On Friday, The New York Times/FX documentary Framing Britney Spears debuted, leaving in its aftermath new support for the #FreeBritney movement, disappointment in pop culture’s treatment of young women, and confusion about the legitimacy of her conservatorship and the role of Britney Spears’s father and co-conservator, Jamie Spears. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone is taking their turn talking to tabloids to ensure that opinion is heard. Everyone, it seems, except Britney herself.
But there are “insiders” for that. According to a Page Six source, Spears has watched the documentary and “finally feels like there is light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel,” they said. “There are parts of the film that were too hard and emotional for her to watch—the scenes that describe the most difficult times of her life, the relentless media circus and the harsh focus on her as a young mother. But, she feels, for the first time in many years, that people are on her side and things will get better for her.”
The source also expressed ire towards Britney’s father Jamie Spears, saying, “He is drunk with power over Britney’s life. She wants to work, she wants to make music and perform, but he is too controlling. He has set her up to fail. Britney hasn’t had the proper help she needs to be able to control her own finances, to fully deal with her mental health issues, to be the mother she wants to be,” they continued. “Jamie won’t let her have any freedom or responsibility over her own life. This summer, her father grounded her for three weeks because she dared to meet a friend for a socially-distanced walk on the beach and a heart-to-heart conversation. She’s 39 years old! He doesn’t want her to see her friends, he doesn’t want her to meet other people in the entertainment business, he tells her that everyone has bad intentions for her—when it plainly isn’t true.”
Page Six also reported that Britney “is also quietly working on her own documentary about her life—said in her own words—with a top female filmmaker,” but at this point, there’s no way to verify that.
And lastly, Spears’s ex-husband Kevin Federline has gotten in on the action. His attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, told Page Six, “I think Kevin feels that there seems to be a lot of commotion going on right now, and he trusts that the probate court is going to make orders that they feel are appropriate to protect Britney and her estate… As far as what’s going on with respect to the conservator of the person, he doesn’t have any comment on that. All he cares about is making sure that, whatever the arrangement is, the boys are always safe and their best interest able to be maintained regardless of which parent is in their custodial care.”
Spoken like a lawyer. [Page Six]
Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley’s unexpected engagement shocked even those close to them, a People source said in an interview. “It was a surprise that they got so close so quickly. I mean, it really felt like one day he was with Danica Patrick, and then suddenly he was with Shailene. It happened super fast,” the insider shared. “It was so fast that at first, we thought she was just a rebound. There was no way this could be so serious. Everyone thought it was a casual thing because that’s what he was telling everyone, even when it was clearly not a casual thing.”
Look, that’s fine and good, but I’m mostly here for the conspiratorial thinking that actor Jodie Foster is actually responsible for bringing Rodgers and Woodley together, simply because the athlete thanked her while accepting the AP Most Valuable Player award on Saturday. That is some creative detective work. [Us Weekly]
- Here’s some fun music trivia for you: Jim Jones “wanted to fuck Weezy up” over the chorus Lil Wayne gave Fat Joe for “Make It Rain,” because it’s just too similar to the chorus of Jones’s song “Weather Man.” He was gonna beat him up, and Weezy blamed the unfortunate coincidence on being high. Bless his heart. [Bossip]
- Hoobastank is toying with the idea of making new music since their hit, and one of my karaoke go-to tracks, “The Reason,” is blowing up on TikTok. No one needs that. [TMZ]
- A director once told Priyanka Chopra, one of the most beautiful people to ever exist, to get plastic surgery to “fix her proportions.” “He stared at me long and hard, assessing me, and then suggested that I get a boob job, fix my jaw, and add a little more cushioning to my butt. If I wanted to be an actress, he said, I’d need to have my proportions ‘fixed,’ and he knew a great doctor in LA he could send me to,” she writes in her new memoir, Unfinished. “My then-manager voiced his agreement with the assessment.” I hope he’s out of work! Gross! [Page Six]
- The Bachelorette’s JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers are planning on postponing their wedding yet again, which is weird because I assumed they had been married for years? [Hollywood Life]