Why Does the Public Love to Hate Britney Spears?

There can be no doubt that Britney Spears has been acting a little strange lately.

From her quickie divorce, to her pantyless partying, to her questionable mothering, to her recent 24 hour stints in rehab, Britney has begun to make a career out of providing material for tabloids instead of the music that made her famous.

What led the sexy starlet to the path that she's currently on?

Since the debut of her first hit single "Hit Me Baby One More Time" was released in 1998 every facet of her life has been public news. Everything from relationships, to parenting, to wardrobe, to changing hair color...and yes hair shaving...have all been fodder for tabloids and treated as front page news.

Thanks to the whirlwind of media attention that Spear's life has gotten since 1998 most of her early life and experience in show business is now common public knowledge.

We don't know where our neighbors were born or lived before they lived next to us, but most of us know that Britney Spears was born and raised in the southern United States, was involved in singing contests since the age of six, and was a member of the Mickey Mouse Club television show from 1993-1995. We also know that she and fellow Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake would become an item when they became adults, and go through a messy public break-up years later.

What many people don't know was that Britney was the founding member of an all female pop group called Innosense in 1996. The five girl group was teeny-pop's answer to boy bands such as *NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys.

Britney left the group in 1997 to start a solo career which would produce that ever important first hit single "Hit Me Baby One More Time" in 1998.

Spears in her provocative schoolgirl uniform from the "Hit Me Baby One More Time" video.

Innosense continued on with other roster changes and low-level success, even making movie appearances and releasing an album, before disbanding in 2001.

When Britney first struck out on her own, but before she made it big as a solo headliner, she became the opening act for *NSYNC and toured with the band nationwide. Another little known aspect of Spears's life it that it was at this time that she was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Crohn's is a serious, embarrassing, and often emotionally crippling disease. It is complex in its symptoms and diagnosis, but often manifests as your body's own immune system being unable to tell the difference between bad cells and good cells. This causes your immune system to attack both good and bad cells, and can often damage the internal organs, most often the digestive tract, focusing primarily on the intestine and bowel system. This can cause excruciating abdominal pain and severe cases will often need to be treated with a regimen of heavy medication.

Despite her health troubles Britney enjoyed a much more successful solo career than her former band mates.

After her debut album, named after her hit single, elevated the teen to star status the press machine was in motion. The entire world began to get up close and personal with Britney Spears.

Britney's new found fame boiled over into controversy early on when she appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone's April 1999 issue. The Lolita like image of Spears lying in bed on the phone with a "come hither" look proved to be too much for critics to handle. Tabloid columnists publicly speculated that Spears, still only seventeen, looked like she had had breast augmentation surgery. This allegation, denied by Spears, caused public judgment and scorn. Religious groups protested Spears wholesome image, and mothers across America worried that it would encourage their daughters to want breast enhancement at an age where the cosmetic surgery is ill advisable in the least.

Although appearing to be a relevant issue and concern at the time, a few short years of cultural evolution gives us the ability to look back in hindsight at these events a little more objectively. If you view and consider the actual cover image itself, its suggestiveness and the claims of obvious breast augmentation were greatly exaggerated and blown out of proportion by the tabloid media. In fact looking at the image today, it's clear to see that any breast augmentation in the image was likely photoshoped into the picture via computers during the design process and was not physically real at the time the photo was taken. It's quite likely that other aspects of the young starlet's body were also digitally altered.

Spears on the cover of Rolling Stone April 1999.

Today the public is much more educated and knowledgeable about how print and media images are digitally altered and enhanced. Today we believe that most photo images are enhanced and that the real subject does not appear as they do in the final magazine. In 1999 this technology was much less in the radar of public knowledge. It is quite likely that it was this lack of knowledge that the tabloid media was able to exploit in order to create a news story and not any actual breast augmentation on Spears's part at that time.

Whether she's had her breasts enhanced since then is still a matter that is widely debated, but ultimately irrelevant to any real issue.

Although the public knows what to expect in print images now, in the late nineties, as stated already, they did not. In that point in time the damage was done and the gears in the machine of harsh scrutiny were set in motion, its sights firmly set on Britney Spears.

Despite the harsh criticism Britney continued to be a media darling, and 1999 continued to be a year of success with Britney winning an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist, and four awards at the Billboard music Awards.

Britney's star continued to shine in 2000 when she received two Grammy Nominations.

Her first single off her second album, "Oops!...I Did It Again" broke the record for most record stations in a single day. When the album of the same name debuted in May of 2000 it broke the first week sales records of any solo vocalist, male or female, by selling over 1.3 million copies in its debut week.

Around the same time that she launched her new world tour to support the album Spears also parlayed her new fame into becoming an author when she and her mother co-wrote "Britney Spears's Heart-to-Heart". The book was a semi-autobiographical history of Spears's family and her early struggles in the rise to fame. The book went on to be a New York Time's best-seller, a status which lasted for several weeks.

Britney continued to be a media machine. Garnering multiple nominations at almost every award show in 2000.

