A legal arrangement set up in the wake of a mental health crisis has left Britney Spears with little control of her personal or professional affairs. Laura Snapes and Sam Levin describe how she’s challenging the situation in court
Britney Spears shot to global fame in 1998 with her hit single Baby One More Time, released when she was 17. It was the first of a string of hits that made her a millionaire many times over. But the rapid rise came not without cost for her personal life. A mental health crisis led to a very public breakdown, and in 2008 she was placed under a a conservatorship which, overseen by her father, took control of her finances and many of her personal affairs.
The Guardian’s deputy
music editor, Laura Snapes, tells Rachel Humphreys about growing up as a fan of Britney and following her career with increasing concern for her wellbeing. The Guardian’s US correspondent Sam Levin describes the courtroom hearing last week in which Britney Spears pressed her case for having the conditions of her conservatorship lifted.