What’s the matter with Britney Spears?

It was just so quiet around Britney Spears, the Disney child star of the past. Suddenly the singer (37) is in the news again because of mental problems, hospitalization, and even death threats. What’s the matter with Britney?

She stands in front of a messy background, wears a light-colored crocheted dress and looks into the camera with her dark-rimmed eyes. Britney Spears addresses her 21.7 million followers in a short video message on Instagram. The message of the former child star: No worries, it will be alright.

She put the video online to put an end to speculation. They mainly came to life through an undoubtedly well-intended action by her fans, who set up a kind of liberation operation with the cry #FreeBritney. The reason: Britney’s seriously ill father Jamie would have forced his daughter to be admitted to a clinic in early April.

Britney’s mother Lynne only stirred up the turmoil by ‘liking’ some messages on Instagram from anxious fans who want to give Britney her freedom again. Would there still be coercion? Which is certainly true: Britney presented her Domination in January this year concert series in Las Vegas indefinitely. She reported that she wanted to focus on her father, who had been admitted to the hospital a few months earlier and, according to his daughter, had almost died.

The bond between father and daughter is close, and not just private. After Britney had collapsed mentally (she shaved her head with Kevin Federline, lost custody of their two sons and was eventually admitted), father Jamie and lawyer Andrew Wallet took control of Spears’ possessions. Last month Wallet withdrew from this so that her father now has full control.

Black years

The stress about her father became Britney, who started playing at The Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 12, meanwhile too much. The singer of hits such as… Baby one more time, Toxic and Oops! … I did it again was admitted for 30 days this month in a clinic where she was cared for mentally and physically. According to American media, a wrong combination of drugs would have aggravated her problems.

That was reminiscent of the darkest years of the singer, roughly between 2007 and 2012. She argued with her (former) manager, struggled with depression and lost herself to drugs and alcohol. A period that remains forever connected with the photos in which she shaves off her long hair and in which she smashes a bald head with an umbrella on a photographer’s car. Since 2013 it has been quiet around Spears, who mainly made the news through announcements of her shows in gambling paradise Las Vegas, of which a new series was to start this year.

That does not happen for the time being, but is not a cause for concern, according to the singer herself. “The stories about my admission to a clinic went completely out of hand,” she writes with her video message on Instagram. “There are rumors and even death threats, addressed to my family members and my team,” she writes.

Grateful

These threats are probably related to the #FreeBritney promotion. According to Spears, old emails circulate that are supposedly written by her, but that belongs to her former manager Sam Lutfi. In her worst years, she fought fights with him in court. “Those fake emails were prepared by Sam years ago, he pretended to be me and communicated with my team from a fake address.”

Spears now asks her fans for peace and privacy: no more #FreeBritney. “I try to take a moment for myself, but that makes it a lot harder. Do not believe everything you read and hear. Your love and dedication is wonderful, but what I need now is a little privacy to deal with difficult things in my life. If you can do that, I will be eternally grateful to you.”