REWIND: Britney Spears is, sadly, neither the first nor last exploited entertainer

Britney Spears

Britney Spears, courtesy.

In case you’ve been living in a cave and refusing to read anything online except my column—props, in that case, good decisions all around—you probably know what’s going on with Britney Spears.

For you, my devoted, cave-dwelling fan, here’s a brief summary: Spears has been under a conservatorship since 2008 when her mental health hit a breaking point. Over a decade later, due to that conservatorship her father still controls not just her finances but her entire life; she’s forced to work, her medical decisions are made for her, she has little control over her life. She appealed to have it removed but a judge denied it.

Sadly, Britney Spears’ case is a particularly extreme example, it’s not unique. The entertainment industry has been using up and tossing away women for just about long as it’s existed.

Yes, this is going to be one of those depressing columns. Sorry.



Shirley Temple — “On the Good Ship Lollipop”

Oh yeah, buckle up, it starts right at the beginning. Shirley Temple, widely regarded as the very first child star, is also where the bad parts began.

It’s easy to assume that the depressingly common sexualization of young girls in entertainment is a recent phenomenon, or at least stemmed from the sexual revolution of the late ’60s. But oh no. For example, I direct your attention to Shirley Temple’s first acting job: Eight short films from 1931 to 1933, beginning when she was 3 years old, collectively called “Baby Burlesks.”

Yes, it is what it sounds like. The second one, for example, is War Babies. Temple plays a prostitute and has her first onscreen kiss with the male lead. It’s profoundly unsettling.

Oh, and on top of that? To underwrite the costs of production the toddlers were sent out between shoots to be advertising models for cigarettes.



Judy Garland — “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

This story is more well-known, but not yet universally known. But Judy Garland’s young life was absolutely horrifying.

At 13, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer called her a “fat little pig in pigtails” and “hunchback” and forced her to wear rubber pads on her nose in an effort to reshape it. And the same Mayer sexually assaulted her, grabbing her while she sang in his office. When she couldn’t keep up with the pace of 1930s movie production due to being, you know, a child, she was given amphetamines, followed by barbiturates to sleep.

And on The Wizard of Oz itself? Because of absurd concerns among executives about her weight, the 17-year-old Garland was only allowed to have black coffee, chicken soup, cigarettes and diet pills.

She died at age 47 of a barbiturate overdose, an addiction that began at the behest of studio heads when she was 13.



Cher — “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves”

Don’t worry, this is a breather. I mean it’s still horrible, yes, but by the standards of this column, it counts as good news because she wasn’t a child, she escaped it and she went on to have a successful career, a happy life and most importantly, an awesome Twitter account.

Cher and her husband Sonny Bono were a successful music duo. Then tastes changed and they didn’t change with it, so they became passé. They hit it big again with their 1971 TV show, “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.” Their TV comeback revived their musical career and they made a whole bunch of money.

Well, Bono made a whole bunch of money. When Cher filed for divorce in 1974, one of the charges was “indentured servitude,” alleging that she was forced to work but not given her share of the money. I couldn’t find the eventual settlement, but since she got full custody of their child, that’s a pretty big hint.

After their divorce, Bono moved on to his own show, “The Sonny Comedy Revue.” It was canceled after 13 episodes. A year later she got her own show, “Cher,” which the Los Angeles Times said, “Sonny without Cher was a disaster. Cher without Sonny, on the other hand, could be the best thing that’s happened to weekly television this season.”



Britney Spears — “…Baby One More Time”

I went over Spears’ situation in the intro but it’s important to realize how messed up her childhood was.

For example, in this video she’s 17. When it came out I was 16 so I was its target market and was in favor, but now that I’m pushing 40 it’s really amazing how profoundly screwed up it was.

Think about it. She signed her record deal at 15. The label’s marketing department—adult men—probably had this plan from the start, which means they probably put her on diets and tried to sculpt her into what they wanted. Then a bunch of grown men had her, at 16 or 17 years old, sing “hit me, baby, one more time.” More grown men plotted out these costumes and dances for an underage girl. And her parents were cool with all of it because they got paid, and to this day her father runs her life.

The late ’90s weren’t that long ago! Why was everyone OK with this?!



Demi Lovato — “Lovely Day”

But that was the past, right? Surely things are better now.

Oh, you sweet summer child, of course things aren’t better.

Demi Lovato, from the same Disney Channel child star factory as Spears but a generation later, had to seek treatment for bulimia, self-harm and substance abuse at just 18. They still struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol that began in their teen years. Perhaps most tragically they were raped at age 15 by an unnamed co-star in a Disney Channel movie, and nobody saw fit to remove the rapist from the production or give him any consequences whatsoever, so they had to see him every day on set.

Just remember that celebrities people are still human, OK? Money and fame doesn’t mean they aren’t people who deserve empathy, compassion and respect. The fastest way for us to make this almost century-old cycle of exploitation and abuse stop is to stop making it profitable for the exploiters and abusers.

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis and tweet column ideas to him at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.

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