Popstar Madonna weighed in on the ongoing saga surrounding Britney Spears’ conservatorship, likening the arrangement, put in place, ostensibly, because the teen idol was incapable of making her own financial and personal decisions, to “slavery” and blaming the “patriarchy.”
Madonna made the comments on Instagram on Thursday, according to Fox News.
“Give this woman her life back,” Madonna wrote over a photo of herself wearing a Britney Spears tour tee shirt. “Slavery was abolished so long ago!”
Madonna then blamed the “Patriarchy” for keeping Britney subject to a team of lawyers and conservators. Her father, Jamie Spears, runs Britney Spears’ financial affairs but stopped making day-t0-day decisions for his daughter several years ago, according to court records.
“Death to the greedy patriarchy that has been doing this to women for centuries,” Madonna railed. “This is a violation of human rights! Britney we coming to get you out of jail!”
In late June, Spears spoke out in court, asking a Los Angeles County judge to end a 13-year conservatorship that governs everything from how Spears spends her money to how she structures her daily routine. Her statement, read in open court, marked the first time Spears has spoken out on the arrangement.
In her statement to the court, Spears alleged that she has been the subject of abuse. The team of conservators, ostensibly charged with protecting her and her finances, has been taking advantage of the situation.
“I shouldn’t be in a conservatorship if I can work. The laws need to change,” Spears told the court. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. I don’t feel like I can live a full life.”
Last week, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny denied a request to remove Spears’ father “from his role as a conservator of his daughter’s $60 million estate, making official a November request to allow a trust to act as co-conservator of her estate,” according to CNN. That decision, however, was unrelated to Spears’ June request, which will be handled next week, at a hearing on July 14.
Since her testimony, there has been some movement among her conservators. Spears’ father, Jamie, denied a request from his co-conservator, Jodi Montgomery, to use Britney’s funds to cover private security — security Montgomery says she needs because of the public attention the case is now receiving. In addition, “Spears’ lawyer, Samuel Ingham, earlier this week filed court documents to resign as her counsel after 13 years. The singer’s longtime manager, Larry Rudolph, also resigned on Monday after Spears expressed her desire to go on an indefinite performing hiatus,” per Fox.
Spears’ conservatorship has become something of celebrity cause, in addition to Madonna, “Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Halsey, Rose McGowan, Jesse Tyler Furguson and more have all taken to social media to show their support as the hitmaker seeks other avenues to gain her freedom,” according to Fox News.
Madonna’s support for Spears is unsurprising, though. The singer has been “sticking up” for the teen pop idol for years, according to Newsweek. She even defended Spears back in 2008, when Spears was struggling, publicly, with what appeared to be severe mental health issues.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that she was never allowed to have a childhood,” Madonna said at the time. “She didn’t get to grow up and make mistakes privately and try things out and just be a kid and be innocent. She’s been watched, judged, and been under a microscope since she’s been a teenager. It’s hard to evolve that way.”