The harsh glare of judgment was again cast upon her at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards when she performed in a provocative outfit which many critics said was too suggestive for a girl of her age.

In 2001 Britney would put the criticisms of her MTV appearance behind her and go on to make a multi-million dollar endorsement deal with Pepsi, starring in commercials and billboard ads worldwide.

2001 would also see Britney release her third album "Britney" which debuted at number one, making her the only female artist in history to have her first three albums debut in the top spot.

In 2002 Britney made her first starring film role debut in the feature film "Crossroads". The movie attracted a lot of attention on its release, but subsequently did not meet the high hopes of the creators and studio involved.

Only a month after the debut of Crossroads, Britney's four year relationship with Justin Timberlake ended. The relationship had begun in 1998 when Spears was touring with Timberlake's former boy band *NSYNC. Harsh scrutiny would again fall upon Spears when Timberlake suggested that she had been unfaithful and released his own song and video "Cry Me A River" which is allegedly a disguised commentary on their break-up.

Despite the criticism Britney went on to be named Forbes most powerful celebrity in the world for 2002.

August 2003 saw Spears generating more controversy and media criticism when she was featured in a photo spread in W magazine. In the photos Spears was dressed as a dominatrix and posed in a sexually suggestive manner.

2003 saw Spears fully submerged in controversy when, during a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards she performed on stage with Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott and her idol Madonna. The controversy came when both Aguilera and Spears shared passionate kisses with Madonna on stage. The tabloids went wild, and Spears parlayed the hype into a duet and music video with Madonna.

In November of 2003 Spears released her fourth studio album "In The Zone". Again she broke industry records becoming the first female performer to have all four of her first albums debut at number one. Critics blasted the album and related videos for being Spears most controversial and overtly sexual work to date. The album's song "Toxic" would win Spears a Grammy for Best Dance Recording.

Her semi-nude appearance in Esquire magazine the same month did not help any, continuing to stir critics and add fuel to the anti-Britney fire.

Britney Spears album cover for "In The Zone".

Within months, January 2004 to be exact, spears was again making headlines when she married childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander in Las Vegas. The marriage was annulled less than 48 hours later after protests from her family and recognition that the young couple were "lacked understanding of their actions", among other reasons.

Although the marriage lasted only 35 hours the tabloid criticism lasted months.

Despite the awards, fame and strong outward appearance Spears was putting on, this is where the dam of Spears life had its first major rupture.

Shortly after kicking off her "In The Zone" tour spears injured her knee while shooting a music video. Officially this is why the remaining 37 tour appearances were cancelled. Although the injury was the only reason officially cited, Spears's own physical health, stress and media criticism undoubtedly also played a factor in her decision to take a break. It is estimated that this move cost Spears and her managers between 28 and 37 million dollars.

In July 2004, one month after canceling her tour, Spears announced that she was engaged to back-up dancer Kevin Federline, whom she had met at a Hollywood club in April of 2004 and been dating since.

Almost immediately tabloid and entertainment media descended on the couple, criticizing them for being "white trash", behaving like they should live in a trailer park and generally falling short of the dignified behavior expected of a stereotypical celebrity.

The couple soon married and announced Britney would be taking a break from music in order to start a family.

Although Britney was on hiatus the media and merchandising machine that thrived on her continued without any sign of slowing down. Spears continued to be talked about by the media and her endorsements for things such as the perfume "Curious" continued to net her millions in ancillary royalties and promotional contracts.

"Curious" perfume display in the Eaton Centre, Toronto, Canada.

Although on a break Spears would release a greatest hits album which included three new tracks and would debut at number four on the U.S. music charts. All this continued to feed into the hungry, critical tabloid media machine.

In the spring of 2005 Britney and Husband Kevin Federline starred in their own reality show on MTV, "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic". Unfortunately, and perhaps because public opinion of her was now swayed toward the negative, ratings for the show were disappointing and it was cancelled after only five episodes. Critics blasted the show, saying it revealed the two young lovers were both immature and childish, and that Britney was prone to strange behavior.

While her reality show was flopping Spears announced that she and Federline were expecting a child.

On September 14^th 2005 spears gave birth to her first child, Sean Preston Federline.

Roughly one year after announcing her pregnancy Spears revealed that she was pregnant again while being interviewed during a promotional appearance on The Tonight Show with David Letterman.

Later that year Spears would trigger more media criticism and backlash by appearing nude and pregnant on the cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine.

Spears gave birth to her second son, Jayden James Federline on September 12^th 2006. Both of Britney's children were born by caesarean section.

Although Spears always displayed a happy attitude in public and never hinted at any problems with her and Federline's relationship, many speculated that their relationship behind the scenes was rocky at best.

Feeding these rumors of less than marital bliss were Spears own words. Spears is known for contributing many of her own thoughts, opinions, and writings on her own official website. Many of these writings consisted of poems written by Spears that speak of unhappiness, being caged or chained, wanting to break free and being held back by someone in her life.

