Photo Credit: Britney Spears/Instagram
Britney Spears confirmed to the world what many had believed and more importantly, what was revealed in the documentary about her being abused. She detailed about how her father was putting her on lithium, put her on birth control and footage of her performing with a 102 degree fever has recently come out. The producer of the groundbreaking documentary Framing Britney Spears, Samantha Stark spoke to Entertainment Weekly about how she’s concerned these revelations from Spears may lead to retaliation.
“For me, it’s such a strange experience,” New York Times journalist Samantha Stark, tells EW of listening to Spears’ testimony. “I’ve spent, now, a year kind of breathing Britney Spears without ever meeting her or knowing her. Hearing her actually speak and say all this felt so powerful, because now we can’t deny what came out of her mouth or how she feels. And it’s been a year of struggling with wondering how she feels.”
She elaborated on her concern saying, “She said all of that, and she left in the exact same position she started,” Stark says. “Where are the safeguards for retaliation? If someone says, ‘I get punished when I speak up for myself,’ why wasn’t there an immediate action plan put into place to make sure Britney didn’t get retaliated against? And what does that mean for all the other people who are in conservatorships?”
Stark spoke about the flaws in the justice system saying, “The thing that surprised me the most was that no one acknowledged these allegations of abuse or said that the next step would be looking into them. It points out clear issues with the conservatorship system, because why is there no process in place that would trigger whatever happens next, after something as extraordinary and outrageous as what happened in the court [on Wednesday] happened?”
It’s hard to imagine a woman almost 40 years old asking for her independence being retaliated against who has said she can’t as much as ride in a car with her boyfriend alone be punished for speaking out… especially when she’s worked so hard to be as successful on her own over the years. We certainly hope that Stark isn’t right.
