By Matthew Chapman
According to The Daily Dot, singer Britney Spears released a new Instagram interview in which she revealed that she is now an atheist - and specifically, that it was the drawn-out legal battle for freedom from her own family that made her lose her belief in God.
"The three-minute recording begins with Spears saying, 'I can totally understand why my family would have a problem with me doing my own thing, maybe 'cause I never have,'" said the report. "'God would not [have allowed] that to happen to me if God existed. I don't believe in God anymore because of the way my children and my family have treated me,' Spears also said. 'There is nothing to believe in anymore. I'm an atheist, y'all.'"
"In the recording, Spears also slammed her ex for benefitting from her financial resources: 'Do you guys want me to get better so I can continue paying your dad 40 grand a month, or is the reasoning behind you guys deciding to be hateful is because it's actually over in two years and you don't get anything?'" said the report. "She also addressed her son, who is now 15: 'Jayden, as you undermine my behavior just like my whole family always has with, 'Hope she gets better. I will pray for her' - pray for what?'"
Spears' newfound independence comes after a well-publicized legal fight in which she sought to end a 13-year conservatorship she had been placed under, controlled by her father Jamie, instituted by a judge after she went through a series of mishaps including two psychiatric admissions. Under the terms of this conservatorship, her father essentially had complete control of her life, handling all of her finances and allegedly exploiting them, but also restricting her personal behavior and even controlling her reproductive decisions. She has opened up about this, saying her family dehumanized her and that "they made me feel like nothing."
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The case, which inspired widespread support in the form of the "Free Britney" movement, finally ended last November, with the conservatorship being dissolved and Spears regaining full independence.
Spears' plight and the difficulty required for her to free herself from her family's control has triggered a national debate over how conservatorships for people suffering from mental illness should work, with a bipartisan bill called the "FREE Act" introduced in Congress designed to prevent the exploitation of people in these arrangements.