During the height of the COVID pandemic and the BLM craze of 2020, huge swaths of the internet started pushing for another social cause: Free Britney Spears. The then-40-year-old “Princess of Pop” was supposedly trapped in a conservatorship that was destroying her freedom. After protests and legal battles, the conservatorship was terminated in 2021 as fans celebrated their perceived role in liberating Spears.
Yet in March of 2026, Spears was arrested for an alleged DUI. California police pulled her over for erratic driving patterns that were later linked to alcohol consumption. The DUI doesn’t necessarily indicate that ending her conservatorship was a mistake, but it does reveal that she’s still struggling.
Spears has a long history of personal struggles, including her famous 2007 “breakdown” which led to her losing custody of her children. The traumas she endured in her youth have created lifelong problems for her – problems that could have been prevented.
Putting the pop-drama aside, Britney Spears is a prime example of why making children famous regularly puts them in harm’s way.
One of the primary goals of a healthy, well-ordered society is to protect its children. Schools and daycares have strict guidelines to ensure that children aren’t abused. Everything from products to play places have safety regulations. A primary reason why vaccination schedules are so hotly debated is because parents want to be certain that they’re making the correct choices for the safety of their children. Exposing children to Hollywood fame makes them vulnerable to exploitation. It’s a disordered practice.
Child labor was banned in the United States in 1938, but just one year later the Coogan Act was passed, allowing children to work in the entertainment industry under certain parameters. The law requires children to have a portion of their income set out of reach of parents, mandates school requirements, and restricts the number of working hours. Despite these laws, Hollywood manipulated the law or blatantly ignored it for decades.
Britney Spears detailed the abuse she suffered as a child working in both television and the music industry. While she was still underage, interviewers would ask her about her breasts and body, while magazines frequently photographed her in sexually suggestive poses. Reports of sexualizing underage girls is common practice in Hollywood. Natalie Portman, who first found stardom at 13, shared stories of media personalities allegedly “counting down” to her 18th birthday. In more recent years, “Stranger Things” actress Millie Bobby Brown shared having similar experiences, including being dressed and discussed in an inappropriate manner for an underage girl.
The media’s sexualization of children is only a part of the problem because it leads to more aggressive practices. Brooke Shields was only 10-years-old when she had nude photos of her taken and eventually sold, due to a contract Shields’ own mother signed. Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell was sexually assaulted when he was left alone with his adult dialogue coach. Corey Feldman alleged that he was sexually abused by multiple people in Hollywood while working as a child actor on The Goonies.
The problem of exposing children to fame is only getting worse as childhood stardom can now be achieved online. Social media requires a fraction of the effort required to get into Hollywood, but has increasingly lucrative financial returns. “Kidfluencers” are on the rise. In 2015, the Youtube page “Ryan’s World” began sharing videos of 3-year-old Ryan Kaji as he opened and played with toys. Since then, the page has amassed over 40 million subscribers and has more than 67 billion views. Piper Rockelle, who started as a TikTok and Youtube star when she was just 10, exuberantly started an OnlyFans account the day she turned 18. That first day, she made $2.9 million.
Child stars have been around since the dawn of Hollywood. Their abuse was already a black mark on American culture, but the rise of social media is exacerbating the issue.
Forcing children to work in the entertainment industry is a non-consensual act that has lifelong consequences. A healthy society should stigmatize allowing children to work in the media. Doing so may also stigmatize posting children on social media, which would prevent any additional exposure to sexualization. For years, Hollywood convinced Americans that child stars are normal. However, there is no piece of film, television, or content that is worth the threat of endangering children.
The Free Britney movement is fascinating in retrospect. It arose in an era when people were desperate to be a part of social change. People wrote essays, showed up to marches, and filmed long videos explaining why Britney Spears was being treated unfairly.
Yet, rarely did any of those same “activists” question the root cause of the problem. None of those “protestors” called for children’s networks to stop hiring hundreds and thousands more child stars. None of those “advocates” were interested in protecting the lives of children.
If we wish to preserve our society, we can’t endanger children. Child stardom shouldn’t be a normal part of entertainment.
