In 2008, the court placed Britney Spears under a conservatorship with her father, Jamie Spears, who was appointed as her primary conservator. In the beginning, the conservatorship was only intended to last a few days. This then became a multi-month and eventually a permanent affair. In April 2019, the media started a new movement called “Free Britney” in the form of a hashtag (#freebritney). This was to show support for Spears’ release from her father’s control. The hashtag regained popularity on different social media platforms in late 2020. The popularity continued throughout 2021, with many influential personalities showing their support for Britney. Celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus, and Justin Timberlake showed their support for Spears’ release, and in turn, many of their social media followers began to fight alongside Britney. Generation Z as a whole is no stranger to joining together for a common cause, and this is no different. The popular short form video app known as TikTok served as an outlet for many of Spears’ fans and supporters voiced their enraged opinions on her conservatorship.

You may be thinking, what exactly is a conservatorship? A conservatorship is described as a court case in which a person known as a conservatee is appointed as a responsible person or organization to serve as a conservator. This role includes either caring for the physical person or their finances. In this case, Spears faced heavy abuse over her financial assets. The original purpose for this case was Spears’ multiple mental health episodes in the early 2000’s. This garnered concern for Spears’ ability to care for her two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden Federline. As previously stated, the conservatorship was only meant to last a few months. As we see now, there is a serious flaw in the conservatorship system in which the conservator can push the boundaries of their power over their conservatee. Hopefully people can learn from the story of Britney Spears, and the institution of conservatorship can be reformed and improved upon.