In a since-removed Instagram post on Saturday, Britney Spears wrote a lengthy message criticizing the handful of documentaries that have been made about her in recent years. Though the global pop star didn’t name drop any specific titles, it’s likely she was referring to The New York Times’ “Framing Britney Spears” from February 2021 and Netflix’s “Britney vs. Spears,” which debuted in September 2021.
Both films delve into Spears’ legal efforts against her father, Jamie Spears, to end her 13-year conservatorship, which she successfully did in November 2021. They also explore the gendered media depiction of the star throughout her career.
“”Come on, seriously, is it honestly legal to do that many documentaries about someone without their blessing at all??!” she wrote in the removed social media post, per BuzzFeed. “I’ve never seen that many documentaries done on a person…Will Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lopez. Not one person on the face of this earth would people — a network, TV production, or anyone for that matter — dig up that much negative footage and do hour specials claiming it’s ‘HELPING ME.’ REALLY??? It was the most insulting thing I ever saw in my life and every person I have spoken to has said it’s why the conservatorship ended … REALLY ???”
Spears described the films as harboring an “embarrassing tone” while questioning why “people think it’s legal to completely humiliate me.” She also argued that it was her testimony throughout her lengthy legal battle that ultimately granted her independence and not the attention garnered by these documentaries.
“I just want to know how are all these people saying it helped me when I feel by with just my mouth and my WORD and what I said in my testimony to the judge — THAT said it all…that would be ENOUGH.
“But not in America!!,” she continued. “Every person jumps on board with these heartbreaking documentaries and forget the 13 years in my conservatorship…making up for some of my past they literally have no remorse at all. They have always treated me like that; literally, that’s exactly what my family did to me.”
Ultimately, Spears says America “has been one thing and one thing only to me – a bully.”
