In the past, the only way for the press and the media to know when something was going on, was through interviews or through intrusive photographers, called paparazzi.
But in the days where the internet allows anyone to communicate through the web and mobile, the public can understand more about famous people by seeing their behavior on social media platforms.
Just before this, for example, F1 British racing driver Lewis Hamilton unfollowed everybody on Instagram due to his disappointment on losing his controversial title battle against Max Verstappen.
In most of the times in the previous years, singer Britney Spears spoke out against her family members, including her sister Jamie Lynn, her mother Lynne Spears and her father James Spears, who largely controlled her conservatorship.
This time, the "Toxic" singer has unfollowed her estranged sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, amid the family rift and following liberation from her 13-year conservatorship back in November.
"Follow me"? No more, said Britney Spears.
The pop star is starting 2022 as a free woman, and included in her fresh start, is a slight modification to the people she is following in Instagram.
Britney signed her first record in 1997 at the age of 15.
Since then, she was credited for influencing the revival of the teen pop genre during the height of her career in the 1990s and the early 2000s, and was then referred to as the "Princess of Pop".
Britney by many, is regarded as a pop icon, after selling nearly 150 million albums worldwide as of 2020, including over 70 million records solely in the U.S..
Due to her fame she managed to achieve since young, fans had accused the Spears family for taking advantage of Britney financially.
Many fans defended Britney through the #FreeBritney campaign.
The accusations were denied by the Spears family, most notably, by James.
In years-long battle, two months before the conservatorship was terminated, Jamie was suspended as Britney's co-conservator of her $57 million estate, a move that was endorsed by Britney's mother, Lynne Spears.
In response, James through is lawyers said that, "For 13 years, [Mr. Spears] has tried to do what is in [Britney's] best interests, whether as a conservator or her father...For anyone who has tried to help a family member dealing with mental health issues, they can appreciate the tremendous amount of daily worry and work this required. For Mr. Spears, this also meant biting his tongue and not responding to all the false, speculative, and unsubstantiated attacks on him by certain members of the public, media, or more recently, Britney's own attorney."
It was only in June 2021, that Britney broke her silence about her conservatorship struggles in a shocking court testimony.
The blonde bombshell revealed that she wanted "to sue" her family members for "living off my conservatorship for 13 years."
"Not only did my family not do a godda** thing, my dad was all for it. Anything that happened to me had to be approved by my dad," Britney said.
"And my dad acted like he didn't know that I was told I had to be tested over the Christmas holidays before they sent me away, when my kids went to home to Louisiana. He was the one who approved all of it. My whole family did nothing."
At that time, Britney' sister Jamie was shown supportive of her sister, in a report that even said that she has "continued to advocate for her sister behind the scenes and working on their relationship, which she doesn't like to publicize because of how it could be framed," adding that "family is her sole focus and she wants to be the best mom, sister, and aunt that she can be."
But in a later time, a source said that Britney was also disappointed of Jamie, and "is very, very angry and hurt."
Britney felt that her sister has abandoned her, "and let her down in the fight of her life," adding they should have been "best friends and everything to each other for so long."
There have been posts from Jamie indicating she supported her older sister in her struggle to break free of her conservatorship, but Britney considered Jamie as piggybacking her, and made some decisions regarding her, without considering her.
For example, Britney revealed that she tried to perform new songs, or even remixing old songs, during her conservatorship, and was denied. But her sister was allowed to perform with her songs instead.
"I don’t like that my sister showed up at an awards show and performed MY SONGS to remixes !!!!!," Britney wrote. "My so-called support system hurt me deeply !!!! This conservatorship killed my dreams ... so all I have is hope and hope is the only thing in this world that is very hard to kill ... yet people still try !!!!"
"They even gave remixes to my sister but why was I always told no?" she said, referring to the time Jamie put out a remix of her songs at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards. "So much wasted time to only embarrass me and humiliate me and I guess it seems odd to most now why I don’t even do my music anymore… that’s just the surface issues."
"People have no idea the awful things that were done to me personally … and after what I’ve been through, I’m scared of people and the business !!!! They really hurt me !!!!" she continued.
"Not doing music anymore is my way of saying ‘F— you’ in a sense when it only actually benefits my family by ignoring my real work … it’s like I’ve subconsciously let them win …"
"I obviously have serious insecurities ….. otherwise I wouldn’t have acted like an obnoxious 8 year old last week defending myself with my accomplishments !!!!" she wrote.
"Honestly my family embarrassed me and hurt me deeply … so tooting my own horn and seeing my past accomplishments reflecting back at me actually helped !!!!” she continued. “To the outside world it must seem like I’m extremely insecure and if people really knew what I went through, I think they would understand COMPLETELY where I’m coming from !!!!"
"It’s a shame though that people don’t like the truth !!!!” she added. “I’d get more respect doing a spread for Playboy than I would writing a book!!!! As much as I’ve been offended …. which one would you do ??? Either way it’s all another reason to go back to the beginning and say what I said PRAY… PRAY… PRAY. SO … again, I’m sorry if I sound ignorant … I’m extremely insecure and I probably care too much so that’s all I got … PRAYER !!!!"
"Psss… At the end, all I got is prayer and a bottle of champagne too."
"I was NICE, FAKE and I was absolutely screaming inside…" she said.. "I wanted to be nice but what they did to my heart was unforgivable!!!! I asked for 13 years to perform new songs and remixes of my old songs ….. I had two months off in between each show settings for four years in Vegas … and every time I asked I was told ‘No….’ !!!!!"
It's worth noting that the two Mississippi-born women have not been pictured together to the public's knowledge since 2018 when their families vacationed together.
This prompted Britney to remove Jamie from her following list.
Since her conservatorship ended, Britney has been making more and more pointed comments online about who is supportive of her, and who isn't. And by unfollowing Jamie, Britney is showing to the world that her sister has failed to be on her good side.
It is also reported that Jamie in releasing an autobiography this 2022 is also the source of the conflict.
The title was rumored to be "I Must Confess which is a reference to the chorus of Britney's smash hit “Baby One More Time". The title was later changed to "Things I Should Have Said".
"We deeply regret that incorrect and incomplete information about her book has appeared in the public space, particularly at this sensitive time for Jamie Lynn and her family," the book's publisher Worthy Publishing said.
"Psssssss also great news … I’m thinking of releasing a book next year but I’m having issues coming up with a title so maybe my fans could help !!!! Option #1 … “Shit, I really don’t know” Option #2 … “I really care what people think” !!!!” What do you guys think ????” Britney responded to the decision.
Jamie broke her silence with a since-deleted video, where she claimed to have "only loved, adored, and supported my sister."
"I don't care if she wants to run away to a rainforest and have zillion babies in the middle of nowhere, or if she wants to come back and dominate the world the way she has so many times before," said Jamie.
"'Because I have nothing to gain or lose either way. This situation does not affect me either way, because I'm only her sister who's only concerned about her happiness," she added.
