After 13 years, the conservatorship that controlled all aspects of her life ended on November 21, 2021.
Her father, Jamie Spears, petitioned for the conservatorship and had the final say over her health, career and estate for the majority of the time that she was under the conservatorship.
But the “Free Britney” movement helped propel her case into the public eye and she was finally heard speaking about what she had endured for those 13 years.
Since finding her freedom, Spears has become much more vocal on social media, including posting provocative nudes and publicly slamming her family in long statements.
This new, candid version of Spears could be doing her reputation damage, according to a public relations expert.
“Britney Spears is in desperate need of an image makeover. I think she should hire a PR agency that particularly specializes in crisis communications,” Ryan McCormick, managing partner at Goldman McCormick Public Relations, told Newsweek.
“There are a lot of terrific aspects about Spears that should be brought to the public light. Not to say that people won’t still be interested in the negative headlines but, if there isn’t any shift in the consistency of these less than flattering headlines about her, it becomes much harder for Spears and her brand to recover and once again be seen as positive in the court of public opinion.”
A Beverly Hills psychiatrist has also noticed Spears’ changed behavior since the conservatorship ended and advised “she should be seeing a psychiatrist for psychotherapy and medication management at least three times a week.”
“Though I have not examined Britney Spears, I have observed her closely now for approximately 15 years. Basically, the problem is that Britney has not wanted to acknowledge to herself that she has a mental illness,” Carole Lieberman told Newsweek.
Lieberman added: “Since her conservatorship ended, Britney, in a less supervised and more manic state, has been pushing the envelope, doing increasingly inappropriate things to get attention - such as more seductive dances, and less self-censored public statements - and these are only the tip of the iceberg.”
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny ruled for Spears’ conservatorship to be ended a year ago. After the ruling, Spears took to Instagram. “I love my fans so much, it’s crazy!!!” she wrote. “I think I’m gonna cry the rest of the day!!!! Best day ever…”
Since the conservatorship ended, Spears has frequently lashed out her family for not supporting her and revealed some of the more shocking conditions she faced during the 13 years.
She recently revealed how she used an ATM card to withdraw her own cash in an open letter to her father in which she said she lived under his “slave treatment.”
Spears also claimed she had to shower with the door open, was not allowed to drink coffee, forced onto mental health medications, couldn’t spend her own money and even had an IUD contraceptive device implanted against her will to prevent her from becoming pregnant.
Spears was placed in the conservatorship by Jamie, and then business manager, Lou M. Taylor after a series of mental health incidents.
According to Jamie’s lawyers, the conservatorship was “necessary to protect Britney in every sense of the word.”
“Her life was in shambles, and she was in physical, emotional, mental and financial distress,” they said in 2008.
