Britney Spears has finally unveiled the reasons behind her now-infamous decision to shave her head 16 years ago.
In 2007, the singer made a surprising move by cutting off her hair, leaving her fans bewildered and concerned about her well-being. Amid a series of stints in rehab, the Grammy-winning artist walked into Esther’s Haircutting Studio in Tarzana, California, one fateful night and requested her then-brunette hair to be shaved off.
Esther Tognozzi, the owner of the salon, initially declined her request, leading Britney to take matters into her own hands. She grabbed a clipper and gave herself a buzzcut while paparazzi captured the moment through the salon’s windows.
In her forthcoming memoir, “The Woman in Me,” Britney, now 41, explains the motivations behind her actions, stating, “I’d been scrutinized throughout my life, with people passing judgments on my body since I was a teenager. Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of rebelling.”
Britney notes that after her father, Jamie Spears, assumed control of her personal, medical, and financial affairs in 2008, she lost her autonomy in her daily life. She recalls, “I was made to understand that those days were now over. I had to grow my hair out and get back into shape. I had to go to bed early and take whatever medication they told me to take.”
Shortly after cutting her hair, the “Toxic” singer was photographed assaulting a photographer’s car with an umbrella. These back-to-back incidents occurred during a tumultuous period, marked by a divorce and custody battle with Kevin Federline, thrusting Britney into the spotlight.
In the following year, after two involuntary psychiatric holds, Jamie went to court and became his daughter’s legal guardian, further limiting her personal freedoms.
“The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, turning me into a child,” Britney reveals in her upcoming book, set to be released on October 24. She reflects, “I became more of an entity than a person onstage. I had always felt music in my bones and my blood; they stole that from me.”
“The woman in me was suppressed for a long time,” she continues. “They wanted me to be wild onstage and to be a robot the rest of the time.”
Following Britney’s 2021 testimony against her “abusive” conservatorship in open court, a Los Angeles judge suspended her father, Jamie, who is now 71, before eventually terminating the arrangement altogether.
