The political pundits are wrong about Britney Spears’ bout of bizarre behavior. She is not mentally ill. She is like many other parents, sadly, who have been pushed to their emotional limits by a viciously unfair child support and custody legal system that allows one parent to abuse the other. Consider the timing: her strange behavior did not begin until after she and Kevin Federline separated. It began with her cutting her hair and bashing a paparazzo’s car, and most recently escalated into refusing to give Federline their children back after her visitation period with them.
What is wrong with this picture? Britney Spears is a beautiful, talented, entertaining megastar. She makes more money than 99% of the population. She has accomplished a lot by age 26 and is one of the most successful people in the world. In contrast, Federline is an average guy with a bland personality and little talent to show for, who until he met Britney, made a modest living as a backup dancer. And even though Spears has opened every door for him, he hasn’t had much luck; his singing career is a flop. They were together for approximately 2 years and had two children.
Upon separation, Federline demanded alimony and primary custody of their children. Instead of just moving on with his life, and being grateful for the doors in life that his talented and wealthy ex-wife had opened for him, he fought her for her money. He ended up winning $20,000/mth in spousal support for four months and $15,000/mth in child support, sharing custody 50/50. What child requires $7,500/mth? I’m a lawyer and I don’t make that much money.
Since Spears is one of the most sought after celebrities in the world, the paparazzi have followed her 24/7. Every little mistake in life she’s made in the public realm, such as driving with her child on her lap or running into another car while backing up, has been displayed for everyone to criticize. But how many of us could live up to a standard of complete perfection every waking minute of our lives outside of the privacy of our homes? Federline gloated in an interview after the divorce that it’s been nice not having the paparazzi following him anymore. Right, it’s nice because the paparazzi can’t document him doing anything illegal or immoral that might cause him to lose custody of his children. The paparazzi don’t follow Federline because other than his relationship to Spears, he’s a nobody. Spears is no angel, but Federline likely has just as many if not more indiscretions. Spears accused him of smoking marijuana around their children, and a friend of Federline’s denied that he smoked pot around the children, but noticeably didn’t deny that he smoked it. It doesn’t take a whole lot of internet research to find articles revealing that Federline was cheating on Spears with a porn star while they were married, which is reportedly the reason why Britney filed for divorce. So now Britney is the one who has to pay for this?
Seeing the trauma Spears is going through, where is Federline’s sympathy? He supposedly loved this woman at one point, right? Or did he marry her for her money? Seeing how it is tearing her apart, why doesn’t he leave her alone and quit fighting with her over the kids and the $15,000/mth? The child custody and support system was established years ago in a different era when most women did not work, and so a divorce left them financially destitute. Times have changed, and the vast majority of women now work. Yet the feminists have kept these outdated laws in place, because they want to be able to continue teaching women that it’s ok to get a major in Women’s Studies and end up in a job that doesn’t pay very well. And the feminists want to keep preaching that women are superior to men when it comes to nurturing children, predisposing the judicial system into awarding children to their mothers.
Men are the targets of this outdated system; but through an unfortunate set of circumstances Spears ended up a female victim. The antiquated system generally awards custody of the children to the mother, requiring the higher earning father to pay the mother money. But because Spears was the higher earner, and under micro-scrutiny by the paparazzi, Federline was able to exploit the system and torment her. Don’t expect to see any feminists coming to the defense of Spears. Not only does she go against the system they love because it gives women one-up over men, but Spears is beautiful and likes George Bush; the type of woman the feminists can’t stand.
Britney has more money than most of us can only dream of. No doubt she can provide for her children. Living with her, they’ll have the best schools, the best nannies, the best cultural experiences, vacations, etc. It is unfair that she has worked so hard her whole life to have some guy come in for two years and hold this power over her. If Federline really cares about their children, and has any sense of compassion for his ex-wife and the stress this is putting her through, he will be a man; let the money go, and agree to share the children 50/50. Somehow I think he’s too much of a loser to do that. It’s all about the money for him.
The number of fathers who are committing suicide because of bruising child custody fights that last until their children are 18 and bankrupting child support obligations is escalating. What will it take to get society to wake up and change these outdated laws that are driving parents to the brink? Taking a parent’s children away from them and then forcing them to pay money to their ex who is perfectly capable of providing for themselves is putting a heavy emotional toll on millions of parents around the world. It will be very sad if it takes the celebrity suicide of Britney Spears to finally reform the system.
