Tom writes:
One of my Christmas presents this year will likely surprise a good number of people – the Britney Spears autobiography, The Woman in Me. I’ll be honest, Ms. Spears’ music is not generally my style, even taking into account my self-proclaimed eclectic tastes. But the reality is that she can’t be denied as a cultural icon of the era I grew up in, as well as a woman of the Deep South – a place I have deep affection for and connection with given my time studying at the University of Mississippi.
As it happens, while it’s not my usual style or content of reading material, I nonetheless found the book deeply affecting. Unsurprisingly, given how public much of her life has been, including the legal fight to end her conservatorship, Britney’s life has not been the comfortable and enjoyable ride many of us might have once assumed. Even as someone familiar with how untrustworthy our celebrity media can be, it came as a jolt to realise how manipulated my own thoughts about her and her behaviour might have been previously – including the way in which a male point of view has dominated over giving a young woman her own voice. Some of the stories of how she was treated, both as a young “starlet” and as adult woman, by those she should have been able to trust, including both family and close friends, were heart-breaking.
“Piece of Me”, from her album, Blackout, is one of the seemingly few tracks from her time as a young mother struggling with life in the media glare while her private life fell apart where she was able to properly express herself. It seems a starkly honest reflection on how the world seemed to view her (an easy target for tabloid scandal), and how it contrasted with how she was feeling about life. To listen to it alongside her own account of her life story is, if one has any empathy, a challenging experience and a reminder that how we treat others can have deep impacts that we may well not be aware of.
This is particularly noteworthy this week as we journey through Mental Health Awareness Week. If I’m honest, this was another reason I wanted to read her biography – as someone who struggles with their mental health at times, I was interested in the story of someone who is famous for her own mental health challenges. She is, as it happens, honest about those struggles, while also being
clear that a large part of that struggle was deeply impacted by the way in which those around her related to her in negative ways. For sure, mental health can be impacted by internal struggles, chemical imbalances, and general environmental matters, but it can also be deeply affected by how others treat us – and that also means that how we treat other people can significantly affect their mental health. Like every other part of our life, the golden rule applies – do not treat others how you would not wish to be treated, or, to put it a different way, love your neighbour as you love yourself.
I’m left wondering how different Britney Spears’ autobiography would have been had more people in her life had lived by that rule. I wonder whether “Piece of Me” would even have been produced. And I’m left wondering how many others out there, who don’t have the public voice that Ms. Spears has, would benefit if we all held better that rule.
Ultimately, this isn’t about whether we like pop, rock, jazz or classical. It’s not about whether we have an interest in the lives and styles of celebrities or not. It’s about recognising that the health and wellbeing of others is as dependent on our behaviour as we are on theirs – famous or not. That’s a message it’s worth being reminded of, whoever happens to remind us of it!
You can find out more about Britney Spears at britneyspears.com
The Friday Fix 