Who is Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981, in Mississippi) is commonly referred to as THE pop princess. She began her career as a member of The Mickey Mouse Club. As a teen, she attempted to sign with a record label, but many felt that she did not have the right aesthetic to be a pop musician. Eventually, she found a manager willing to work with her, but only after a lot of voice training to make it higher pitched and more "poppy" than her natural voice. Her first album, ...Baby One More Time, was released in January 1999 right after she turned 17. It was an instant success but was not without some criticism. Many people felt that the songs, music videos, and tours were too scandalous for someone her age and she received a lot of negative attention for it.

Her career in the early 2000s was quite tumultuous, due to her various relationships and her media portrayal. She was married once in 2004 for 55 hours and then the marriage was annulled. She married her second husband, Kevin Federline, a few months later and they would go on to have two children together.

Britney's "Breakdown"

A major part of her career, and overall celerity status, was her highly documented breakdown that spanned from 2006-2007. The spiral is often viewed as beginning in early 2006 when she was spotted by paparazzi driving with her infant son on her lap. She gave birth to a second son a few months later and subsequently filed for divorce from Federline.

This period of her life was marked with frequent stays at drug rehabilitation facilities, where she would check herself in and then check herself out within a few days of each other. In 2007, she infamously stayed in a facility in Antigua for less than a day, and after she checked out she shaved her head and got a few tattoos. She continued to check herself in and out of rehabilitation facilities until she lost physical custody of her children in late 2007.

In 2008, she was hospitalized by police who were conducting a wellness check, and she had her visitation rights suspended and an emergency hearing was called to reevaluate the custody agreement. She was placed under a conservatorship by the courts, and her father would be in charge of said conservatorship. She was shortly released from the hospital and there was a follow up hearing scheduled to reevaluate the conservatorship. The conservatorship was extended multiple times until it was deemed indefinite.

TMZ and Britney

When analyzing the relationship between TMZ and Britney Spears, it is easy to see how closely they follow the stereotypical portrayal of women. Spears is one of the top selling music artists in the world, and she has received many awards including 6 MTV Music Video Awards and 7 Billboard Music Awards. There is little to no mention of these accomplishments by TMZ however. Instead, they choose to focus on topics like her appearance, her sexuality, her mental health, and even her eating habits.

Appearance: A frequent story published by TMZ in the early 2000s was one judging Britney Spears on some aspect of her appearance. Sometimes this related to her physical appearance such as critiquing the clothes she was wearing and describing her as a hot mess, or judging her hair style (especially after she shaved her head and was growing her hair back). Other times they would judge her character by documenting her partying habits or disparaging her maternal abilities. Most commonly however, were articles detailing the inebriated habits of Spears and writing an article every time she had a fashion mishap and accidentally flashed the paparazzi and fans.

Eating Habits: For male celebrities, going out to eat would not be that big of a deal. For Britney and many other female celebrities however, this warranted an entire news article to be written. TMZ published many articles with no other reason than to talk about the fact that Britney was spotted once again ordering food at Taco Bell. This then led to many other articles talking about her weight and health in relation to her eating habits.

Sexuality: It is safe to say that male celebrities date as often as female celebrities. The main difference, is that for women, their relationships are reported on much more often and in much more detail. Spears was unable to escape the paparazzi, with an article coming out almost any time that she was spotted with a new man. Additionally, her marriages and divorces were heavily reported on and scrutinized by the media. There were even articles written speculating about her virginity status, and when it was revealed there were articles discussing her sexual habits as a minor.

Sexuality and appearance can be viewed in conjunction with each other as well. There were often commentaries on her wardrobe, lyrics, and stage presence regarding them as too sexual and provocative. In relation to her accidentally flashing the paparazzi, there were many articles commenting on her lack of underwear and speculating about how that related to her sex life.

Mental Health: It was noted above that her spiral in the mid-2000s was heavily documented. This was majorly due to TMZ and their constant reports on Britney's every move. They reported on every time that she was checked in and out of mental health facilities, and speculated about what was happening while she was there. They even went as far as to diagnose her with Bipolar Disorder without any confirmation. Her drug use was also well documented and highly criticized, and there was a lot of support for the conservatorship that she was placed under since the reporters did not feel that she could take care of herself.