Britney Spears’ biography ‘The Woman in Me’ is not the only example of a celebrity taking back control of their image and story. From Paris Hilton to Pamela Anderson, here are the stars who are fighting back against the unfair treatment they received in the 2000s—two posthumously
Britney Spears released her highly anticipated memoir, The Woman in Me, last week to highlight “the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms”—a right Spears did not possess in the 2000s, when the singer suffered greatly from having her life cruelly misrepresented by tabloids and living under a conservatorship, which she was freed from in June 2021.
However, what Spears experienced is hardly an isolated incident. Throughout the entertainment industry’s history, female stars have always had to battle against sexism, harassment, abuse and more—all whilst staying silent. Well, not anymore.
Increasingly in recent years, institutionalised sexism, fatphobia, and racism have been challenged by the ongoing international feminist movement, which left little room for abuse and abusers to hide from accountability and consequences. This shift has given former victims like Spears to raise their voices and take control of their own narratives. Here are just some of the women who are fighting back and telling their stories in their own words.
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1. ‘The Woman in Me’ (2023)
From being harassed by paparazzi to being hyper-sexualised even as a teenager, as well as having her womanhood and motherhood demonised by the media and in the court of public opinion, Spears has attributed her mental health breakdowns over the years to how the press has treated and portrayed her multiple times. And how those narratives enabled her 14-year conservatorship under which she has little to no autonomy over her career, finances or even her own body.
While you might have already followed Spears’ case throughout documentaries like Britney VS Spears (2021), Framing Britney Spears (2021), and Britney Spears: The Price of Freedom (2023), her memoir, The Woman in Me, is the first time Britney Spears is telling Britney Spears’s story.