"I worked seven days a week, no days off, which in California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking. Making anyone work against their will, taking all their possessions away — credit card, cash, phone passport — and placing them in a home where they work with the people who live with them. They all lived in the house with me, the nurses, the 24-7 security. There was one chef that came there and cooked for me daily during the weekdays. They watched me change every day — morning, noon and night. I had no privacy, I get eight gallons of blood a week... ... I’ve lied and told the whole world 'I’m okay. And I’m happy.' It’s a lie. ...I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. You know, fake it till you make it. But now I’m telling you the truth. Okay? I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry. It’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day...."
From "Read Britney Spears’ Full Statement Against Conservatorship: ‘I Am Traumatized’" (Variety).
"I deserve changes. I was told I have to sit down and be evaluated. Again. If I want to end the conservatorship, ma’am, I didn’t know I could [contest] the conservatorship.... But honestly, but I don’t think I owe anyone to be evaluated. I’ve done more than enough. I don’t feel like I should even be in room with anyone to offend me by trying to question my capacity of intelligence, whether I need to be in this stupid conservatorship or not. I’ve done more than enough. I don’t owe these people anything — me, the one that has roofed and fed tons of people on tour on the road. It’s embarrassing and demoralizing.... I don’t feel like I can live a full life I don’t own. I don’t owe them to go see a man I don’t know and share him my problems. I don’t even believe in therapy. I always think you take it to God. I want to end the conservatorship without being evaluated.... I deserve to have a life. I’ve worked my whole life. I deserve to have a two to three year break and just, you know, do what I want to do. But I do feel like there is a crunch here. And I feel open and I’m okay to talk to you today about it. But I wish I could stay with you on the phone forever, because when I get off the phone with you, all of a sudden all I hear all these knows — no, no, no. And then all of a sudden I get I feel ganged up on and I feel bullied and I feel left out and alone. And I’m tired of feeling alone. I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does, by having a child, a family, any of those things, and more so. And that’s all I wanted to say to you. Thank you so much for letting me speak to you today."
I feel sorry for her and for the people who are trying to help her, if indeed they are decent, honest people. It's hard to judge the accusations because it seems that she has distorted thinking.
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John writes:
You know, if she were a homeless crack whore, the courts would let her do what she wanted, and woe betide anyone who tried to limit her freedom.
But since she is a productive person, the system fights to the death to keep her in harness.
Kind of a fable for what’s being done to the country as a whole.
Jake writes:
“I feel sorry for her and for the people who are trying to help her, if indeed they are decent, honest people. It's hard to judge the accusations because it seems that she has distorted thinking.”
Man. I read the transcript and thought the exact same thing.
Assistant Village Idiot writes:
Nothing she wrote gave any evidence that she could manage her life now, only statements that she feels things, thinks she deserves to be out of conservatorship, works hard, and doesn't like others being in control of her life.
I was a psychiatric social worker in an acute state facility for forty years. I submitted applications for guardianship, testified at guardianships, explained guardianships, taught other professionals about guardianships. Nobody likes having a guardian. But once you have one, your job is to prove that you don't need one anymore, not just tell everyone it sucks. She doesn't get this. Courts need evidence, not feelings.
In a related matter, patients would complain that they should be discharged or should have increased freedom to move about the facility, citing how long they had been at the hospital as evidence. It was one of the many Wyman rules of experience: "If you are using the length of your stay as a reason, it shows you still don't get it. Safety is the only issue."
Tim writes:
"It is Kafkaesque. First, she is an adult, and she is a hell of a lot better able to care for herself than the President of the United States right now. She is a victim of the system and her family. Give her the remains of the money she has damned well earned, being put to work in her early teens. If she spends it, well, it is hers to spend. Everyone has the right to go to hell they way they want to, and the courts need to get the hell out of her business, as she seems to be perfectly functional."
