A surge of attention on Britney Spears following the “Free Britney” documentary by The New York Times has forced America to examine her unfair treatment by the public, specifically the press. Yes, it’s a heartbreaking tale about the consequences of childhood fame, but there is more to her meteoric collapse that feels like a punch to the gut. Spears is a woman, and we’ve heard this story before.
Courtney Love, an alternative vocalist of the grunge movement, rose to fame with Hole, a ‘90s rock band. Any Gen Xer can remember when she became a true fixture of the public eye after her marriage to America’s beloved Nirvana member Kurt Cobain. Suddenly, Love was placed under a microscope. Her loud, unapologetic demeanor garnered more than a little backlash. According to a 1994 article in Rolling Stone magazine, Love was “skewered as a drug-fueled opportunist who married into celebrity.” When the couple’s relationship deteriorated in 1994 because of their shared substance abuse issues, Cobain shot himself in his Seattle home. He had been battling addiction and mounting anxiety about Nirvana’s increased popularity.
Love’s troubles with public image worsened after Cobain’s death. Many Nirvana fans still proclaim that she is a manipulative sociopath, and, most scathing, that she killed Cobain. But why were they so quick to paint her as unhinged and duplicitous rather than simply a flawed figure like her late husband? She continued to tour shortly after his death, and her lack of visible grief in public was cited as evidence that she never cared about him. But it should be a given that everyone copes with loss in different ways. Courtney Love put one foot in front of the other, and can we blame her for that?
Britney Spears was similarly shrouded with speculation and conspiracy at the height of her career. When Justin Timberlake announced that she cheated on him, the nation didn’t think twice before believing his accusation and charging her with promiscuity. Spears was flocked by the tabloids and relentless, profit-seeking paparazzi. When she screamed out in emotional pain, head shaved and umbrella in hand, we laughed in her face. Like Courtney Love, Britney Spears was seen as undeserving of pity because she was ‘unhinged.’ Notice that the public shunnings of these stars took place closely after they lost their male partners. Labeling an independent woman as duplicitous or mentally unstable is nothing new; the only thing we have done away with is the Scarlet Letter itself.
But the worst has yet to come. The two singers nursed infants during their respective tussles with the public, and their smearing by the media focused heavily on their parenting skills. In a 1995 interview with Barbara Walters, Courtney Love was grilled about her ability to care for Frances Bean, her three year-old daughter. Walters coldly asked, “Ever do drugs in front of your child?” before berating her with questions to determine if she was an unfit mother. Would Cobain have been treated this way if he was placed in the same position? Britney Spears received similar attention after giving birth, as outlets fixated on her alleged incompetence. Flashy tabloid covers with “Bad Mom!” and “Selfish Britney!” in bold letters lined the aisles of every grocery store. It was none of our business.
I felt an odd sense of déjà vu after stumbling across the Walters interview. Shortly after Spears’ breakup with Justin Timberlake and prior to her pregnancy, she was interviewed on camera by Diane Sawyer, who claimed that Spears had “upset a lot of mothers in this country.” She fidgeted in a plush brown armchair as Sawyer icily pointed out her “betrayal” of Timberlake. Sawyer promptly questioned her virginity and inappropriate attire.
Love will never be your perfect widow, and Spears did not ask to be a role model for America’s youth. It is 2021, a year of reckoning with our past after COVID-19 has slowed our ability to move forward. Things are changing, but stigmas still exist surrounding female sexuality, agency, and motherhood. Courtney Love expressed concern for Britney’s wellbeing under her conservatorship in February. It’s possible that she sees a bit of herself in the 39 year-old mother of two.
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