Why does Britney Spears have a conservatorship?

She is bi-polar and has/had addiction issues. Do you think she was rational and sober during her 54 hour marriage? Plus, she also married KFed. There's a significant amount of money at stake.

She endangered her children's lives several times in public, going around looking unkept, shaved her head bald in public view, attacked paparazzi with an umbrella and was blowing her money at a very fast rate. Probably even more than that, but that is just some of the things that popped to mind.

She would have to have been diagnosed with some significant mental illness to still be under conservatorship after all these years.

I saw a short video she made very recently, and she seems quite unwell. And named Tom Ford as her favorite designer whilst wearing a puffy-cap-sleeve, gingham crop top.

She must have a serious mental illness, probably bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder to meet the criteria for a mental health conservatorship.

She probably is not fully compliant with medication and presents as a danger to herself and her children.

Half of Hollywood is bipolar with addiction issues, Britney must be schizophrenic. Her level of disfunction appears to be next level.

She's legally retarded OP. But that doesn't mean that she can't learn dance moves.

It's interesting how she was able to perform concerts for over 10 years, despite her insanity. Like, her illness can't be that bad.

[quote] perform concerts for over 10 years

She's singing along to a track and poorly.

I have no doubt that Britney Spears is is deeply mentally ill. As another poster said, you don't exist under a conservatorship like the one she has without being extremely unable to handle life.

THAT SAID, I find it disturbing that this woman, who has been legally deemed unfit to make any financial decisions for herself or see own children unsupervised has been performing for years. So she can't shop at Wal-Mart (and I accept this is totally possble, even likely), but she can keep up with a grueling performance schedule and the levels of physical fitness required to do that? And she can somehow consent to sexual relationships? Even though she has been deemed basically an insane child by the courts?

These boyfriends of hers will have been legally vetted by her dad, too. She hasn't randomly met them and hit it off, Daddy Spears will have been required (again, legally so) to give his approval to the relationships.

This is fucked up. She's being managed by a person in a position to directly financially benefit from her income (i.e. a family member) and has seemed unhappy about the performance schedule for a very long time.

On top of all that apparently it's basically unheard of for a person to be under a conservatorship for so many years and the courts are extremely reluctant to continue them. It's my theory that yes, she's deeply insane and unable to manage her own life, but also that she should have a team of objective, court-appointed guardians whose job it is to stand up for Britney's well-being and happiness, and not one of the people who is ultimately responsible for her being a consciously-marketed-as-jailbat pop star before she was 16 years old.

Britney's whole story has really driven it home to me that even with all the money in the world you can still find yourself in terrible circumstances, especially if you're surrounded by people living the high life off your hard work. I believe Justin Bieber is in a similar, if less serious, situation.

Originally it was because her manager was basically in control of all her finances and did nothing to stop her downfall/breakdown. Her father had to step in as legal conservator over her well being and finances. He has done an excellent job and does not take a huge salary (100 ish K a year) to oversee it. He has secured trusts for her kids, made sure she was invested well and still lets her spend like she owns it all.

I think she might be slightly autistic.

Every single time I've seen someone imply that Britney's dad may have reasons, beyond Britney's own wellbeing, to want to continue as her conservator, someone pops up to defend him.

R10 - how do you know? How do you know he's done an "excellent" job? He is in charge of her finances, is he not? How do you know there's not something fucky going on outside of the "official" salary? How do you know he's made sure it's invested well? If you can link me to proof, actual proof, that he's above board I'll look at it. Also interested in comments on her relationships. Someone too fucked up to be alone with their own kids or make their own financial decisions is surely also too fucked up to consent to sexual relationships? How does her dad find these men? What is the arrangement they agree to, in order to basically play boyfriend and get sexual access to Britney?

Allegedly fast cycling bipolar schizophrenic and POZ

r12 because in a conservatorship you have to show how the money is handled. Her father has to show the court how much he is paid. It is in the court records. It is not hard to see he has done well, her net worth has increased, her career has done much better. Like I said her kids are set, she is financially stable and her career is doing well. I am not defending her father or saying she should stay that way but clearly he has done a good job at it.

Her dad is garbage. If he's not doing this for money, he's doing it purely for control

The fact that he basically pimped her out and made her work immediately after her breakdown says it all. He should have been arrested for what he did to her

She may need a conservator, but her dad shouldn't be the one doing it

Her father should NOT be her conservator. He has a history of alcoholism and abuse. There’s currently a restraining against Jamie Spears from Britney’s kids because he hit one of them. So now to see them, she is trying to have him removed as her guardian. She’s not well, obviously, but her dad and lawyers and managers have all been using her as a cash cow for years.

Listen to the recent Page 7 podcast to learn all you want to know about her life, illness and current situation.

