The Woman in Me

Britney Spears started working as a professional singer and actress in 1992, when she was 11 years old. In the early chapters of her memoir, she mentions meeting several other young actors and singers who were getting their start around the same time, including Natalie Portman, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera. Spears notes that she received harsh criticism as a young star for dressing too provocatively, which many claimed made her a bad example for young people. They often directed this criticism directly at Spears rather than at the industry players—record label executives, management team, publicists, etc.—who helped craft her public persona. Spears also had to answer invasive personal questions during interviews: When she was still a teenager, interviewers often asked her pointed questions about her sexual experience, whether she had had plastic surgery on her breasts, and the details of her dating life.

The ongoing debate about child celebrities in America raises many questions about the potential for financial exploitation and abuse of minors within the entertainment industry, and the need to establish legal protections (Rogers, Ailbhe. “More Than Pocket Money: A History of Child Actor Laws.” In Custodia Legis.