Hi, hivers!
I have a "guilty pleasure" for pop culture and ever since The New York Series Presents released "Framing Britney" the #FreeBritney movement was brought to the world's attention.
But what is it all about? How did it all happen? I grew up in her Pop Princess Era and saw everything happening. But after the last hearing where Britney asked to talk and everything was released the movement gained even more power.
So I decided to write a "Timeline" to this whole mess and how Britney got under a conservatorship.
Britney Spears has been in the spotlight since 1998 when she released her single "Baby One More Time".
When it was 2002 she was considered the biggest teen sensation and had a relationship with Justin Timberlake, from N'SYNC.
In that same year, they broke up and he released his first solo single "Cry Me A River" and uses a model to resemble Britney and the lyrics talk about how she cheated on her. Which rubbed the media the wrong way and in the end he made his career on her back and based on a rumor and she took the media backlash called "a cheater".
Beginnings of 2004, Britney meets Kevin Federline ( Christina Aguilera's ex-backup dancer) in a club and they get married in September of that same year!
One year later, their first child is born.
**2006 **
Now we reach a crucial year of the first signs about the turn her life was going to take.
In February, leaving a Starbucks surrounded by paparazzi Britney was trying to escape as fast as she could, while she was getting in the car, photographers were surrounding and hitting on the car windows so Britney took off as soon as possible, but she had her son sitting on her lap on the driver's spot while driving.
Obviously, those images made the first pages. She spoke about it in June of that same year in an interview.
A couple of months later, in May, she was in New York heading to her car when she tripped and almost fell while holding her son in her arms and blinded by camera flashes.
Once again, paparazzi harassment was involved.
That same day, photos of her were taken while she was crying and cuddling her son in her arms in a restaurant. Pregnant of baby number two.
This has also been spoken about in that same interview I mentioned above.
She has now been portraited as the worst mother ever by the media.
Her second son was also born in September.
By November of 2006, Britney Spears was filing for divorce and Kevin requests their children's custody.
After that, Britney Spears turned into the party girls she became very known phase, but even I've been down that road after a heartbreak.
2007 came up and this year not only marked her for life but also raised a lot of awareness for mental health issues in the industry.
With a public divorce and custody battle ongoing, Kevin used every sensational tabloid cover as proof against Britney.
(image credit: tallypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/10-Reasons-Why-Britney-Spears-Is-A-Living-Legend-4.jpg)
In February, Britney enters a hair salon and asked them to shave her head. As the owner declines the request and turns around looking for guidance from the security, Britney started to shave her own head with the things laying around.
On that day she stated that she was tired of people always touching her and when she saw her shave-headed reflection her thought was how pissed her mother was going to be.
Hours later she went to a tattoo shop and got 2 tattoos done.
(image credit: THE MEGA AGENCY)
Later that month she had an argument with Kevin after he requested the fourth urgent meeting regarding filing for full custody of their children.
After leaving the meeting, her assistant and Britney stopped at a gas station, and with all that happening in her life and with patience running thin for the paparazzi harassment, we got the infamous pictures of shave-headed Britney attacking a paparazzi and a car with an umbrella.
On the next day, after talking to Kevin and him promising that he would back down from full custody if she checked-in in a rehab center, she decided to do it.
She was there for a month until the responsible came forward saying the treatment had been a success.
Unfortunately, she hated every moment she spent there, and during that time she concluded that the responsibility for her stay over, was Larry Rudolph (her agent) and Lynn Spears (her mother).
She believed they were allied to Kevin so they could take her children away from her.
This way she fired all of her team members and went to a Nickelodeon set where they were filming Zoey 101 (where her little sister played the main character) to give her a letter to be delivered to their mother. On the letter was written that from that moment on Britney did not want Lynn to reach out to her in any way, shape, or form.
Without her team and family beside her, she met Sam Lutfi - a self-proclaimed manager/agent and the greatest opportunist in Hollywood.
He promised Britney to help her get her kids back and in a blink of an eye, he was hired.
(Moreover, B.S.'s parents accused Sam of sedating their daughter and letting paparazzi get inside her house).
So he also had a big partaking in this whole mess
SEPTEMBER 2007
What was supposed to be her biggest comeback in the opening act of the VMAs was nothing but a miserable presentation. She was clearly not within herself and the ruthless comments from the media and the public were not helpful at all! On that same night, she had to hear a joke from a comedian saying that Britney's kids "were the sweetest mistakes".
After the presentation, she asked to watch it and hid in a more private area, and stayed there crying alone, until the award show was over.
Was on that same night that the meme "Leave Britney alone" came into our lives.
Nearly one month later (30/10/2007) - Britney releases one of her most iconic albums ever, "Blackout".
December 2007 - she was dating a paparazzi called Adnan Ghalib. He came forward telling the "The Sun" that on Christmas Britney spent the whole time crying, it was desolating for her not having her kids with her.
He even went to say that she was the most unhappy person he ever met in his life.
2008 - THE BIG YEAR
At the beginning of January, Britney was spending her allowed time with her children when Sam Lutfi said to Britney that Kevin's representatives called allowing her to spend more time with the kids that day (which was a lie).
When the tutors showed up at the previously scheduled hour to pick up the boys, Britney was confused, not understanding what was going on. So she called Kevin, had an argument, and refused to let the children go.
Meanwhile, one of Kevin's security members called Lynn Spears (mother) to inform her that he had been able to put pick one of the kids and put it in the back of the car. At that moment Britney grabbed the other boy and locked herself in the bathroom for hours, refusing to get out or let them take her son away from her.
The police were called and soon enough there was this big commotion in front of her house with police cars, ambulances, and helicopters.
After 3 hours, she opened the door.
She was taken to a hospital and stayed there for 72 hours.
There was no other end expected besides losing her children's custody and the right to visit them.
The 28th of January was the first time that Lynn Spears was able to meet her daughter Britney after the letter she sent her.
She says that when she got there she saw Britney completely out of her mind, agitated, disorientated, constantly changing her dog's clothes, and constantly speaking in a childish tone of voice.
When Sam noticed Lynn's dislike towards her daughter's situation, he told her that if she tried to get rid of him, Britney would die and he would piss on her grave.
(This information can be found on the restriction order filled by Britney Spears parents against Sam)
On the 31st of the same month, Sam calls Lynn in a hurry saying that people showed up at Britney's house and they are trying to take her to a mental health institution and she should hurry up getting there.
Another lie, nobody was there.
While Lynn was on her way, Sam told Britney that Lynn was on her way to her house to get her into rehab again.
Another try to shake up the mother-daughter relationship.
Soon enough an ambulance arrived and she was taken to the UCLA facility.
This time, Jamie Spears (father), who was forbidden by Sam to see his own daughter, stepped forward.
When Sam left the room, both Lynn and Jamie started telling the doctors what has been going on and what Sam has done to her.
This marks the moment where Jamie Spears gets the conservatorship over Britney and a restraining order against Sam.
It was the end of an ERA.
