Britney Spears is no longer a child. She is 39 and as she faces her fortieth birthday, the legal wrangling over her soul continues. Her net worth is in excess of $70 million and she remains a celebrity. Undoubtedly, if she so desired, she could re-launch her career and quickly add millions to the pot.
The most common question Britney Spears must face – and virtually on a daily basis, is if she’s “OK.” She claims she is fine. I am not a psychiatrist, but an ethics speaker and ethics consultant. All I know in terms of Ms. Spears is that for many years she was not fine. Mental illness does not care about fame or fortune. Whether $70 to one’s name or $70 million, mental illness, especially severe mental illness laughs in our faces.
Conservatorship
Due to mental illness, Britney Spears life was placed in conservatorship more than a decade ago. The twice married Spears was once out of control, and photos of her during her most emotionally ill times, attest to her loss of control.
She was an exploited child, teen and adult. It caught up to her and spilled over to her now divorced parents. Her mother and father, run the conservatorship show (though it has been the father who has major input) and the mother (Lynne) battles the father at every turn while Britney is fighting to regain control of the money she earned.
In the latest wrangling, the father is accusing the mother of exploiting the singer’s pain and trauma by releasing a new tell-all book. Meanwhile, the mother is arguing about the legal fees of the estate that now total close to $900,000.
According to the lawsuit of the firm representing the singer and her father:
“Lynne Spears is not acting in the best interests of the Conservatee. She has not been involved in her daughter’s conservatorship until very recently, and she is now raising objections to fees related to matters that she has no knowledge of.”
Both parents have accused one another of exploitation. Lynne has already published two books with Britney joining her mother on one of those projects now, more than 20 years ago. That relationship turned bitter as well.
In addition, Britney has battled her former business manager (there is a restraining order against him).
So, to sum up, the family, the lawyers, the business manager and Britney Spears herself, are bound together – and apart, by a pattern of exploitation, publicity, lawsuits and countersuits. At the center of it all, is a young woman’s fortune – and everyone who is trying to access it.
If mental health and normalcy are the ultimate objectives, it is not going to be achieved. Nothing here is “normal,” and nothing seems “well.”
What is Right, who is Right?
The situation with the Spears is unique, but not unusual. The conservatorship has descended to the point where it is not about Britney Spears at all, but about exploitation and arguments over legal fees. Is the mother wrong for cashing-in on the daughter? Is the father skimming? What about the legal fees which do seem quite excessive?
It does come down to oversite. Is there an absence of oversite as the mother and father battle over the daughter’s estate? Presumably, despite all of her talent, the daughter has not been deemed well enough to handle her own affairs. What then, is the need that all parties have in this situation? Is the need altruistic? It is a hard case to make that case.
How does each participant in this knotted, twisted scenario rationalize their roles?
It leads, invariably to the topic of ethics. Ultimately, who are the ethical eyes for Britney Spears? Who ethically cares for her health and welfare? Who is the ethical gatekeeper of her fortune? Apparently, no one.
I often write about sports ethics where professional athletes, worth fortunes much larger than Britney Spears have retired virtually penniless. How does this ultimately happen? Fraud and scandal indeed happen, but the worst offender is the lack of ethics. Without ethical behavior she could be facing calamity.
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