Britney Spears calls out Christina Aguilera over conservatorship response

Britney Spears is now free of the conservatorship that she lived under for 13 years, a restrictive and stifling legal arrangement that controlled vast swathes of the superstar’s life: Her finances, her medical decisions, her career, and more. Said control extended all the way down to Spears’ use of social media, which was largely managed by outside forces during the decade-plus legal arrangement.

Now that Spears is no longer laboring under these constraints—with the conservatorship having finally been terminated on November 12—she’s exercising her god-given right to use social media the same way the rest of us have all been deploying it for all of that same period: To publicly address people we feel have done us wrong.

Specifically, Spears posted an Instagram Stories post this weekend in which she called out fellow Mickey Mouse Club alum Christina Aguilera for apparently dodging a question she was asked about Spears’ conservatorship while on the red carpet for the Latin Grammys. When a reporter asked Aguilera whether she’d had any communication with Spears, a publicist swiftly stepped in with a “No, we’re not doing that tonight,” while Aguilera noted that she’s “happy for her,” and walked away.

(For what it’s worth, Aguilera has spoken about the conservatorship before; in June she released a statement in support of the #FreeBritney movement and expressed her sympathy for Spears.)

Per Consequence, Spears responded to this latest non-interaction by posting a clip from the interview onto her Instagram Stories, along with a caption that essentially called Aguilera out for her reticence to speak:

I love and adore everyone who supported me … but refusing to speak when you know the truth, is equivalent to a lie!!! 13 years being in a corrupt abusive system yet why is such a hard topic for people to talk about??? I’m the one who went through it!!! All the supporters who spoke up and supported me thank you … Yes I do matter!

In contrast, Spears later posted a clip of Lady Gaga, praising her for her vocal support.

The whole Britney-Christina thing is, of course, extremely complicated. Media coverage has pitted the two women against each other since roughly the minute either of their careers began, creating a rivalry that neither artist probably wanted, but which both appear to have spent large portions of their career trapped within. On the one hand, it’s not hard to see why Aguilera might want to disengage from the entire framework that dictates that she must always have a comment on Spears’ life at the ready; on the other, it’s hard to fault Spears for expressing herself about how the clip made her feel, especially after years of being silenced.