In early November of 2006 Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and requested full custody of both children, with Federline to receive visitation rights.

Federline's rep has claimed publicly that the divorce "caught Kevin totally by surprise".

It now appeared that Britney's public life and image had totally sunk, mired in the mud of public criticism and judgment. The end was not yet even in sight.

After the quickie divorce Spears began trying to get over her failed marriage by partying with well known Hollywood bar flies, such as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Britney was quickly criticized for her public behavior and allegations flew through the tabloids that she was an unfit mother to her two boys. During one of these late night bar hop sessions, with pal Paris Hilton, Britney was caught in an embarrassing position when she flashed the paparazzi while exiting a limo. The controversy was that her dress was lifted when she exited and she had been wearing no panties when flashing the cameras. The embarrassing photo was made public on magazine covers worldwide and Britney received more disdain and criticism than ever.

On January 26 2007 while her life was publicly spiraling out of control Britney lost her aunt, Sandra Bridges Covington, to ovarian cancer.

On February 16^th 2007 Spears entered an off-shore rehab facility only to check herself out in less than 24 hours.

After leaving the facility Spears went to a salon in Tarzana, California and was allowed by the owners to shave her own head. She also visited a tattoo parlor and requested two small tattoos.

On February 20^th 2007 Spears again admitted herself to a California drug rehab center, and again checked out in less than a day.

Federline had requested a custody hearing for their two children, but subsequently withdrew his request.

Family Law Experts and Drug Abuse Experts have publicly stated that false starts on entering rehab are common and that they will not affect her ability to retain custody of the children as long as she can complete a full course of treatment at some point and stays clean.

Currently Spears has re-enrolled in the Promises rehab center in California and is seeking a full treatment for her problem. Specialists say that Britney is undeniably alcoholic, but that her issues lie deeper. They believe that Britney's alcoholism is a coping mechanism to deal with the stress in her life as well as possibly self-medicating what specialists believe to be a severe case of Post-Partum Depression. Some doctors have suggested there is a slight chance that she may also have bipolar disorder, but that the theory has yet to be clinically proven or diagnosed.

Britney is currently under strict supervision at the Promises rehabilitation clinic and is receiving regular visits from ex-husband Kevin Federline and her two small children.

So, now that we've taken the tally of the events leading up to this and looked back on the circumstances of Britney Spears's life; why do people love to hate Britney Spears?

If you look back to the reaction of fans and media upon her engagement to Kevin Federline in 2004 I think the answer is simple in its own complexity.

She's too much like us.

We expect more from our stars, especially female pop divas. Although everyone wants to have a star that is relatable and has music that is accessible that people can relate too, we don't want them to cross into our world of regular folks.

We want our pop princesses to act down to Earth, but still maintain that air of sophistication and status that will always keep them up on a pedestal.

The moment that they begin to wallow with us in the filth of everyday life the illusion is shattered and we are angered by the reality of it all.

We want to see photos of our divas enjoying swanky Hollywood parties and visiting exclusive resort spas in their spare time, not clutching a bucket of KFC, dressed in joggers, toting kids around like a regular mother.

The reality of it is when we are forced to accept this; we begin to see the reality of our own unattainable dreams and aspirations of fame. The truth of it is any regular person would have cracked under the intense pressure and criticism that Britney lives in. It's a rare person that can handle it mentally and in stride. That's why there are fewer celebrities than regular people. If it was easy we'd all be living in Beverly Hills.

Inevitably the largest majority of people could not mentally handle the life these people lead, and even the cream of the crop is going to produce the occasional fallen angel who can't bear the weight to the world's judgment on them.

We hate Britney Spears because she's too normal, too human. She's too prone to making mistakes like a regular person.

We have become a society that likes to sit back and live vicariously through the stars we see on our television. Allowing us to imagine the perfect lives they must have with the money, the mansion and the yacht. We get to sit back and imagine how perfect their lives must be and fantasize that the same life is attainable for us, but currently just out of reach.

When a star publicly reveals themselves to be less than perfect it shatters our illusions, not only bringing us out of our fantasies of their lives, but the possibilities for the future of our own. When these illusions are shattered it is often in human nature to attack the cause of our hopes being dashed on the rocks of reality. Britney Spears being a regular human being destroys our hopes that we can attain a level or status better than we are.

The irony of attacking her is that we use what she looks like and who she is to do it. We say she's frumpy, selfish, childish and above all "white trash". The irony is that at least 25% of the people, who hate her for being white trash, are in fact white trash themselves. It's a reflection of our own personal self hate. The reasons for everyone are different, but they're there. As for how many of her critics are they themselves childish, selfish or frumpy; well...I'd say it's markedly higher that 25%.

Britney Spears is human. A regular human being. A part of that means that she has character flaws. She isn't the pop princess that lives on a pedestal. Life as a "celeb" isn't as glamorous as we'd like to think. She isn't perfect.

In the eyes of the "adoring public" that is the greatest sin of all.