MikeR writes:
Yeah: I have two close family members with (occasional) manic-depressive psychosis, and this sounds perfectly familiar. A manic phase with delusions. It will pass, but in the meantime she cannot possibly make safe decisions for herself - as you can hear from her words.
If they do let her out, please let me know right away, because that would be a good time to talk her into giving me all her money. My son built close to $10,000 in debt in an amazingly short time. Britney Spears could add another four zeroes.
@Tim "she is a hell of a lot better able to care for herself than the President of the United States right now."
No, she isn't. She is right now dangerously ill and incompetent, and because it's in her mind it's harder to take seriously than if she had a tumor or was in a body cast. A lot of manic people kill themselves, and a lot of others burn through all their resources and keep right on going. My son is just now done picking up most of the pieces, a couple of years later. The police record will take longer to heal, and we're lucky it wasn't a whole lot worse.
cubanbob writes:
"The conservatorship is for whose benefit? Spears is rather wealthy and wealthy from her own work and she is an adult, a mother and doesn't seem to be unable to reasonably care for herself and her kids. What she has is a train to pull of people living off her. people whose interests are not exactly aligned with hers. If there is some of issue that she can't handle money, that is easy enough to resolve. Create a trust(s) for her and have a corporate trustee invest the money and give her the net income."
Brian writes:
Appalled by the lack of sympathy for Britney. I'm also appalled that so many people seem okay with the idea of depriving a woman of basic fundamental rights, based on... nothing.
The idea that she might need conservatorship is simply paternalistic, sexist nonsense. No one cared that Elton John spent the equivalent of $50 million (U.S.) in two years-- $293,000 of it on flowers. Of course, they might have cared, but not to the point where they support the idea that someone else should be running his life.
She had a public meltdown, to be sure. But that was over a decade ago. Since the conservatorship, she's toured the world as a performer, shot tv commercials, starred in a television show, recorded songs, performed in music videos and done a residency in Vegas. Someone who is capable of all that is certainly capable of running his or her own life. (Do any of these people have any idea of how hard it is to perform, night after night? Do they have any idea that none of this could be accomplished if the performer weren't lucid and in control?)
What this amounts to is slavery.
No one would suggest that Johnny Depp or Elton John or Nicholas Cage should have someone else look after their fortunes. If anyone would suggest it, I doubt that any judge would go along with the gag. This has nothing to do with protecting the money she accrued prior to the conservatorship. And, if she is mentally ill or incompetent, then forcing her to do all the labor listed above is criminal exploitation. You can't have it both ways.
Reading her statement, I see no evidence of Britney being incompetent. I see some complex ideas, I see someone fighting for autonomy and arguing rather eloquently for someone who is not a trained attorney, not an essayist, not someone who is expected to be at all eloquent or articulate. I think it is heartbreaking that her initial reluctance to speak out was crushed by her perception that no one would believe her. I think a little rambling and emotion might be expected from someone who has been drugged and held in captivity for over a decade. This is a nightmare.
Assistant Village Idiot writes:
It's fascinating that some commenters are just making up stories in their head about what must be happening, that those around her have bad motives and are sponging off her, and because she chafes under direction, which they identify with, figure she must be fine.
Courts prefer facts, and so do I. Your stories don't have foundation, just assumptions. She has a few red flags in this statement that she is currently manic, starting with the use of "100,000%."
It is difficult to get any kind of conservatorship over an adult, and she had very good attorneys arguing her side of it. It is doubly difficult when money is involved. Do you think it didn't occur to the judge that parents and others might be after her money and looked hard at what their actions were? You don't actually know very much about this process, do you? This isn't some human kidnapping job. She could in fact tour the world and perform even if she was not fully competent. Mentally ill people can do remarkable things when they have some guard rails. We likely are more protective of females than males in many circumstances, and more protective of the young (she was much younger than a Johnny Depp or Charlie Sheen when put under conservatorship). I don't find either of those a bad thing.
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