Surely she has made enough money to live well for the rest of her life. Why not let her stop working and enjoy it?

That’s the point. Her father and other handlers won’t let her stop working as they are all making money too.

R18, but she hasn’t worked in years?

Britney probably enjoys performing. I mean most people want to be occupied and have a career despite having money. Sitting at home all day and doing nothing is boring. She enjoys dancing and being on camera.

When was the last time she performed? She’s hardly being forced to go out and make money.

I do believe she is mentally ill, but can control it to some degree with meds. And I don’t believe she’d be in a better place now if she’d been left to her own devices. I’m not sure she’d even be alive.

Someone on another Britney thread mentioned certain mental illnesses benefit from routine. Her performances in Vegas provided her a steady routine while also allowing her to do something she clearly still loves, dancing.

Toward the end of the Vegas run, she had slimmed down, her outfits got smaller, the dancing got better, and she seemed more “alive.”

A few months later, in the run-up to the now-canceled second Vegas show, it was alluded she had stopped taking all of her meds. She was quickly thrown back into a facility and emerged the way we’ve seen her since.

Which drugs was she abusing? Meth?

Britney did look good during the Glory era. Apparently there was an album she made herself that she wanted to release but Jive rejected it. It got leaked online.

is she using meth?

[quote]Why does Britney Spears have a conservatorship?

she looks like she forgets to wash her vagina.

Rumors said it was meth back then which led to the complete breakdown. Anyone else hear anything about this?

I'm bi-polar, although successfully treated through medication. It took at least 5 years to find the right drug cocktail to get all my symptoms under control. Therapy doesn't really do shit, it's the meds that help and I know if I stop taking them my life will turn to shit in a matter of weeks. Many people suffering from mental illness stop taking their meds when they feel better. It's not a cure you have to stay on them the rest of your life. Most of them also self medicate with drugs and alcohol.

I've been around a lot of people with different mental illnesses and I head up a monthly group meeting with some of my doctor's other patients mainly to convince them to stay on their meds if they want to have a life. I think Britney is bi-polar and also schizophrenic and that combination is extremely difficult to treat. I wish her the best but it seems everyone around her, including her father, are just in it for a piece of the pie.

Bipolar is often misdiagnosed but more often incorrect meds are prescribed by a PCP, who should never be diagnosing (unless directly referring to a mental health facility or psychiatrist) and especially not writing prescription for mentally ill patients. More bipolar patients have been driven to nervous breakdowns by imbecile PCPs playing darts with Antidepressants. If you put a bipolar patient on say Lexapro or Wellbutrin they will be highly likely to go into a manic or suicidal state. SSRI Antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) paired with Antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine) is the ONLY antidepressant approved for bipolar disorder and ONLY paired with that AP, any other AD meds and/or combos with other APs is asking for disaster.

SSRIs trigger mania in bipolar patients

R31 can you read?

A conservatorship is the best way to go when so much money is at stake. With a conservatorship, everything is run through the courts and there are required assessments by medical personnel to determine competence at regular intervals. While courts aren't unbiased, they are less biased than families and so having a formal arrangement in place, protects Britney and her assets more than is someone just informally tried to keep her from self destructing.

Her father asked to be temporarily removed as conservator last September after the altercation with Britney's son and her manager (Jodi Montgomery) has been her conservator for the past year.

A conservatorship sets the parameters for control but it doesn't impose them. The conservator can give the person as much freedom and decision making as the medical team and conservator feel the person can competently manage. We don't know how much control Britney has on a day to day level over her life. It may be quite a bit, especially during stretches when she is well. She has asked that Jodi continue as conservator rather than her father - when the altercation happened between her father and her son, she went from 50% time with her kids to 30% time with her kids and I am sure she is angry at her father for that.

R5, half of Hollywood claims to be bipolar to avoid taking responsibility, like most of them claim to be ADD to get Adderall. The reason she has a conservator is that there is so much money involved. People lose custody of their children all the time, but it is the money that made the difference here.

R27, take an anatomy lesson or stop posting about women's bodies.

R29, what makes you think schizophrenia? I find it believable, but I’m curious from your perspective what you think the tell tale signs of that are.

I doubt it’s bipolar or schizophrenia, I think it’s more that she’s got a personality disorder but she’s got one of the messier ones (maybe ‘borderline’) and isn’t able to manage her life. Add drug abuse to that and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

I’m friends with a typical Hell’s Kitchen clone who spent the aughts doing crystal meth, G, and K and even though he’s recovered now he’s got long term neurological issues from the meth. He has no attention span, can’t stop touching the top of his head (now he has a bald spot from that) and can’t stop moving his legs. Very sad.