that you’re not allowed to criticise. Because in the case of Britney, those are the same choices, or the same right to choose, that was taken away. But when someone in the public eye is behaving in a way that is apparently self-destructive, surely we can see their ability to make choices has somehow been compromised. Surely our concern for them must override platitudes masquerading as some kind of liberal feminist cause. There must be a middle ground where reality is allowed to be acknowledged in a neutral way. No, we cannot directly help Britney, take her to the doctor, sit her down and talk gently, give her a hug or make her a cup of tea. But the denial of what’s actually happening is an active, not a passive, harm. People who have already been destroyed by a vicious celebrity culture are now becoming victims of its insidious new iteration. Britney’s dances are not fun or sexy. They are terrifying and deeply sad, and everyone watching is accountable.TASTE TESTANNA BOTTING
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