Internet Calls Britney Spears 'Most Mistreated Artist' as an Old Heartbreaking Picture of Her Resurfaces

Since November 2021, Britney Spears has been emancipated from her 13-year conservatorship; nevertheless, she has also become a recluse and spends most of her time creating dance videos at home. The Toxic hitmaker, who was formerly the best-selling female artist, has not yet revealed any details of getting back to the music scene. This might be a result of Spears' exposure to the paparazzi culture during the height of her public meltdown. A heartbreaking video that has surfaced shows the kind of media frenzy that the Circus songstress had to deal with. Shot on May 18, 2006, in the second month of her pregnancy, the 25-year-old Spears was being pursued by over 300 paparazzi. The NY restaurant owner made fun of the Criminal songstress and snapped a picture of her sobbing when she was hiding there in the hopes that he could help. Later, when the paparazzi were after her, she misplaced one of her flip flops and nearly fell while carrying the child, but nobody stopped to provide assistance.

Her condition was unbearable for fans to witness, as evidenced by the viral images and videos from that day. @jenwhite198607 tweeted, "The media are to blame! Its unfair to say we are all to blame!" 

@BreezyFrom801 wrote, "These pictures have always broken my heart. When she snapped people said she was crazy but forgot how brutal they were to her. She didn’t deserve this. We’re so sorry @britneyspears #freebritney"

@kathlee26774694 said, "Absolutely disgusting, leave her be! I cried watching documentary, paparazzi are vultures, take a moment and put yourselves in her shoes! I dont tweet, not particularly a fan of social media and dont buy celeb mags but this moved me." 

@cquiller1 said, "I feel like Preston and Jayden need to see these kind of pictures so they can know the level of harassment their mother had to endure when they were just babies."

@PearRahDice wrote, "I hope that the paparazzi become illegal soon. What Britney went through mentally and having people make fun of her was horrible." 

Since then, the New York restaurant where Spears decided to hide has closed and been converted into a toy store. 

As reported by Reuters in 2008, many tabloid personalties likened Spears with Late Princess Diana and the called the obsession of paparazzi almost cynical. Comedian and talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell said, "I remember the tunnel as it appeared on the news, lit by headlights, flashlights, red lights.....I saw it then, and I can see it now. Diana dead," O'Donnell wrote in her blog. "She (Spears) will be trying to get away, but they will chase her, just as they chased her into that church ... "The tunnel is crowded now. There are only inches of separation between vulnerability and disaster," she added.

Senior journalist for Radar John Cook reported that fifteen years ago, there were only approximately twenty-five paparazzi in Los Angeles. Today, there are between three and four hundred."It's like the Wild West. Celebrity magazines are paying huge amounts for single photographs, millions of dollars in some cases," Cook said. "With that kind of money, there is always going to be an incentive for people to behave this way, especially when someone is going through a personal crisis." Cook expressed concern back then that someone would end up injured. "Whether it is Britney herself, or an innocent bystander, it would not surprise me if there was a car accident and someone was seriously injured."