Britney Spears rose to fame in 1998 after signing with Jive Records and releasing her first album, “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” Just a year later we see her featured on the cover of Rolling Stones, making it her first time posing for a major magazine.

Spears’ second album, “Oops! … I Did it Again” was released in the early months of 2000. Six years prior, Spears had two children and released her 3rd and 4th albums. 2007 is the infamous year when Spears was found shaving her head in an LA salon. 

Spears loses physical custody of her children a couple of months after the shaving incident and releases her 5th album in the same month. In early 2008 she spent a month in a psych ward then set a record in the “Guinness Book of World Records” as the youngest female artist to have 5 albums debut at number one.

Spears has already been through obstacle after obstacle both emotionally and mentally so while still being in psychiatric care, her father files for conservatorship. The judge reviewing the case granted her father, James Spears, “temporary conservatorship” which gave him control of her home and other liquid assets.

After Spears was released from psychiatric care her parents released a statement about her mental health and the conservatorship was set to expire at the end of the year (2008). On October 28, 2008, the conservatorship was extended again but with no end date.

Spears does not mention the conservatorship until 2016 and in 2019, during her annual hearing, requests that the court end her conservatorship. They reject this request and in 2020, it is extended again until 2021.

Spears addressed the #FreeBritney movement for the first time on September 3, 2020, and the following year, 2021, brought many hurdles for her. Finally, on November 12, 2021, Spears was officially released from the conservatorship making her a free woman for the first time in nearly 14 years.

There have been many opinions from the media and from Spears’ fans about the past decade and a half of her life. For a long time, she was not able to do what she loves because of her father and his fellow co-conservators. 

She has been free for nearly a month and can finally make her own decisions financially, socially, and for her career. Fans hope to see new music from her that she truly wants to make, and I can not wait to see what she does next.