As a 30 something millennial, there is a question we often times find ourselves asking each other.
“Are you a BSB or N*SYNC girl?” “Were you a Britney or Christina girl?”
For me, I was an N*SYNC and Britney girl. I grew up listening to them religiously. Britney was my idol. My first concert was Hanson, second was Britney. I was so young and stupid I made a sign that said, “I LOVE YOU BRITTANY!” I didn’t even get the spelling of her name right.
*Puts palm to forehead*
Fast forward 25 years and I finally have the intellectual ability and life experience to understand just how misunderstood Britney is.
As I’m sure you know, her memoir “The Woman in Me” was released on October 24 and I of course had it on pre-order. I was vigilantly tracking my prime delivery for when it would arrive.
The next day I dropped my son off at school and read the entire book front to back in 3 hours.
I realized the reason millennials will finally be able to understand and give Britney some grace:
Motherhood.
She goes into detail about how Kevin Federline managed to keep her two boys away from her during their divorce and custody battle. Her youngest son was just two months old. TWO MONTHS OLD.
Now let me ask you, what you would do if you were forbidden to see your two-month-old baby?
I can say for certain that I would do way more than shave my head and hit a paparazzi’s car with an umbrella.
Not to mention that Britney was clearly, deep down, still dealing with the trauma of being forced to have an abortion on the bathroom floor with no anesthesia or pain management.
I want to cry him a river and not throw him a life jacket.
As our generation is entering their motherhood era, we are realizing the long lasting and often lifetime changes we experience after having children. Our minds overflow with responsibilities and anxiety, causing us to become a shell of the women we were before we were mothers. The difference is, we are open to discussing mental health and are proactive in seeking help.
My heart breaks for Britney and the life that she was forced to live during the darkest time of her life. Instead of advocating for her mental health and treating her postpartum depression, her family forced her into multiple different facilities and loaded her with medications that caused her to, just like us, become a shell of the woman she once was. Without being embraced with love and support.
My hope is that our generation can learn a lesson from Britney’s story and encourage each other to rally around our fellow mothers.
Postpartum depression is hard. Motherhood is hard. Being a woman is hard.
Let our generation be the one to make the change.
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