Britney Spears’ conservatorship was dissolved about a year ago, but concerns over the singer’s safety have recently escalated on social media following a slew of bizarre posts from the star. Sure, Spears has a lingering and charming history of quirky social media posts, but what worries her fans is that some of the more recent ones seem recycled or edited, and she hasn’t been seen in public for some time. time. This has convinced TikTok conspiracy theorists that she is secretly missing or sick, and her husband Sam Asghari is covering this up by taking over her social media accounts.
I want to be clear before I take you down this rabbit hole with me: there is little to no evidence of this. But it’s certainly remarkable how genuinely Spears’ fans seem to distrust Asghari – so much so that some viral videos claim Spears never even returned alive from the couple’s honeymoon in July in Fiji. sparking the viral hashtag #WhereIsBritney.
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Last week, on Tuesday, Spears seemed turn off briefly his Instagram account Again, prompting Asghari to use his own Instagram Stories the next day to clear the air. “Social media can be traumatic,” he said. wrote. “Sometimes it’s good to take a break. Asghari continued, “She has her voice and is a free woman. I respect her privacy and protect her at all times. Thanks to all his protective fans. In another post, he wrote, “Out of respect for her privacy, I’m not posting her 247. I ask permission if I ever do.”
Shortly before these posts, Asghari caught the heat from Spears fans for seeming publish an Instagram Live without the consent of the singer. In November, when Asghari was live on the app, he asked Spears if he could show it to his followers, to which, off camera, she replied, “I have nothing to say. I don’t want to talk to them now. The incident drew backlash from Spears fans who said Asghari violated his privacy.
But for some Spears fans on TikTok, the incident was a minor mistake in a bigger conspiracy against Spears. A number of videos shared shortly after Spears took down Instagram last week speculated that recent posts of her and Asghari actually featured a body double of Spears, insistent that the women photographed do not have her characteristic features, such as a mole on her face or the tattoo on her foot. Some said that a post appearing to show Spears to Nobu last week is not real and has been edited to include her, citing the apparent mess of her hair. One of the videos theorizing this was inundated with comments further pointing out that there were no paparazzi shots of Spears at Nobu because the woman pictured was a body double, apparently with Spears’ face Photoshopped in. above that of the woman in photos posted online. “Sam really thought he was slick,” one user commented.
The lack of pap photos of Spears lately is a recurring point for Spears fans. Other theory videos have distinct a post earlier this month in which Spears lavished some very unexpected praise on her younger sister Jamie Lynn, whom Spears has long accused of being complicit in Spears’ guardianship and abuse. On Friday, when Spears posted a suggestive message video of herself dancing to a Christmas song and eating cake on the floor, some said the video was old, as it bears no relation to the caption alluding to his recent 41st birthday.
Another one the theory is that Spears has never had control of her Instagram account even since her conservatorship was lifted, and anyone Is being in control deliberately publishes more unbalanced content based on new audiences or developments within it ongoing legal battle against his father. A hearing was held last Wednesday. Asghari, some of her fans claim, has essentially recreated the very guardianship that Spears struggled for years to try to break free from.
“The celebrity is actually dead and using a look-alike” is a fairly common conspiracy theory on the internet. See: Right-wing websites around the time Hillary Clinton contracted pneumonia in 2016, the Avril Lavigne’s great replacement theoryor, my favorite, Melania Trump’s Double Body Theory.
Nevertheless, I will never blame Britney fans for fearing for her safety. Spears was in a guardianship that controlled and monitored all aspects of his life for 13 years. And for a while, her dad and other guardians did a pretty decent job of making it look like everything was fine — even though, inside, Spears testified she was being denied the job. time with her children, forced into abusive rehab centers, and forced against her will to keep an IUD, despite wanting more children.
The #FreeBritney crowd has been right about a few things in the past, and Spears’ social media activities have been on the air a bit lately. But I’m not convinced that the singer is buried anywhere in Fiji and that Asghari is using a rotation of body doubles to maintain the pretenses. Spears deserves nothing but safety, freedom and love after all she’s had to endure, and to that end I can’t imagine a handful of viral conspiracy theories as to whether she is even alive are particularly pleasing to the eye.
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